Nov 15, 2009

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Introduction

The importance of Philip Kindred Dick may never be fully assessed or accepted by mainstream analysts of English literature. The reason is simply that Dick's chosen genre, science fiction, has little standing with academic critics. In addition, Dick's fiction can be incredibly difficult to grapple with. As Robert Scholes and Eric S. Rabkin noted in their Science Fiction: History, Science, Vision, "His work is not easy to discuss, since it does not fall neatly into a few books of exceptional achievement and a larger body of lesser works. All his books offer ideas, situations, and passages of considerable interest. None quite achieves that seamless perfection of form that constitutes one form of literary excellence." Nevertheless, Dick is widely regarded as a master of his chosen medium, and through more than one hundred short stories, some fifty novels (mostly science fiction), many essays, and lectures, he has created a cult following around the world. Most people know him as the writer behind the epoch setting 1982 film Blade Runner. Sadly, few outside the science fiction community have read the more complex original work that formed the basis for the film, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

In this novel, Dick furthers his exploration of his staple obsessions: What is reality? What does it mean to be human in a digital, mechanized world? Where, if anywhere, does one draw a line between the value of real and artificial life? Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? takes place on a post-nuclear apocalyptic Earth, where eight androids—artificially constructed humanoid robots—have recently arrived after killing their human masters on Mars. Androids are not allowed on Earth, and Mercer, the religious cult figure of the book, has declared that killers must be killed. The increasing difficulty of distinguishing androids from humans disturbs Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter called in to "retire" the fugitives. In a world where animal life is prized so highly that people buy artificial sheep to tend, why should androids be treated any differently? In examining these questions, the novel provides a brilliant pause for reflection on the meaning of human life and humanity's responsibility for the environment it is so determined to destroy.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Summary

The Situation
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? takes place in the year 1992, after World War Terminus has spread a cloud of radioactive dust across the globe. Many plant and animal species are extinct, and many of the surviving humans have emigrated to colonies on Mars. The remaining humans are divided between regulars and "specials," people who are either too stupid or too affected by radiation to be allowed to reproduce. As a result of these combined factors, cities are underpopulated and ownership of animals is considered both a status symbol and a sign of righteous empathy. Both real and imitation animals are expensive, with price lists updated monthly. In demand by Martian colonists are androids, manufactured to be as much like humans as possible, both in flesh and in emotion. Colonists are offered custom-designed androids when they emigrate, and the androids serve as slaves. Discontented androids can escape from servitude by killing their masters and then returning to Earth to hide. Bounty hunters from Earth's various police forces are sent to locate these escapees and "retire" them. As the androids have become more humanlike, retiring them has become more and more like killing.

The novel opens in the apartment of bounty hunter Rick Deckard and his wife, Iran. As he leaves for work, she tries to decide what mood to "dial up" for herself with their Penfield mood enhancing machine. Going to his car on the roof, Deckard stops to feed his electronic sheep. He takes a moment to admire his neighbor's real, living horse. Upon hearing that the horse is pregnant, Rick's frustration surfaces, and he admits to his neighbor that his sheep is false.

At work, his superior explains Deckard's new mission to him: eight androids have escaped from Mars, and San Francisco's lead bounty hunter, Dave Holden, has been shot down after retiring two. Deckard's first step is to go to the androids' manufacturer, Rosen Association, to learn about this newest, most realistic model, the Nexus-6. The company's president, Eldon Rosen, doubts the accuracy of the "Voigt-Kampff" empathy test that the police use to distinguish androids from humans. His niece, Rachael, takes the test, and when it concludes that she is not huma, they assume that the test is flawed. The Rosens then attempt to bribe Deckard by offering him a real owl. Following a hunch, Deckard asks one last question that proves that his test results were accurate: Rachael Rosen is indeed an android.

Alternating with Deckard's story, the novel follows the day of John "J. R." Isidore, a "special" laborer with a low I.Q. who works for a veterinary clinic that cares for artificial animals. Isidore is a devotee of Wilbur Mercer, the religious figure that most people, including the Deckards, believe in. They relate to Mercer via "empathy boxes": they watch video images of him climbing a mountain, pelted with stones by skeptics, and when a stone hits Mercer, the viewers who have real empathy for him will also bruise or bleed. Isidore is also a fan of Buster... » Complete Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Summary