What can I say about these last couple of chapters? I don’t even want to talk about it, I just want to pretend I didn’t read any of it. Let me just say, I LOVE THIS BOOK! I enjoyed the imagery, symbolism, characters, just everything. But boy did the the tone drastically change by the end.
Throughout the book Dick intentionally described people in synthetic ways, as well as described the androids in very human ways. Dick made us question who was truly warm-blooded and who was the cold emotionless machine. So why, by the end, did all the androids just lose all the personality they had built up. Roy’s death in Bladerunner was so good; it was human. But in the book it’s just so sudden and anti-climatic. When Roy screamed at Imgards death it had no impact; it wasn’t descriptive at all, unlike Lufts death (I’m not going to put up any pg numbers as I did not take any notes due to to the fact that I was dumb-founded by those last chapters). The conclusion to the book just destroys the significance of the great scenes between Deckard and Rachael, as well as Deckard and Luft. By the end you do not question who is truly human; Deckard is the human and did the right thing. All empathy for the androids is just stolen from the reader.
And Mercer appearing to rick seriously? Rick being compared to a messiah-like figure? What do you guys think the point of this was? I honestly just can not think of anything right now. As a lover of stories that question what it means to be a human and have the book end this way, is just heart-breaking. AHHHHH I mean c’mon the news that Mercer was a fraud was just great. It was basically a religion, a religion that was focused on empathy, the defining human element of the book. To have that religion debunked results in having the definition of being a human in the book debunked. Just to have it ended with a clear border created between humans and andys. I can see the ending being used to define why andys could never truly be human, as they were unable to have faith, with faith being a major part of being religious.
And to have the book end with Iran discovering that the toad that Deckard had found was an android, despite deckard being unable to tell, just warps everything all over again. Make up your mind dick do you want the reader to question what it means to be human/alive? Or do you just want to express that humanity is defined by religion. I mean religion played a very minimal role throughout the story; therefore, it makes no sense to have a religiously focused ending. And why the toad of all things to be closely attached to mercerism? The sheep was mentioned throughout the book, and it is one of the animals that has religious connections. After all, Mercer was described in a very christ-like way. I’m just so upset right now. In my head, I’m just going to replace the ending of this book with the ending from bladerunner.
I think your anger at the ending is exactly what the author wanted. Most of his work is like this where you can interpret the outcome in different ways. I think the ending with Rick basically returning to his normal self shows that he was able to interpret what is real and what isn’t. I think back to when Rachael was explaining how the bounty hunters she slept with all either quit, or in the rare case became much more cold. Rick showed signs of going either way, but came out okay.
As for the religious ending I think that was “Mercers” way of forgiving Rick. When he first appeared to Rick, he told him to kill the andys would lead him away from Mercer. For all we know this could have just been Ricks subconscious trying to deal with it all. I know that almost every work by Phillip K. Dick deals with a character dealing with what they perceive as their reality, and he was very into theology, and mental illness in his works. He also wrote most of his stories while using hallucinogens and speed, so there is always that factor to take into account while trying to understand what he was trying to say.
My problem wasn’t that the ending could be interpreted multiple ways, it was that there was no foreshadowing of it. Throughout the book he is using really great descriptive scenes to show how the andys and humans are so similar, but at the end, all of a sudden, Dick shifts gears. Had the book tried to establish what Deckard was doing was right all along the ending would have fit. But with this ending I personally feel like you might as well rip out all the great descriptions of humans in synthetic ways, the scene with Luba Luft, the inability for isidore to tell the difference between a reall and electric cat, basically everything. Every good scene I cam think of that made me love this book becomes moot.
As for his encounter with Mercer, I just feel like their are too many ways Dick is trying to show you that it is in fact real. And Rick has never shows any sign of mental illness elsewhere. It could be his subconscious but whatever. My main problem with mercer is how Deckard was compared to him, Basically making Deckard christ. This was just so out of the blue, and it did not fit with any of the themes at all.
I haven’t seen blade runner but I hope that ending is better then the books
I assure you it is; however, the journey is not nearly as good as it is in the book.
I think the ending might be more dramatic, but if i have to choose which i prefer, id always choose the extra depth that is in the book. There is so much that isn’t shown in the movie, its a bit disappointing.
Oh, of course, the book is leaps and bounds better. In fact, after reading the book the movie looks like a joke. The ending is my only gripe.
“Make up your mind dick do you want the reader to question what it means to be human/alive? Or do you just want to express that humanity is defined by religion.” That’s pretty much the same thing i thought .. I was like what? There was a lot of religion based things at the end but not too much throughout the book soooo. Yeah I see why you would be upset