This final section of the book was more of a Mental battle in the mind of The main protagonist Rick and John. The android Rachael reveals the purpose of the Rosen Coorperation “And we then have the Nexus-7. And when that gets caught we modify it again and eventually the association has a type that can’t be distinguished.” (p.75) This pretty much shows that the main villain of the entire story may actually just be the Rosen Corperation in their attempt to build human replicas. “I’m not alive! You’re not going to bed with a woman. Don’t be disappointed; okay? Have you ever made love to an android before?” (p.77) when I found out that Rachael’s main purpose is to pull out the empathy of bounty hunters towards androids making her retire Bounty hunters I was extremely surprised. “No bounty hunter ever has gone on,” Rachael said. “After being with me. Except one. (p.79)

I feel that Rick natural pride that he demonstrates in many of the other chapters is broken down as he is now put in a position where he doesn’t know if he can do his job due to one night with one android that he said he would marry.

John the character  related to had a terrible breaking point as the religion that connects him to the society that naturally looks down on him is destroyed. Buster Friendly (AN ANDROID!!) shows how Mercism is a sham. To top this off He watches as the two android women are torturing a spider which naturally shows him their lack of care for life.  So I think that Empathy boxes are magic genie lamps as “He opened his fingers. On his hand rested the mutilated spider, but with its snipped-off legs restored.” (p.86) sure in a later chapter I begin to wonder if is just a mechanical animal but still… WOW!

So In Chapter 19 our two main Protagonist finally meet and end up… not really liking each other “Isidore stammered, “I don’t w-w-want to live near you.”” (p.89) I feel he views him as the “crude murderous police dog” that his wife calls him in the beginning of the story for killing creatures who proven some capability to love for his own selfish needs for an living animal. 

So yeah Rachael killed Ricks New goat which i feel was a reflection of anger on 3 separate accounts.

1. He like Phil Resch resisted her ability to retire a Bounty Hunter.

2. He was able to kill her twin model Pris even after his claims too her about how he loves her and people who look like her (pretty much he had the balls to shoot Rachael.)

3. He was a Human running around killing Androids so its like a ironic twist as she an android walks up to a living creature and kills it( and to ruin him)

But what surprised me the most was his trip to the Carolina where he climbed an actual mountain but was discouraged as he realized that the true mean of Mercism was to connect society together in a form of physical/mental way. And He found a Frog… Mechanical but you know what Mercer changed the prideful Rick to something new… He turned Rick Into himself. Rick is Mercer.

Picking up on ch 16 we witness the encounter of Deckard and Rachel Rosen. He requested her help to retire the three remaining androids assigned to him, and when she reads the poop sheet on Pris Stratton she becomes upset. At first I thought that she felt identified with Pris, with them being the same android model, I even thought that she empathized with her, but we soon find out that she is in fact willing to retire her herself. With a flirtatious to and fro, Deckard and Rachel end up having sex. Right afterwards Rachel reveals herself as a Bounty Hunter Seducer, a kind of sexbot, assigned by the Rosen Association to sleep with and confuse bounty hunters to the point that they no longer desire to retire andys. Deckard feels angry at this betrayal, and is even willing to retire her, realizing that she had already resigned herself to die, a trait he thought all androids had in common. They basically lack the will to fight and survive that a true living organism with billions of years of evolution has (Ch. 17, p. 200). In the end lets her live with the pretext that she only has two more years until her artificial metabolism stops working and she becomes obsolete.

Back with John Isidore and we find that he is happy with finally having company, even though he is fully aware that the androids are using him, as he reflected:

You have to be with other people, he though. in order to live (Ch. 18, p. 204).

Not long after we hear the big “revelation” from Buster Friendly: Mercerism is a swindle. Or is it really? Between the torture of the spider by Pris and the TV announcement, Isidore seems to be having a breakdown, during which he manages to connect to his empathy box, somehow causing Wilbur Mercer to materialize on the spot. This part is somewhat confusing, as you’re not sure if his exchange with Mercer is happening in reality or in his head. Mercer uses his powers of resurrection to heal the tortured spider, causing Isidore to run away with it, bumping into Deckard on the way. Here again, the supposedly materialized form of Mercer somehow manages to warn Deckard about Pris Stratton who is hiding behind and rushing towards him, laser tube in hand. He retires her, and then proceeds to… somewhat easily, it seems… retire Roy and Irmgard Baty. Honestly I was expecting more of a showdown, with some eloquent speech from Roy before being destroyed. Instead we get Deckard admitting his love for Rachel Rosen.

Returning home, Rick finds that Rachel has killed his Black Nubian goat, and he proceeds to run off to the Oregon desert, where once again, things get confusing. Rick claims to have physically merged with Mercer, and as he begins walking up a hill, he takes a rock to the groin. It is never revealed who threw the rock. Maybe the fact that he is now one with Mercer makes rocks hurl themselves at him? Anyway, he goes back to his car, sniffs some snuff and sees a living toad, which are thought to be all extinct. The sight of the toad seems to bring a renewed energy to him. He captures it and enthusiastically runs home to show Iran. She discovers that the toad is an ersatz animal, and Rick is so mentally and physically tired that he just decides to go to bed. Iran kisses him to comfort him and this makes him pleased, like he was before knowing the toad was artificial. I guess in the end he realized that he is alive, he has his wife, and an animal, although fake. Rick Deckard ends the story in the same circumstances he was at the beginning.

Conclusion

Although entertaining at times, the more esoteric parts of the story were confusing, especially concerning Mercerism. Although a work of Science Fiction, DADOES introduced a heavy spiritual element with the religion, its followers and its practices. These were all very human concepts, not mechanical, digital or robotic.

I know it’s not due until next week, but I’m off to watch Blade Runner now, hoping for a better ending.

PS: Rachel Rosen killed Rick’s goat and got away with it. What a b*tch.

I think I can speak for the majority of the class that the ending to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep wasn’t as great as the rest of the novel. I feel that there was a definitely a huge change of direction from the first few and middle chapters to the final chapters of the book.

At first, as we all know, reading the book was exciting, and one could try to figure out, as they’re reading, what the next stage of events would take place, but there always seems to be a twist in the most shocking way possible, such as (which is one of my favorites) finding out that a whole “fake” police department were created and ran by androids, in order to throw Rick off his trail. I mean that was unexpectedly awesome.

But now, I start coming across all this stuff that I can’t begin to understand.

Oh, and here’s one of them: The little “sex” scene we encountered. For me, this was quite a shocker. For one, Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter that is specifically trained to hunt down and kill androids on Earth, and we know he has been doing this job for most of his life, but suddenly, out of the blue, after only seeing Ms. Rachael Rosen once before, he has the audacity to sleep with her. And two, she is a machine. She does not have feelings. She says, “I love you” (Dick 194), but even I would know that it’s impossible for her to even comprehend what that means.

I mean, I wouldn’t be able to understand that. She, or rather it works and was created for a company that has done some questionable things.

Then, to add a little spice to it, we discover that the whole thing was just a ruse. It was all planned out in order to change Deckard’s mind about the job he does. Inevitably, however, she fails, and Rick proceeds in finding the three missing androids.

Wow, that was such quick thinking. You should’ve thought of that before you went in bed with a robot, Rick.

Oh, but it doesn’t end there. When we finally get to our final three androids on the list, what we expected and what actually happened were two totally different things. To me, I was expecting more of a resistance from the final three, and from what we heard about this Roy android on page 184-185 in Chapter 16, he isn’t the kind of android you’d want to piss off. I guess I was just expecting a mix of clichés; lasers flying all over the place and explosions, but you know what did happen? They all died pretty quickly with very little effort by Deckard’s hand. Oh, and with a little help from none other than ‘Mercer’ himself.

And that is where my brain exploded. Not in a good way, but in total confusion. I still don’t know who this Mercer guy really is, but from what I can tell, he is a religious figure.

To put in simple terms, he is accepted as ‘God’ by the general public.

And then the ending happened:

“I didn’t know what else to do at the end, so I just decided to end it with Rick going to sleep because, you know, he had a long day, and he needed some much needed rest,” says not-Philip K. Dick.

Yeah, that was certainly a surprising ending. I just made 6,000 dollars today so let’s just drink coffee and go to sleep.

I guess I can just say that was a little boring. I guess I was expecting something more badass; Harrison Ford would never do such a thing.

But, as a final statement: Overall, this was a fantastic read. I can’t wait to see what’s in store next in the course.

Dios mio, that was such a suspenseful ending, like wow. So much happened, and the plot for this book escalated so well. so we start off with our hero, Ricardo, awaiting the arrival of the ever so stunning (at least to Ricardo) Rachel Rosen, who is in fact an android, in a pretty decent hotel room where they will discuss “business”, but is really a well set up opportunity to let Ricardo indulge in a fantasy to sleep with an adroid as previous mentioned by the one the only Phil Resch. That maniacal son of a bounty hunter mentioned to Ricardo that its a natural urge to feel in the profession of bounty hunter and that the only rule to sleeping with an android is killing them afterward, which is pretty sensible, in like a crazy sort of perspective, or outlook on life, such as the one that Phil has,cause hes kinda crazy, or to be put justly, desensitized to by the killing of many android units in his time as a hunter. Anyway, so Ricardo and Rachel get it on, and then its  back to the old grind for Ricky, and he gets right back to work on hunting those androids, but wait theres more. Now as previously mentioned in my other posts, the androids seem to want one thing, or strive for one thing, to understnd and in tuen, become more human, through the empathetic process, for what they do not understand, they loath and envy, they crave it, just as Ricardo craves a cooler animal (oh btw he got a goat and thats important). so we see the android Rachel kinda express her understandning of human emotion when she shows signs of jelously towards, get this, Ricardos Goat, his black nubian goat is Rachels new worst enemy (p.202). I thought that this was interesting, that we as the readers are finding more depth to the android class of character this late in the game, for theres another instnace of human like characteristics that fall under empathy, expressed through Rachel yet again when she mentions Luba Luft as her friend, and that they had been friends for two years (p.199) only after however she explains how much of a cold calculating souless machine she is by explaining her deceit to Ricardo, stating that this isnt the first time that a bounty hunter has slept with her, telling him that every single time afterwards, the hunters attitudes was changed towards killing the androids, the special case being The One, The Only Phil Resch, since hes kinda crazy (p.198). Still its quite interseting to see how much thought Dick (the author but you already knew that) and effort was put into the complexity of these characters, especially the androids. Rachel is portrayed, not as a cold hearted bitch, but as a tool that has to be a cold hearted bitch, she Bribed Ricky, slept with him to change his sentiments toward killing androids, which spoiler alert, didnt work since he succesfully killed the remaing three on his list, and last but not least, the icing on the cake, murdered his Goat (p.227-228). This is the interesting part, for she did it out of Jealousy a common human trait, and empathatic response that is usualy the reslut of an insecurity or threat towards someone, or in this case something besides the person feeling the emotion. she made no attemot at being sneaky, and quietly taking the goat out, oh no. she went out of her way to make her presence known to those on the roof, Ricardos neighbor Barbour, and literally pushed the goat off the roof and left, like she was queen bee sending a message. I find that very interesting in a character who isnt supposed to have a motive to commit a crime thats severly punishable by law, on top of the fact that shes an android killing sacred life.

Another crazy turn of events is that Future Jesus is both non existent, and a total bad-ass. What happened was that Buster Friendly, an android sent from the future to destroy future jesus (that was a terminator joke but whatever) disproved Mercerism down to a set of films made by an old hollywood movie maker/drunkard which had the androids super ecstatic and that its a total sham and those who practiced it, Humans, are stupid for doing it (p. 205-211). In between a whole bunch of other stuff happened with the androids at J.R.’s place and he kinda lost his senses and all of his belief and sense of self was, just as Mercerism was moments prior, totally destroyed and he lost his mind for a bit, seeing the graphic nature of his self imposed lonely and meaningless existence without his belief and manifest in a created world which was crumbling and deteriorating all around him(p.211-214). BUT WAIT, theres more. It turns out that Mercerism is indeed a fake, but Mercer and the power he posses isnt, for he went and spoke to J.R. and told him to stiffen up that upper lip and keep on keeping on, to roll with the punches, and that no matter what, whether or not J.R. stops searching for Mercer, that Mercer will never stop searching for him, and that he will always have his back (p. 214-215). I thought that was amazing, to give hope to an already damaged character, (but then to strip it all away when Ricardo kills his android friends) and sort of repair him, yet still leaving him vulnerable and confused. The idea behind Mercerism, in my opinion, is a simple one, hope. Hope in a world such as this is necessary, when the populace relies on machines to feel and cant hold relations with themselves very well is an essential game piece in this messed up universe. And Mercer shows that he has hope for all that seek him by helping Ricky, not once, but twice, once by warning him of impending android attack, saving him from the hardest kill he had to do in his career and guiding him through it (p. 220-221) from the android Pris Stratton, who looked like Rachel, and was so hard for him because he kind of fell in love with her, in a weird turn of events, and again when Ricky had given up and was on the verge of killing himself, by fusing and becoming one with Rick (p. 234), Mercer helped Ricardo understand that his role in life is essential and something that will ultimately have to happen whether he Ricky likes it or not. He gave him a new understanding and outlook on life, especially when he found a toad in the dessert (it was fake though) (p. 236). this new outlook did so much as to put a smile on his face and be happy and relieved for the first time in a long time, as mentioned by his wife when he returned home (p. 239) which was great to see in our dark and complex protagonist. We see Mercer as the light at the end of the tunnel, the light that shines and protects the weak, the beacon of hope for a race of people who have none. Yes it was tainted and destroyed by Buster, an android who has no understanding, no concept of hope or empathy, but it will live on through Ricardo, and the rest of the world who still need something to cling too.

All in all, it was a great read, 10 out of 10, master piece, i would re read it again just for fun. Its chock full of complex plot, meaning, and symbolism, as well as a lot of fun to read, and an exciting adventure into a future that may or may not exist one day.

Cant wait to talk about this.

Yummz

In the final chapters of Phillip’s K. Dick novel – “Do androids dream of electric sheep” we read about a new, intense twist of events. Rick Deckard through his curiosity finds himself in a kind of close relationship with an attractive female Nexus-6 android called Rachel Rosen. Rachel is on the most advanced, important member in Rosen Association. Because of that Rachel cannot afford a luxury of becoming an independent android. Everything she does is for the good of corporation she serves. Deckard finds Rachel attractive, he desires her in a way humans desire one another. Naturally as a curious guy, Deckard makes a move on her just to find out how it is to make love to a machine. Rachel doesn’t care about Rick or his feelings. Seducing Deckard is just a way for Rachel to distract his investigation against other disobedient androids similar to Rachel. It’s the only way Deckard can be stopped from “retiring” other andys.

I believe Philip K. Dick wants to show a contrast between real love and fake love, or maybe lust in this weird case. Rick has a wife which he supposedly loves, however as time passes by he stops seeing the coldness of machines in androids, not only that he somehow fantasizes about intimate life with an android. Because androids don’t have empathy and are basically talking dolls, very sophisticated, but dead inside anyways. We get a grim, serious, emotional, rational, and existential conflict. What is it to love a dead thing? And another one. Is cheating with a machine a type of affair or bizarre way of masturbation? (After all it’s just a dead thing that gives you pleasure just like any other sex toy). Is there a way for a human being to cheat itself into believing that dead talking dolls are just as good as humans? Or better yet, imagine a child raised by androids without knowing it. Andys so sophisticated they can pass voight-kampff empathy test. If child doesn’t know that it’s being raised by machines it will probably think androids are just as real as humans. What if we humans are just “operating systems” inside meat coated skeletal machines called human bodies and programmed in different world by Mercer like entity called god… Ok, I got carried away a little with wild, impossible (I hope) ideas. But my approach to this incident between Rachel and Rick boils down to one scary question, what does it mean to be real and living? What do you guys think, I demand comments 🙂 !!!

Reading the last chapters you can say that some events were predictable. To be honest i was very confused at the ending. I started to wonder what is left after all of this. I was not happy by the conclusion but i guess its the message also known as the big picture is what matters. Even the big picture can get a bit distracting also. When all is summarized about the androids you start to realize that androids had the same mission of slaves in the early 1800s which was to escape and get a better life. In a way when rick talks about roy baty in the beginning of chapter 16, i began to think about the ways of nat turner.

I later becomes distracted on who rick really is. In chapter 17 I start to wonder why would he fall for a trap like that if he knew what type of person Rachel was. In a way i respect Rachel in her ways to try to save her others but you can really see that rick had deep emotions for her because he became upset finding out he wasn’t the only bounty hunter. When bring up buster friendly again in chapter 18 it brings up my point that i stated in previous chapters talking about how he is a form of propaganda.

I feel that chapter 19 becomes a big climax in the story it starts to build up at the end of the 2nd paragraph – the 5th. At this point the androids know its their turn to go. With good suspicion placed in becoming anxious and with the andys getting retired and one retaliating killing ricks goat i was feeling that the ending would be where rick’s life gets put on the line.