In chapter 20, Iran Deckard is talking about their new pet goat with her husband Rick and she tells him they have found the goat dead. “I have to tell you something. I’m sorry. The goat is dead.” (Dick 226). In this chapter, it gives a description of the person who killed the goat, “A small young looking girl with dark hair and large black eyes, very thin.” (Dick 226). I perceived this description as Rachael Rosen who is the person who just killed the goat. The author does not give a direct reason why Rachael kills the goat. I believe she hated Rick so much because he had an affair with her and still left the hotel trying to kill the three remaining androids. According to the text in chapter 17, I believe the author was trying to foreshadow what would happen next in the next chapters. I believe what Rachael did in the story says a lot about her as a character/Andy. And in this chapter, Rachael does not hurt “Rick” physically when she finds out he hurts her friends for profit. Rachael brings up Rick‘s goat to show the readers that if she can’t hurt him personally like a “crazy jealous mistress”. Then the next best thing is to hurt his precious Black Nubian goat.
Discussion Question #1: What is your perception of why Rachael killed the goat?
Citation:
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. New York: Penguin Random House, 1968. ebook.
I believe that Rachel killed to goat to show Rick that she could do what he was unable to do. Rick had the opportunity to kill Rachel, even threatened to do it and still decided not to hurt her. Rachel wanted to show Rick that androids don’t have those same emotions and act without regards for the feelings of others. The reason I think Rachel killed the goat instead of Iran is because the goat means more to Rick in a different kind of way. Yes, I do think Rick loves his wife but the goat represents status, wealth, and the killing of androids. By pushing the goat off, Rachel showed Rick that she and the Rosen associations don’t care about those small things because they have so much wealth and power that they can do anything.
I believe Rachel killed the goat as a form of revenge. She slept with bounty hunters before to get them to empathize with androids so they can’t kill them anymore and she thought she could do the same for Deckhart. After Deckhart sleeps with her, he is distraught and almost kills her, but he can’t and he leaves to go kill the last three androids. She realizes that the thing Deckhart cares for the most is his new goat, so she goes to kill it, to punish him for using her. She knows he didn’t care much for his wife, since he slept with her, and that his animal is the most important thing to him.