Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep test

What does Iran reveal about the animal the primary protagonist finds?

It is not genuine

"Do androids dream" who said

Rick

"Electric things have their lives too" who said

Rick

What is the primary protagonist's name and occupation?

Rick Deckard, Bounty hunter (Androids)

What animal does the primary protagonist find in Oregon desert near the end of the novel?

Toad

Theme: Consumerism

a society where everything is for sale and where the mass media ensure that everybody craves the same things.In his novel, Dick depicts a futuristic society in which the art of "keeping up with the Joneses" has gone out of control.

Symbol: Empathy Box

cornerstone of the religion of Mercerism. Mercerists join together with each other by touching the empathy box—when they do so, they're rendered capable of feeling each other's thoughts, feelings, and pains—the most literal kind of empathy imaginable, but it doesn't seem to emit empathy, instead it emits a sense of hopelessness that symbolizes the failure of society.

Symbol: Voigt-Kampff test

designed to identify androids by testing their sense of empathy. The test is built on the idea that andy's do not have empathy, but humans do, however in the book this is proven untrue many times.

What happened to Dick's sister

died as an infant

Purple Passage "Maybe Buster is jealous... Sure, that would explain it; he and Wilbur Mercer are in competition. But for what? Our minds... They're fighting for control of our psychic selves; the empathy box on one hand, Buster's guffaws and off-the-cuff jibes on the other"(70).

- Speaker John Isidore's thoughts - Context Isadore's response to Buster's statement about empathy boxes. He contemplates rivalry between Buster Friendly and Wilbur Mercer, media personalities. - Significance 1. Theme of religion vs. media. Mercer represents the religion and Buster represents media. Both use propaganda to gain power this shows cheapening of religion and entertainment a sort of worship. 2. Characterization of Buster as jealous because of Mercer's influence on people. 3. Foreshadow of Buster exposing Mercer in attempt to grasp power. 4. Superiority-when Buster laughs at empathy box because he believes his ideals are better.

Purple Passage "In the absence of the Batys and Pris he found himself fading out, becoming strangely like the inert television set which he had just unplugged. You have to be with other people, he thought. In order to live at all. I mean, before they came here I could stand it, being alone in the building. But now it's changed. You can't go back, he thought. You can't go from people to nonpeople" (204).

- Speaker John Isodore's thoughts - Context After Pris and Batys move into apartment - Significance 1. Simile- John to unplugged TV- Portrays how empty he is. 2. personification of androids as people 3. characterization- John accepts androids 4. juxtaposition of beliefs of John and rick 5. In this paragraph, Isodore experiences a flashback to before the Batys and Pris came to show how much better company is.

Purple Passage "He had an indistinct, glimpsed darkly impression: of something merciless that carried a printed list and a gun, that moved machine-like through the flat, bureaucratic job of killing. A thing without emotions, or even a face; a thing that if killed got replaced immediately by another resembling it. And so on, until everyone real and alive had been shot" (158).

- Speaker Narrator - Context As JR is first meeting the Batys - Significance 1. In this passage, it sounds as thought Isodore is talking about Androids, but he's describing his impression of a bounty hunter, reinstating the theme of humanity vs. androids and lack of difference between the 2 2. word choice- "something" portrays lack of humanity in justification of bounty hunters 3. plot connection to when he meets Rick 4. Personification of Isidore - against bounty hunters, portraying faults in bounty hunting 5. Characterization- Isidore's ignorance to outside world, all he knows is all he believes. Dick uses this to portray fault in humanity's knowledge 6. Imagery of how dark the bounty hunters appear to be, providing to the tone towards them.

Purple passage "He thought, too, about his need for a real animal; within him an actual hatred once more manifested itself toward his electric sheep, which he had to tend, had to care about, as if it lived. The tyranny of an object, he thought. It doesn't know I exist. Like the androids, it had no ability to appreciate the existence of another. He had never thought of this before, the similarity between an electric animal and an andy. the electric animal, he pondered, could be considered a subform of the other, a kind of vastly inferior robot. Or, conversely, the android could be regarded as a highly developed, evolved version of the ersatz animal. Both viewpoints repelled him" (42).

- Speaker Narrator - Context Rick's meeting w/ the Rosens he sees many animals that he once thought to be extinct. - Significance 1. Characterizes Rick's resentment of electrical animals 2. value of animals symbolizes a caste system in society. 3. Motif of empathy emphasizing the fact that andys are not empathetic 4. Mechanical imagery tries to dehumanize Andys, separating them from humans 5. Theme of appearance vs. reality with electric animals and androids as opposed to authentic humans and animals.

Purple Passage "'I'll be okay,' He shook his head, as if trying to clear it, still bewildered. 'the spider Mercer gave the chickenhead, Isidore; it probably was artificial, too. But it doesn't matter. The electric things have their lives, too. Paltry as those lives are" (241).

- Speaker Rick - Context After he finds out toad is electric / end - Significance 1. settles internal conflict if electric lives are important (dynamic characterization) 2. theme of electric vs. real - electric animals matter 3. plot connection --> when spider's legs are getting cut off showing that androids cant appreciate lives 4. Rick doesn't need mood organ --> wants real feelings (newfound humanity) motif 5. plot connection - John likes spider

Purple Passage "Empathy, evidently, existed only within the human community, whereas intelligence to some degree could be found throughout every phylum and order including the arachnida. For one thing, the empathetic faculty probably required an unimpaired group instinct; a solitary organism, such as a spider, would have no use for it; in fact it would tend to abort a spider's ability to survive. It would make him conscious of the desire to live on the part of his prey. Hence all predators, even highly developed mammals such as cats, would starve" (30-31). -(Speaker,Context,Significance)

- Speaker Rick' thoughts - Context contemplating empathy before Rick was sent to Rosen Association - Significance 1. Motif of empathy- being introduced--> showing that empathy is considered the deciding factor to differentiate between humans and androids 2. Characterizing human population as a whole, reinstating superiority over even real animals (hierarchy) 3. Humanity vs. False intelligence --> theme portrayed in quote as Dick introduces Voight Kampf test 4. Plot connection to John and his spider 5. Word choice "predators" in animal kingdom mirrors bounty hunters to show the actual lack of humanity in population

Purple Passage "Do androids dream?... Evidently; that's why they occasionally kill their employers and flee here. A better life, without servitude. Like Luba Luft; singing Don Giovanni and Le Nozze instead of toiling across the face of a barren rock-strewn field. On a fundamentally uninhabitable colony world" (184).

- Speaker Rick's thoughts - Context Before Rick meets Rachael in hotel room - Significance 1. Analogy betysween androids and slaves questions justification of Andy's killing masters to go to earth 2. Motif of freedom- humans search for freedom on mars/ andys search for freedom on earth 3. Juxtaposition between dreams of androids and current situation 4. imagery of earth- desolate - setting tone 5. dynamic characterization- Rick looked down on Andys --> now more understanding

Purple Passage " This rehearsal will end, the performance will end, the singers will die, eventually the last score of the music will be destroyed in one way or another; finally the name 'Mozart' will vanish, the dust will have won. If not on this planet then another. We can evade it for awhile. As the andys can evade me and exist a finite stretch longer. But I get them or some other bounty hunter gets them. In a way... I'm part of the form-destroying process of entropy. The Rosen Association creates and I unmake" (91).

- Speaker Rick's thoughts - Context When Rick is at the opera house - Significance 1. personification- dust winning showing battle between people and dust and dust is winning 2. Motif of Kipple and dust strengthens Theme of inevitable destruction of earth 3. Self conflict of Rick needing to justify his destructions 4. Characterization of Rick's pessimistic viewpoint 5. Allusion to Mozart- reminding us that this used to be the earth we live on 6. Juxtaposition between Rick and androids with mechanical word choice such as "process" 7. Theme Rosen vs. Rick they're against each other, but need each other to live.

How many times did Dick marry?

5

Who is Buster Friendly

A talkshow host

Symbol: Toad

At the end of the book Rick discovers a toad crawling through the desert. He thinks it is alive but then discovers that it's a machine. Rick values the toad even though it's a robot showing that he has grown and has found empathy and sees humanity even in the robots.

Where was dick born and when

Chicago on December 16,1928

The novel also follows a secondary protagonist. What is his name and what is the derogatory term with which he identified?

Chickenhead, John Isodore

What is the title and author of the book assigned for summer reading?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick

what about Dick reflects in his writing?

He would have been a twin with his sister, so in his books, he normally has doubles like Pris and Rachael. (motif of phantom twins)

Theme Perception vs. Reality

Key question throughout the book is "What is real?" and the question is almost impossible to answer. Powerful corporations manufacture electric animals and people who seem to be "alive," but aren't. To make matters worse, nearly everyone in the future uses drugs that blur the line between reality and hallucination. The key point seems to be that if enough people or powerful people say it's real then it is real.

What does Rick use against the androids?

Lazer tube

"I don't like androids..." who said

Luba Luft

What are the two reasons that Dick dropped out of Berkeley

ROTC, and anxiety

What happens to the primary protagonist's goat?

Rachael kills it after Rick wouldn't kill Rachael

Animals represent two things in this book, what are they

Status or wealth, and empathy because humans want reassurance that they have this crucial element to humanity

What does Buster Friendly reveal about Mercer?

That he is not really a religious figure, an actor.

What is the name of the religious (or pseudo-religious) figure that some characters in the novel choose to follow or what is the name of the religion / philosophy surrounding this figure?

Wilbur Mercer/ Mercerism

Theme: Empathy

humans are human because they're capable of feeling empathy. In the future, police officers distinguish between humans and androids by administering the Voigt-Kampff test, which is designed to measure one's empathetic reaction to a series of emotional situations. Humans are supposed to respond by displaying empathy while androids are supposed to respond with a sense of coldness that borders on psychopathy. The irony is for all the talk about the importance of empathy, there doesn't seem to be very much of it going around. The human characters in the novel are cold and short with one another, even when they're friends or spouses.

Theme: Animals

humans have an uneasy relationship with the natural world. After decades of nuclear war, the natural world is in ruins: lush forests have become inhabitable deserts. Because the state of nature is so dire, pets are extremely valuable, and it's a mark of social status to own a sheep, a goat, or a horse.

Theme: Memories (Play on perception vs. reality)

memory isn't a reliable tool for humans looking to understand their environments. In the future, scientists implant memories in people's brains. In this way, scientists can fool androids into believing that they're human beings by giving them artificial memories of a childhood they never had. On multiple occasions, characters who believe that they're human learn that they're actually androids—their memories are just clever illusions.

What is the name of the device characters use to control their emotions?

mood organ

Symbol: Mood Organ

symbol of humans' reliance on machines, even as they simultaneously become more like machines (unable to feel emotion without using another machine). More to the point, however, the organ symbolizes the growing conformity of modern society, in which the mass media ensure that everyone is thinking and feeling the same things. We can also look at today's society dependence on antidepressants and other mood enhancing drugs as a direct parallel to the mood organ

Symbol: War Terminus

symbolizes humans' tendency to destroy themselves and their environment for the sake of selfish desires.