#rickdeckcard

By Azrael Encarnacion

Its the 1968 novel that inspired the now classic sci-fi film, Blade Runner. A densely thematic milestone in the bibliography of author, Philip K. Dick (Scanner Darkly, Man in the High Castle, Valis Trilogy). A futuristic tale of empathy that examines just what it means to be human. Let’s see just how the story concludes for Deckard as he tracks down the last remaining replicants, one of which is of the same identical model as Rachel, the android he just slept with.

PART FIVE: WHAT DO WE DREAM FROM HERE? Chapters 18 - End

"I want it to work perfectly," Iran Deckard tells an animal accessories saleswoman over the phone. Her husband is finally asleep and she doesn't want him disturbed. Having retired 6 advanced androids in one day, a new record, making Rick a living legend--He's earned some much needed rest. In their apartment kitchen, a box contains an extinct toad. Of course, its an electric replicant. But Iran is intent on feeding it as a real one. She dials a number and the saleswoman advices on bugs and basic maintenance for the toad. Artificial accessories for an artificial existence. She wants it to work perfectly. This is how Do AndroidsDream of Electric Sheep ends.

And did it all work out perfectly for Rick Deckard? Exhausted after retiring the three remaining Nexus 6 androids. One among them being almost an exact twin sister of Rachel Rosen, the android Rick has just slept with and even admitted he'd leave his wife for. Of course, that was before she gloated over her intentional effect on Rick and other bounty hunters before him, compromising his ability to complete his assignment. If the victory of his bounty was the termination of the six androids, then the cost was surely the loss of Deckard's disregard for the sentient humanoids. In a way, Rick was behaving like a logical machine himself, but through the course of 24 hours, not only does Rick develop empathy for these robots, he even falls in love with one of them.

Philip K. Dick continually and possibly purposely blurs the lines between Human and Nexus 6, Rachel showers after sex, drinks bourbon and goes all Glenn Close on Deckard's new pet goat. Roy Baty is enraged when his wife is killed and irrationally attacks Deckard, even though Deckard and other androids in the story have repeatedly mention how specifically little androids care about one another. Yet the closest thing we see to love and family is ironically, in how Roy & Irmgard Baty and Pris interact with each other while lamenting their fallen friends.  Rachel also tells Rick, "we androids can't control our physical, sensual passions." Really?! That's usually the antithesis of what defines an android. Its almost the case that by the end of the novel, there's nothing to distinguish man from machine other than one's word against the other. Often people wonder, more so in the film adaptation, was Deckard an android? But you gotta wonder in the novel, were androids even androids?

Sure they had wires and metal parts inside but they acted more human, at times, than the humans! Like the artificial toad and its artificial bugs, they may have been synthetic but they ran on synthetic necessities, like self-preservation, self-awareness, inspiring within themselves fear and love. And you can call it electric love or electric fear but it causes actions no lesser real than any of ours.

I feel bad for Isidore, the spider scene was cruel as it equally must've been hard for him to see his new friends retired by Deckard. I wonder if the alarms Roy Baty placed in the building had anything to do with Deckard's visions with Wilbur Mercer? Mercer, who was debunked by Buster Friendly, appears to Deckard in the physical realm and saves his life. Rick seems to be fused with Mercer all the way to Northern California where Deckard flies off to after hearing news of his goat being pushed off the roof of his con-apt building. Deckard reenacts the hill ascend and has stones flung at him. This is where he finds the toad. Most beloved by Mercer but also thought extinct.

I also feel bad for Iran. I think its over between her and Deckard. I think Rick's whole life is about to change once he wakes up. He's stated, ever since the retirement of Luba Luft, he can't go on hunting androids. And with Rachel having gathered info and studying the Nexus 6 type, it won't be long before the Nexus 7 is created, with even more authentic human-like qualities. What can Deckard do then? He's shut himself off emotionally for some time now, the Nexus 6 assignment has woken his heart. He's probably done with mood organs and with pretending things are real when they're not--for instance his marriage to Iran. I can totally see, this Rick becoming the Harrison Ford Deckard from Blade Runner. And it would make total sense why that Deckard didn't want to return to hunting androids for a bounty, he'd instantly empathize with them again. Interestingly enough, in the film he's the best Blade Runner Bryant knows, which is true of the novel's version by the end. Its almost like the novel is the prequel to the film but via the same plot.

Now in answer to the question posed by the novel's title: No, I don't think androids dream of electric sheep. I think they dream of real sheep, because they consider themselves to likewise be real.

Thank you all for reading. I do want to write some more about Rick Deckard and the Blade Runner adaptation to the novel. But this is the conclusion to the Primitive Prime! Book Club on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? not sure yet, what book I'll read next but I can't wait to do this again.

Photos from Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) respectively. 

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