Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep By Philip K. Dick is futuristic science fiction book that details the dangerous mission of a bounty hunter named Rick Deckard. Rick lives on planet Earth in the times after world war terminus, a conflict that left the world with severe nuclear pollution and the extinction of almost all species of animals. Earth is a lonely and desolate place; most of its former inhabitants have emigrated to Mars. Emigrants are promised a free android upon arrival there. This is where Rick's mission comes in. Eight renegade androids have secretly and illegally come to Earth with the hopes of pretending to be humans.
They are the newest and most lifelike of android prototypes; they appear almost exactly like humans. At first Rick has no mental anguish at the idea of destroying these lifeless and hostile androids. The narrator points out: “Rick liked to think of them that way; it made his job palatable”(67). As the story continues though, Rick becomes connected to some of the androids. While hunting some of the androids Rick has a realization: “The shrill voice of the teacher penetrated all the rooms comprising the exhibit, and Rick thought, that's what you'd expect an andy to sound -and look- like. Instead of like Rachel Rosen and Luba Luft”(88). He begins to feel that the androids are no less lifelike than many humans, and he even has a romance with one of them. Rick continues to grapple with the thought of killing the androids: “I'm getting out of this business”(92), he says of bounty hunting . To him they appear to do no harm and only want to live a free and simple life. In the end, tempted by reward money and persuaded by a vision from Mercer (the leader of Mercerism, the philosophy by which people in the story live) Rick decides to destroy the remaining androids.
Philip K. Dick's book Do Anroids Dream of Electric Sheep? is filled with many excellent and interesting literary techniques and writing styles. It is written in the third person and details the actions and thoughts of the main character as well as describing those of other characters. Some of the story is told in the apartment of J.R. Isidore, the character who houses the last three fugitive androids. The descriptions of the events in his apartment shed light on the thoughts and feelings of the androids which I thought was very good way to provide another perspective of the story, although at times this created confusion.
Another interesting technique that Dick used was the purposeful use of mistakes. An example of this was the confusion of an android as a human being. “ He was silent then. Or rather it was silent”(83). This type of confusion was used several times in the book. Dick used allusions often as well. An example of this was a reference to Currier and Ives prints, well known artwork.
This book also contains lots of symbolism. The events in this story do not necessarily have one definite meaning. Much of what takes place, I think, is a representation of the authors ideas. He uses this story to get a point across to the reader. I will comment on the authors message in later sections of my report.
3. I chose to disscuss a passage in which Rick Deckard reveals what he thinks about the life of artificial animals. In doing this the passage also reveals the message of this book. Rick states: “I'll be okay. He shook his head, as if trying to clear it, still bewildered. The spider mercer gave the chickenhead, Isisdore; it probably was artificial,
too. But it doesn't matter. The electric things have their lives, too”(157-158). In this passage Rick makes clear the realization that he comes to after having hunted the eight androids. He realizes that the androids are no less complex or alive than any other humans. They look, think and have feelings just as other humans do. Rick's experiences with the androids lead him to believe that they are alive. This coincides with the message of the book. The author, through the character Rick, reveals that the androids are alive and also reveals the basis of the story, the definition of what life and being alive is.
4. I chose to discuss a passage in this book that reveals the fact that two identical models of android are different. Rick is having an affair with one of the androids; Rachel. The other is an android who Rick must retire. As Rick is about to make love to Rachel he realizes: “ Tonight sometime, he thought as he clicked off the bedside light, I will retire a nexus-6 which looks exactly like this naked girl. My good God, he thought; I've wound up where Phil Resch said. Got to bed with her first, then kill her. I cant do it, he said, and backed away from the bed” (128). Later in the book though, Rick does end up killing the other android. He realizes that even though Rachel and the other android are the same model they are different because of their experiences. The things they did made them different to Rick. This made me realize something about human beings: In the same way that the androids are the same model, we are all humans. Our experiences and accomplishments are what separate us.
5. Before I read this book I did not enjoy science fiction and after having read it I like science fiction even less. It was not that it was terribly written, because it wasn't, it was that the story was stupid, even though I understand much of it was symbolic. I found the story very boring and insensible. I think in general I just don't like science fiction. I don't like things that aren't possible and have little application to my life.
The reason I chose to read this book was the fact that I saw it lying on my bookshelf one night and realized it was on the reading list. I read a little and didn't feel like finding another book, so I just stuck with it.
Contrary to what you might think I would actually recommend this book to another person, but only if they enjoy science fiction. Overall I would give this book a four out of ten. It was well written, and had some good symbolism but it was boring. I did not enjoy this book.
