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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: Difference between revisions

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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (view source)

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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
A novel by [[Philip K. Dick]] about escaped androids trying to pass for humans in a dystopian future, and the people whose job it is to hunt them down. The book is notable for film fans as being the source material for ''[[Blade Runner]]''.▼
| title = Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
| image = Electricsheep.jpg
| caption =
| author = Philip K. Dick
| central theme =
| elevator pitch =
| genre = Dystopian science fiction
| publication date = 1968
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
▲A novel by [[Philip K. Dick]] about escaped androids trying to pass for humans in a dystopian future, and the people whose job it is to hunt them down., '''''Do Androids Dream of TheElectric bookSheep?''''' is notable for film fans as being the source material for ''[[Blade Runner]]''.
 
In the [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|distant future of the 1990s]], nuclear war has destroyed nearly all life on Earth. Almost all animals are extinct, and only a fraction of the human race remains on Earth. Those left behind are either unwilling to leave, or are "specials" (called "chickenheads" or, in severe cases of mental damage, "antheads"), who are ineligible to leave due to overexposure to fallout. The people on Earth give their lives meaning by taking care of the last animals that are left on planet. As a proof of their empathy and humanity, those who can't afford a real animal inevitably end up buying an electric model instead: it's considered antisocial, if not downright sinful, to not have an animal to show the neighbours.
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Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter working for the San Francisco police department. He's assigned to hunt down and "retire" six Nexus-6 androids who have escaped from Mars, after the previous man on the case was left critically injured. His task is complicated when Deckard meets Rachael Rosen, a beautiful young woman associated with the leading android manufacturing company, and he begins to question the morality of his job. Deckard's life isn't going quite the way he wanted: he's stuck on earth, his wife has discarded artificial moods in favor of actual depression, and his sheep is electric.
 
Meanwhile, John R. Isidore -- aIsidore—a chickenhead who lives alone in a decaying apartment building -- findsbuilding—finds that somebody else is now living in another apartment. It's a beautiful young woman named Pris Stratton, who calls herself "Rachael Rosen", then abruptly changes her story. She is cold and dismissive towards him at first, but later appeals to him for help: she has friends who have to come and hide out with her, because there's a bounty hunter trying to kill them. J.R. Isidore, who has never had a friend, is eager to help...
 
As in most [[Philip K. Dick]] novels, the characters are all extremely confused about their identity and their surroundings. Some plot twists are overly obvious from the start, and although the novel never explicitly states why the characters don't notice them easily, it can be assumed that every person in the novel suffers from some level of fallout-related brain damage and detachment from reality. The result is a very dreamy, expressionistic story that has become one of Dick's most popular works.
 
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=== Provides Examples Of: ===
* [[Artificial Human]]: The androids.
* [[Do Androids Dream?]]: The [[Trope Namer]]. {{spoiler|Although the book does break that when it turns out the robots really can't feel empathy, and don't care about hurting innocent creatures, or even each other.}}
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* [[The Vamp]]: Rachael and Pris.
* [[Tomato in the Mirror]]: Phil Resch almost becomes convinced he's a robot, and has to take an empathy test to find out.
* [[Two Lines, No Waiting]]: The book has two protagonists -- Rickprotagonists—Rick Deckard and JR Isidore.
* [[Unbuilt Trope]]: Deconstructed the [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] trope before Blade Runner widely popularized it
* [[Unholy Matrimony]]: Roy and Irmgard Baty.
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: The book answers -- itanswers—it's empathy. Humans can feel for another's distress and act selflessly, while androids are incapable of doing so. Very little really separates Andies from sociopaths, who are incapable of feeling empathy for another living being. Deckard admits the only reason the Voight-Kampf test is effective is because of the assumption that ''all'' the human sociopaths are locked away in asylums. Just like real life sociopaths, the Andies have become masters of using charm and deception to manipulate other people's emotions for their own benefit. They also cannot comprehend the idea of a fictional character still being "real" to people or inspiring them. [[Word of God]] states that Dick got the idea for the book because he couldn't believe the Nazis were human because of all the horrifying things they did to other people.
 
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[[Category:Nebula Award]]
[[Category:Literature of the 1960s]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:DoThis AndroidsIndex DreamAsked ofYou Electrica SheepQuestion]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
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