Book Write-Up: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
1. Detailed Information
Rick Deckard is the novel's protagonist. While not described physically, he is described as a bounty hunter with the San Francisco Police Department. In the exposition, Rick is a selfish, self-seeking cop who sees no value in android life. This specific attitude towards androids is also supposed to be the attitude of androids towards other androids, so in the climax of the story the characterization is questionable as to whether or not Rick is an android with embedded false memories. Throughout the story Rick has a strong desire to own and care for an animal, but his income won’t allow it. By the end of the novel, his experiences have caused him to develop empathy towards androids and all things that represent living things. Rick uses the Penfield Mood Organ, which allows the user to dial a desired emotion, to dial up emotions according to schedule that will keep him productive. On the other hand, his wife Iran Deckard chooses the depression emotion. She has deep empathy towards humanity for the depression and sadness others are experiencing, and she knows this because she devoutly follows a religion called Mercerism in which she can share emotions with others. She is the most consistently empathetic character in the novel, because even when she makes the decision to leave the depression towards the end of the novel, she still musters up the empathy to care for an electric toad as if it were real in order to fulfill her husband. John R. Isidore is a supporting protagonist in a parallel story in the novel. He is a large man with unfitting childish features and personality. In speech he often stutters uncontrollably. John is a "chickenhead" (mentally incapacitated due to radiation) who works a unskilled job as a driver for an electric pet repair ‘hospital’. He is by nature altruistic towards all creatures living or electric, and craves human relationship. This desire of his leads to his harboring of and caring for a group of
Rick Deckard is the novel's protagonist. While not described physically, he is described as a bounty hunter with the San Francisco Police Department. In the exposition, Rick is a selfish, self-seeking cop who sees no value in android life. This specific attitude towards androids is also supposed to be the attitude of androids towards other androids, so in the climax of the story the characterization is questionable as to whether or not Rick is an android with embedded false memories. Throughout the story Rick has a strong desire to own and care for an animal, but his income won’t allow it. By the end of the novel, his experiences have caused him to develop empathy towards androids and all things that represent living things. Rick uses the Penfield Mood Organ, which allows the user to dial a desired emotion, to dial up emotions according to schedule that will keep him productive. On the other hand, his wife Iran Deckard chooses the depression emotion. She has deep empathy towards humanity for the depression and sadness others are experiencing, and she knows this because she devoutly follows a religion called Mercerism in which she can share emotions with others. She is the most consistently empathetic character in the novel, because even when she makes the decision to leave the depression towards the end of the novel, she still musters up the empathy to care for an electric toad as if it were real in order to fulfill her husband. John R. Isidore is a supporting protagonist in a parallel story in the novel. He is a large man with unfitting childish features and personality. In speech he often stutters uncontrollably. John is a "chickenhead" (mentally incapacitated due to radiation) who works a unskilled job as a driver for an electric pet repair ‘hospital’. He is by nature altruistic towards all creatures living or electric, and craves human relationship. This desire of his leads to his harboring of and caring for a group of