If you read the end of this book, you would know the Rick found and retired the remaining nexus 6 androids he set out to retire. Upon doing this, he had completed his mission that was given to him in the beginning. Beforehand, he had begun to feel empathy toward retiring these machines. But his empathy was not totally personified until he met Rachel, and had his moment with her. The simpliest way to live in this world would be best for everyone to have what Iran describes as “long deserved peace” (Dick 243). Rick does begin to feel empathy and care for Rachel, but he cares for his goat so much more. He was devastated when Rachel pushed his goat off a roof. This proved Rick can feel the same human emotions as humans today do everyday.
Have you ever had something or someone in your life you would be devastated if you lost? How relatable of a human is Rick to you? How relatable of a character in a fictional story is he?
In the story you learn that animal life is precious. If I lost something that is so precious I would be crushed. When I was in high school I lost my dog. I was so hurt that I decided to miss baseball practice the day it happened. In the story I believe Rick is relatable because while he is killing these androids he begin to feel empathy towards them. If my job was to hunt androids and kill knowing that they are 99% human I would begin to feel bad for them as well.
I believe that everyone has something in their life that they would be devastated if they lost. For me it would be any of my immediate family, my pets, or my best friends. Rick is a relatable character because he is devastated when Rachael kills his goat. He is a materialistic person and the goat is his most prized possession. I know that if I were him I would be devastated as well. In the novel, Rick begins to feel empathy towards the androids he once retired with ease. This is solidified after he sleeps with Rachael. At the end of the novel, androids are indistinguishable from humans to him, I would not be able to continue killing them afterwards either.
Over my life i have lost various pets and each one left me devastated afterwords it is almost impossible to not be hurt when attached so close to an animal. Rick becomes a more relatable narrator over time as we began to understand his motives while seeing his world through his eyes. We feel for his lose and understand his confusion as we feel it would be similar to how we would view the world through his eyes.