Animals, both created and real, take center stage in Philip K. Dick's dystopian book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" In the book, animals are used as prestige symbols and indicators. Real animals can only be kept as home pets by a select group of people, such as wealthy members of high society. The story's main character, Rick Dekard, attempts to raise money to purchase a real animal. He and live with a fake one until then. Animals in the novel occupy a central place because they are rare and very expensive. This uniqueness of the animals makes them desired objects to own. In the course of the novel the readers can encounter various incorporated messages regarding the artificial and real animals. Even the name of the novel contains a message regarding animals. All of this makes animals an important part of the novel and also one of its main leitmotivs. In the following paper the relation between the real and artificial animals will be discussed and the presence or absence of these animals as house pets will be related to class division and position people occupy in society. A thesis of the presented paper can be stated beforehand as following: In Philip Dick’s novel the ownership of animals (real and artificial) can be qualified as an act of conspicuous consumption; moreover, being rare real animals become unique products available only to s small part of society that consist of healthy and wealthy people.
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” is about a headhunter named Rick Dekard whose job is to track down stray androids and kill them for reward. Dekard taken on a mission to track down modernized and highly technological new version of androids named Nexus-6. Dekard attempt this risky venture risking his life in order to save money and buy a real animal (Wittkower, 87). Until that he owns a superficial sheep. Even despite being rich or successful Rick Dekard constitutes a minority of people because he is relatively healthy and does not suffer from radioactive pollution. In the course of the novel Dekard buy a goat but it gets killed. In the end he, like one of the minor characters before, confuses real animal with an artificial one. The novel ends with Dekard recognizing that androids can have a life as well.
There are many important scenes in the novel that involve animals. Almost everything in the story is somehow either directly or indirectly connected to the animals. TO understand the role animals play in the novel it would be suitable to discuss a concept of conspicuous consumption (Wittkower, 75). This term come from sociology and can be explained in the following way: conspicuous consumer is somebody whose motive to buy and own certain products, goods, and things is to support one’s class status and to express one’s belonging to the certain group of people all of whom buy and own the same kind of products. For example, there is a saying “keeping up with the Jones” which means that people tend be demonstrative in their ownership of certain things. “Keeping up with the Jones” literally means that if a person’s neighbor owns 2 cars it means that a person who is a conspicuous consumer must have at least two cars as well in order to maintain the same class status as his neighbor.
According to political philosophy certain classes of society always have both superficial and deep features. Poor people are poor not only because they do not own property and has small income. Same goes for wealthy people – they are wealthy not only because they own capital and have high income. Poor people have bad clothes or do not have clothes at all, their health is worse because they could not afford a doctor or good diet. Rich people dress to show their wealth and act in the same way as they have good health and eat good food. This is why it took generation for members of aristocracy and feudalist magnates to understand that they were not rich anymore. History shows that even without money certain members of certain classes can continue to act like they own something while being, in fact, poor. Conspicuous consumption can trick the neighbor bit cannot change the truth. One of the reasons why Rick Dekard wants to have a real animal (among other not any less important) is to, at least, look like a member of high society in order to feel different superficially.
In one particular scene a character named John Isidore confuses a real animal with an artificial one. While the animal slowly dies he does nothing to save it because he is a service technician qualified to repair broken android animals (Dick, 15). Moreover, being a so-called “special” (class of people who are mentally retarded because of radiation) Isidore has never even seen the real animal before. Because real animals are almost extinct in the dystopian world of the novel Isidore thinks that the animal dying in front of him is a robot and not a real living being. Because Isidore is “special” he does not feel that the creature is real thinking only in terms of his work. This scene illustrates 2 things: first that the artificial animals almost do not differ from real ones, at least superficially, and second that inability to make distinguish a real animal from a robot is one of the feature of mentally retarded “specials”. Here is the passage from the text that illustrates this important scene fully:
“An hour later, in the company track, he had picked up the first malfunctioning animal for the day. An electric cat: it lay in the plastic dust-proof carrying cage in the rear of the truck and panted erratically. You’d almost think it was real,
Isidore observed as he headed back to the Van Ness Pet Hospital – that carefilly misnamed little enterprise which barely existed in the tough, competitive field of false-animal repair.
The cat, in its travail, groaned.
Wow, Isidore said to himself, It really sounds as if it’s dying. Maybe it’s ten-yer battery has shorted, and all its circuits are systematically burning out.
He gave up; the false cat had ceased functioning, so evidently the short – if that was what ailed the thing – had finished off the power supply and basic drive-train.
“Yes,” Sloat said finally, half snarling. “But it’s the waster that gets me. The loss of one more living creature. Couldn’t you tell, Isidore? Didn’t you notice the difference?”
“I thought,” Isidore managed to say, “it was a really good job. So good it fooled me; I mean, it seemed alive and a job that good -”
“I don’t think Isidore can tell the difference,” Milt said mildly. “To him they’re all alive, false animals included. He probably tried to save it.” To Isidore he said, “What did you do, try to recherché its battery? Or locate a short in it?”
“Y – yes,” Isidore admitted” (Dick, 35)
“Specials” are the lowest class of people in the novel. People of this class are mentally slow and their organisms are damaged by radiation. That is why Isidore cannot tell a difference between the android animal and a real one. Being damaged in the brain at first Isidore cannot project the empathy. What happens next in the novel shows Isidore undergoing character development alongside with the main hero Dekard. Both experience empathy towards android organisms (Kratky, 50). This brings us to the important element of the whole story. A lot of characters of all classes depicted in the novel somehow are described by the author in connection with animals. Rick Dekard works to by a real Nubian goat. Isidore confuses real cat with a robotic one. In the beginning of the novel Dekard owns android sheep. He discusses animals with his neighbor. When Dekard first meets Rachel Rosen a robotic owl appears. And so on.
People in the dystopian world of the novel are attracted to animals because they help them experience empathy. With the animals’ help people train to be caring, loving, and understanding. This can be understood better by taking in consideration the role of religion in the story. Mercerism is based on the doctrine of empathy (Umland, 24). The characters in the story have ampathy-generators in their house connecting to which they can experience moments of unity with humanity and the universe. Same reasons drive people have animals as house pets. Philip Dick implies that when people experience empathy they can be truly happy.
Another scene that highlights the importance of animals in the novel is when Rachel Rosen kills Dekard’s Nubian goat. She does it because she is jealous that Dekard returns to his wife (Umland, 89). Rachel Rosen also makes it her revenge for what Dekard did with all the loose Nexus-6 androids. The irony is in that Dekard attempted his mission to collect money and buy the goat. After succeeding and buying the goat it gets killed by the only Nexus-6 Dekard did not kill but, on the contrary, fell in love with. It all means that by loving and killing Nexus-6 at the same time Dekard recognized their humanity.
Dekard’s wife spends her life miserable being constantly stressed and depressed. She is a melancholic and suffers from hypochondria. This is one of the reasons why Dekard wants to buy and own a real animal (Kratky, 44). However, he does not make it only for himself as he thinks it may help his wife as well. Therefore, there are various reasons for the character in the novel to own animals.
It would be useful o keep in mind the proverb mentioned before above – “keeping up with the Jones”. Dekard has a neighbor with whom he speaks every day while checking his android sheep. Dekard’s neighbor named Bill Barbour, unlike Rick, has a real horse. His animals is not only real but is pregnant of which Rick and the readers are informed in the beginning of the story. Rick, like in the proverb, tries to “keep up with Jones”. Bill’s news about his horse’s pregnancy make Dekard more driven towards buying his own real animals.
The owner of the adjourning pasture, his conapt neighbor Bill Barbour, hailed him; he, like Dick, had dressed for work but had stopped off on the way to check his animal, too.
“My horse,” Barbour declared beamingly, “is pregnant.” He indicated the big Percheron, which stood staring off in an empty fashion into space. “What do you say to that?”
“I say pretty soon you’ll have two horses,” Rick said. He had reached his sheep, now, it lay ruminating, its alert eyes fixed on him in case he had brought any rolled oats with him. The alleged sheep contained an oat-tropic circuit; at the sight of such cereals it would scramble up convincingly and amble over. “What’s she pregnant by?” he asked Barbour. “The wind?” (Dick, 16)
Possession of real animals in the novel is a privilege of rich citizens. Special are never rich. Rick Dekard, the main character, is a middle class citizen. He saves to buy a real animal. His neighbor makes Dekard pay more effort in hunting down the Nexus-6 androids whom he was hired to liquidate.
One of the final scenes is with Dekard and toad. Rick accidentally stands on a real frog and kills it. First it makes him shocked but he then becomes comforted with a though that androids can also be alive. Because the whole purpose of the novel is to answer the question whether artificial life can live, animals’ deaths mean to counterbalance the deaths of the Nexus-6 androids. The deaths of both kinds of creatures mean to test sympathy and compassion. Like Rick Dekard tests androids checking their empathy so does the author by killing androids and real animals. The message implied by the author suggests that in fact there is no difference and that is the trick. The relationship between the real animals and artificial ones contrasts this same interaction between Nexus-6 androids and real humans.
Possession of real animals in the novel is an indicator of status. Only rich citizens can afford it due to the fact that animals are extinct. The demand for real animals is so high that android animals are depicted as a very popular product. Due to that a service center that deals with broken android animals is presented in a separate scene in the novel. In this this Isidore reports about the incident with the death of an animal he thought to be android. Hannibal Sloat, Isidore’s boss, tells Isidore that the animal he though was broken is in fact a real one. Hannibal wonders how Isidore could not tell a difference.
One of the reasons people become conspicuous consumers is because they try to socially adapt making themselves at least as respectable as those around them. If one’s neighbor has a car it means that he/she has money to buy and maintain this car. Products such as clothe and transport, and jewelry has an additional useful feature as they can be a symbol of wealth, power, and authority. Such things are able to attract respect and adoration. Historically in the past peasants were distinguished by their clothes and manner of speech. Nobility and members of aristocracy used their appearance to express status and wealth. Same can also be applied to houses, cars, mobile accessories, furniture etc.
Philip Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” explores an important tendency of making pets from animals. People do that because of their natural need to care about other living creatures (Umland, 112). When human person cares he/she experiences empathy of realization he/she does something good sincerely and gratuitously. This act of unity with another living being is a true reason why Philip Dick pays so much attention to animals in the novel. A subtle message can be that because only few can afford real animals it means that only some of the people are able to exercise in empathy with animals. For those who cannot afford real animals there are empathy generators. In any case the relationship between real and artificial animals correlates with the interaction between real humans and androids. This means that people of all classes have a need for empathy and that they try to fulfill it in ways they are able to do it.
The scene with a toad is important because it assures Dekard that there is no difference between real life (which sometime seems like an illusion) and artificial like that is so perfectly close to being real. After experiencing death of the real Nubian goat and killing the toad Dekard understand he is guilty in killing the Nexus-6 androids as well (Dick 63). He understands why Rachel Rosen kills his goat and that is why he is not angry. He accepts Rosen’s revenge because it reveals to him that Rosen avenges the deaths of other androids and by that proves that androids can feel empathy expressing compassion for other androids. Dekard also understand that if Rachel is able to feel jealousy it means she is ever more human than he thought.
The fact that Dekard uses his salary to collect money to buy a real animals is very important. It can be interpreted in the following way: Rick Dekard in the beginning of the story does not consider androids alive and refuse do admit they can feel and, therefore, be real. He uses them as means to collect money and spend the money to buy a real living being – the Nubian goat (Dick, 123). Dekard’s acts show that he is willing to trade a couple of Nexu-6 androids for a goat. His position changes as he undergoes massive character development. Because androids attempt to kill Dekard and are able to hurt living creatures they can be credited as being with power. Therefore, almost all scene involving animals are important for a clear comprehension of the story’s message and author’s intentions.
To summarize everything up it would be appropriate to recall all the points discussed and conclusion made. Ownership of animals in Philip Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” can be interpreted as an act of conspicuous consumption because it causes a certain social effect expressing the status of its owner. Ownership of animals also plays a more important role of being able to experience empathy in the process of care about another living creature. The theme of animals in the novel can be credited to have a critical value for understanding the novel’s message.
Works Cited
Dick, P. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. New York: Penguin, 2014
Kratky, M. Science Fiction Analysis: Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Chicago: GRIN Verlag, 2007
Umland, S. Philip K. Dick: Contemporary Critical Interpretations. Chicago: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006
Wittkower, D. Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Do Androids Have Kindred Spirits? Boston: Open Court, 2011
