What an ending!

In these chapters, we really see the line between what is real, and what isn’t, really start to blur. Ricks interactions with the Andy’s leads to what could possibly be a psychotic episode, and eventually becoming unable to notice what is real and what isn’t. We also see  some very human actions from the Andy’s.

A very interesting interaction i found was after Rick finished with the Andy’s. He comes home to find his new goat has been killed by Rachael. After Rick finishes talking with Rachael after their night together, she says to him [1] that he he loves his goat more than his wife. To see a cold machine that normally doesn’t show these kind of emotions do something like this is very human. While this probably was done as payback for failing at her job to convert Rick, this is an action that would normally be seen in a jilted lover. Either way, it isn’t very robot-like.

While waiting for Deckard to come find them, we see how the Andy’s treat animals. In chapter 18, we see John find a spider and the mutilation of it by the remaining Andy trio.  When John is confronted by Deckard, Rick tells him that “Androids do that.”[2] One of the major themes of this book is empathy. There are many arguments about how the androids show more empathy than humans, but in chapter 19, we really see how unlike us they really are. They are capable of blending in pretty well, but given the chance, you can see how vicious they can be.

Something else that i found interesting, and i had to go back and check it, is that we finally get a description of Ricks appearance. [3] When Isodore sees him in the irregular light, he describes him as a “medium man, not impressive; like a clerk in a bureaucratic office.” In the opening scene of the book, Iran refers to to rick as a murderer and to “get his crude cops hands away.”[4] Throughout reading the book, you can’t help of thinking of Rick as kind of a tough guy, like your typical action movie star. Instead he just sounds like a normal guy. It also shows how Rick isn’t your typical hero. He has emotional problems just like most people, something that oftentimes, authors choose to ignore when writing their protagonists.

Once Rick has retired all of the Andy’s, he heads home. He sees that his goat has been killed, and Rick gets in his vehicle and  just drives. He ends up in the desert and there is a scene in which he begins to emulate Mercer. I had some problems understanding this scene as like many other novels by Phillip K. Dick, there is generally some altering of reality and the characters perception of reality. He comes back to reality and goes back to his car and opens a new tin of snuff. [5] When i read that word, i generally think of some sort of drug, and i wonder if maybe the reason he needed a new tin was due to him using it too often? Could this have been part of what lead to this episode? When he discovers the toad in the desert, it is sort of a reset for Rick. Throughout the book, we watch as he became more empathetic towards the “electric” and now we see him fall back into his old ways, thinking about the fame he would receive from the find. When he discovers that the toad is not real, i think he realizes that what he perceives as real and what isn’t, has vastly changed.

The book ends on  an interesting note. The book opens with Iran, and it ends with her. Of all the characters, she probably shows the greatest change. As Rick sleeps, she sets in motion the plan to make the toad Ricks pet, ordering food and finding out what is needed for it to function properly. At this point it seems that they’ve switched roles since the opening scene, with Rick being a bit depressed, and her doing whatever she can do to make sure he recovers. It seems that all she needed to get out of her depression was some sort of purpose in life, and helping Rick to recover seems to be that purpose.

[1]Chapter 17, Pg. 202, 1st paragraph

[2]Chapter 19, Pg. 218, paragraph 6

[3]Chapter 19, Pg. 218, paragraph 7

[4]Chapter 1, Pg. 3, last paragraph

[5]Chapter 21, Pg 213, last paragraph

As we move further into the book, the story really starts to pick up. We now see how some of the characters begin to deal with death. Rick is now on the trail of the escaped Andy’s and each interaction with them causes him to call into question his actions. The chickenhead Isodore deals with the loss of a cat during his pickup. And the possible Andy with false memories, Resch must deal with how he must deal with the new knowledge that his memories are fake, and what he must do now that he may be what he has always hunted. From these three instances, we see how a character from different walks of life, or even being different life forms deals with the idea of death.

In chapter seven, John Isodore goes to pick up what he feels is a defective electric cat. On the ride to the shop, he attempts to see what is wrong with the animal, and doesn’t realize that it is in fact a real cat. During the ride, he thinks about how much this affects him, even being an electric animal [1]. When he gets to the office, his boss Mr. Sloat makes fun of him for not realizing that it was fake, and forces him to deal with the distraught customer [2]. Of all the men in the office, only John seemed to care about the death.

Throughout chapters 8 and 9, we see Deckard go to work at hunting the Andy’s. He goes about it in a callous way. When he first meets Polokov, who is pretending to be the soviet policeman who Deckard is [3] supposed to meet, upon realizing that he is the android, he destroys it. Thinking back to the encounter as he calms down, he thinks about the money he just made, and that he has a faster reaction than Holden [4]. His mind is more worried about making the money to replace his electric sheep that the loss of “life” doesn’t seem to affect him. Later on in the book, Deckard struggles with his views on retiring Andy’s but that can be discussed at a later time.

After attempting to deal with Ms. Luft the opera singer/Andy, he is taken to an unknown Hall of Justice in Chapter 10. Here he meets a few more of the androids, including Resch, who, while his occupation is a bounty hunter, doesn’t know if he is an android due to Garlands misinformation. Garland tells Deckard that Resch has false memories, and doesn’t know that he is an Andy, but when told that he just might be, he insists that Deckard give him the test to see if he is. [5] As he talks to Deckard about it, “his voice, husky and tormented, broke off.” He asks Deckard if he doesn’t want him to take it. After taking the test, he finds out that he really is a human. This result has Deckard start to rethink what he previously thought about how humans empathize with each other. Its interesting to see that Resch was willing to be retired if he actually was an Andy.

Of the three John Isidore seems to be the one who deals with death with the most humanity. In his society, he is considered less than human, but he acts more human than any other character in the book. When dealing with death around him, he seems to handle it well. Deckard thinks only about the money, and Resch could almost not deal with the fact that he might not be human. Deckard’s interactions through these chapters with the rest of the characters slowly changes his views on the subject, and whether he can even retire them any more. Chapter 16 ends with Deckard heading to a hotel to meet up with Rachael to “talk” about dealing with the remaining Andy’s. We will only see what happens in the next exciting installment of reading.

[1] Chapter 7 pg. 72 last paragraph.

[2] Chapter 7 pg 79 first paragraph.

[3] Chapter 8 pg. 92

[4] Chapter 8 pg. 93

[5] Chapter 11 pg. 129

I reread Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep last weekend but for this post, i’ll be covering some ideas from the first 5 chapters. I think the thing that sticks out to me the most early on in the book is how bleak the future is in this book. This is a universe where most of the population has migrated to space and a persons emotional state can be set using a mood organ [1]. The dregs of society, or specials are stuck on Earth. A war (World War Terminus) occurred sometime in the past that devastated the planet, to the point that owning certain animals can be a status symbol in and of itself. The need for owning an animal is so strong that humans will even keep lifelike robotic animals in place of a live one. Rick Deckard is somewhat ashamed of owning his electric sheep, as shown by his conversation with his neighbor in chapter 1. The chapter concludes with him actually showing a bit of vindictiveness towards his neighbor [2] causing Barbour to act nervous. This tone helps to show how desperate Rick is to replace the fake sheep.

Rick is a bounty hunter who doesn’t hunt humans, but androids or “andy’s”. These robots flee to earth occasionally from the outer worlds. Rick uses the teachings of Mercerism to justify hunting and “retiring” these andy’s [3]. To Rick, the andy’s are no better than animals, and in recalling this fact his mind is drawn back to owning an animal. It is so important to him that he goes after five of the latest models, androids that were able to get the better of his superior Holden.

To retire an android, a test must be given that a trained professional, Rick, can then use to determine if the person being tested is human or an android. The Voigt-Kampff Altered Scale is the most recent process and has not been proven to be 100% accurate in detecting an android. Rick has to go to the manufacture of the Nexus-6’s to determine if it will work on an android. Here is another instance to emphasis how much Rick wants a real animal. He is willing to go out in the field with an unproven test. His boss forces him to do this check first, which had it not been an order, Rick would have probably skipped and the story would probably have ended with his death or in the best case, in a hospital bed like his superior Holden.

By following the teachings of Mercer, ones identity is shown by your right and ability to own an animal. Rick comes across as a man who is close to the breaking point. He does not really seem like a man who really believes in Mercerism, but he does follow some of the principles. Whenever he has free time, he pulls out his copy of Sidney’s Animal & Fowl catalog [4] to check prices. When he visits the Rosen Corporation and sees the advanced copy of the book, he confiscates it [5]. His jealousy/envy of the animals he saw on display led to this act, and it causes a moment of awkwardness among those in the room. After administering the test, he is offered a bribe consisting of an owl, and you can almost see the inner turmoil that must be going on in his head.

It seems that RIcks identity is incomplete without an animal. Its almost as if owning an animal is the only thing that will make him human. Perhaps by destroying the androids, not only is he earning his way towards a real animal, but they are acting like a surrogate for the removal of his electric sheep.

[1] Page 3.

[2] Page 14 2nd to last paragraph.

[3] Page 31 last paragraph.

[4] Pages 32-33

[5] Page 45-46

Just thought i’d share this, saw it linked a little while ago… Electric Sheep!