Rick Deckard stumbles upon what he suspects is a live toad in his trip to Oregon, but when he brings it home it is found to be a fake. Iran Deckard calls up an electric animal accessories shop, and asks for a pound of flies, so that she may keep it “alive”. She then claims that “my husband is devoted to it” (Dick 111). She also needs it to work “perfectly” (Dick 111). This is interesting to me because yet again, author Philip K. Dick tell this anecdote from this universe. We have seen a similar anecdote from another wife in reference to an animal keeping her husband happy. Back in chapter 7, John Isidore picks up the cat from Mr. and Mrs. Pilsen. In the conversation following the cat’s death, Mrs. Pilsen expresses how important the cat is to her husband saying, “don’t suggest that to Ed or he’ll go mad” (Dick 37). She then asks if an exact electrical replica could be made so that her husband does not notice the difference.
Why do you think Philip K. Dick chooses to tell this story again? Why is it the final event of the novel? What do these stories say about the relationships between the remaining humans?
Dick, Philip. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. New York City, Doubleday, 1968.
Philip K. Dick chooses to tell us this story so that the audience can understand how far the novel has progressed. Rick goes from feeling little to no empathy for any electronic being to having sex with an android and taking care of an electronic toad. He wants to show us just how far all of the characters have come since the beginning of the novel. These stories say that there may yet still be hope for the human race and we may feel empathy toward one another again.
I think Dick chose to tell this story again as a comparison. In the beginning of the book it was very important to rick to have a real life animal and that is the only thing that mattered in his life. He thought lowly of his electric animal and envied his neighbors organic horse. By the end of the book when this happens, rick is unable to tell the difference from the frog and a real one until later on. If the frog is seamlessly organic, and if androids are seamlessly human, then it does not matter that they are actually electric. the repetition of this scene helps to show the character development that rick and Iran have went through.
I think these two interactions show how much the remaining humans care about their own specific people. Iran would not have acted that way nor would the wife of the neighbor but since it was their husbands they both wanted to make sure to appease them.
This story is told twice to show off how Deckhart has progressed in his feelings about electronic animals. At first he hated his sheep and could kill androids with relative ease. But as he started to empathize more and more with androids, his feelings on electronic animals grew as well. This is also shown as not unusual, since there was another man who cared immensely for an electronic cat. This shows how people like to humanize inanimate objects and how much our humanity can stretch.