Read it again and again … (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick)

Member Name: Smile

Product:	Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Date:	21/02/01 (932 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellently crafted. Wonderfully imaginative. Highly believable. Great character development.

Disadvantages: Will have to be re-read!

The Science Fiction genre knows no bounds and readers usually have to willingly suspend their disbelief so as to sink into “dreamscapes” presented by the author. However, Philip K. Dick’s “Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep” is so real, the reader is transported to his futuristic post-war era with minimal effort.

Now sharing a cult status alongside the film version “Blade Runner”, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” does not disappoint. This is Dick at his best, and although it is his most famous novel there are other noteworthy ones (“Through a Scanner Darkly”, for example). In many of Dick’s stories, there is a sense of the autobiographical, particularly in those revolving around government conspiracies and telepathic suggestion; however, it is difficult to find such a theme here, and this only helps to make it more readable.

Whilst the relatively complex plot and mind-blowing ideas might be hard to comprehend for those who are not used to the genre, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” is actually fairly easy to follow once the reader accepts the existence of biomechanical robots capable of thoughts and dreams. The main precept of the story (and the title) is that it is possible to achieve sentience once a thinking machine has memories and can link these to emotions. Empathy!

To prevent future human conflict, citizens in Dick’s post war society are expected to care for “replicant” animals, and to feel empathy towards one another. Hence it is somewhat ironic the trade of bounty hunting actually exists, and is the role which our hero Rick Deckard decides to pursue – especially since he is hunting man-made artificial humans! His interaction and subsequent relationship with Rachel Rosen is one of the most interesting I have read in any science fiction novel.

What many readers and film viewers fail to notice the
first time around is Rachel Rosen’s role in the story: she not merely a special android created by whimsical genius, in fact, she is used to force Deckard into sympathising with the androids he is attempting to seek and destroy. This works marvellously well for the storyline and the reader, especially since it is a tactic used by Dick with the utmost subtlety. Hence my prior statement indicating it is initially missed by many a reader and is often realised after the book has been put down.

The problem for Rick Deckard is that Rachel’s ploy actually works, and he does feel empathy towards the “replicants” he charged with finding and destroying. This in turn questions his belief in reality, because if androids can have memories and dreams, he cannot be certain he is human after all. His emotional tumult is very well described and extremely authentic given the circumstances.

In fact, all the characters in “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” are well developed and each seems to have a secret. This works incredibly well and allows Dick to work a number of ‘whodunit’ scenarios into the story. It also enables the reader to frequently question characters’ motives and to understand why they act in the manner in which they do.

The religious connotations in the novel are vital to the story and its setting, but I’ll leave that for readers to discover on their own. Dick spells out a belief in empathy between men, and this is just what one would expect in the US after a nuclear war has devastated the country – just like most things in America: it comes too late! The irony here is like a viscous haze which permeates the whole book, and Dick’s wry cynicism is rife throughout.

The idea of artificially created humans with limited life spans which exclude a childhood, produced only to be slaves or pleasure models is one which has been utilised by many authors. It is
easy to draw some parallels with characters such as Data from “Star Trek”, whose constant battle is to try to become more ‘human’.

The difference in Dick’s novel and the film is that these units of highly evolved artificial life have been implanted with real memories from real people, so they almost believe they are human. Created by the Rosen Association whose motto is “More human than human”, they are searching for their maker, because like many human beings, they want more life!

Here is what many believe is Dick’s only flaw: the science in “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” is somewhat dubious; however, this is negligible as the novel is actually in the genre of Science Fiction, and it is the fiction readers should concentrate on rather than attempting to poke holes in the technology or factual attributes. The joy of reading Dick’s work is in sinking into his words, worlds, plots, themes and characters; because it is easy to do - his novels are amazingly realistic regardless of their settings or the science behind them.

I believe this is due to Dick’s advantage over many other science fiction authors: he usually wrote of a future which is not too distant, and he wrote several novels based in his own time. As a consequence, his worlds are often as graphically granular as real life and it is easy to sink into his settings.

Filmed as “Blade Runner” (directed by Ridley Scott), the movie captures much of the ambience and storyline very well, and achieves the same grittiness. However, there is much which is excluded and a number of missing links, so if you’re looking for an accurate melange of text (novel) and script (film), I would recommend K.W. Jeter’s three sequels to the original. Jeter was Dick’s protégé, and he successfully bridges the gap between “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and “Blade Runn
er” extraordinarily well, as well as carrying the story forward.

In interview, Jeter stated the Blade Runner novels (the original and the ones he wrote) are not about events, but about Rick Deckard, and that he is ill-fated – bad things just seem to happen to him (including his relationship(s) with Rachel Rosen). This is exactly how to describe, in simple terms, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”; if anything, it is a story about an unfortunate and almost doomed man.

Much has been written about Philip K Dick himself, and there is no shortage of fans – or critics either. I am the former, but not blindly so, and I recognise some of Dick’s novels are atrocious by comparison, whilst others are far too mainstream to be classed in the same genus as “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”. It certainly is one of his best (alongside VALIS – my personal favourite).

Having read much of his work, I recommend “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” as a great introduction to the talent of Philip K Dick; however, it is one you will have to re-read after you have tried some of his others. One connecting theme in all his literary achievements is his disenchantment with the world and the human species. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” includes this theme and is probably Dick’s stab at laughing at the human condition (past, present and future), and his cynicism (observed in many of his novels) is both amusing and relevant.

It might not change your life, but if read with avid interest it may alter your perspective on reality! It will most definitely captivate and intrigue the majority of readers.

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