Humanity fell so low

Fortuna's wheel had turned on humanity, crushing it collarbone, smashing its skull, twisting its torso, puncturing its pelvis, sorrowing its soul. Having once been dedicated to the soul was now dedicated to the sale. (c)

And a few sentences down:

The Great Chain of Being had snapped like so many paper clips strung together by some drooling idiot; death, destruction, anarchy, progress, ambition, and self-improvement were to be Pier's new fate. And a vicious fate it was to be: now he was faced with the perversion of having to GO TO WORK.(c)

(From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole)