In Chapter 12 of Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep, both Resch and Deckard escape the faux police department and search for Luba Luft. While on the hunt, Resch becomes fixated on a familiar oil painting. The painting is described in great detail and Dick makes it a point to take his time and describe every feeling the painting evokes. The “creature” is “contained by its own howl” and “screamed in isolation” (Dick 130). Shortly after examining the painting, Resch says, “I think that this is how and andy must feel” (Dick 130).
Based on previous knowledge and how the novel describes Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream, why do you think Dick purposefully took his time to describe every detail about the painting? Is it supposed to represent the feelings of an android like Resch says? Or do you think the metaphor is for Deckard as he was previously thrust into an almost alternate reality while originally trying to retire Luft?
I interpreted it as you later point, that it’s a metaphor for Deckard as he entered this other world, this alternate reality existing under his nose. During this part of the chapter, I was getting very confused and I think it was because Deckard was confused. I also think that he may have started to question who he was and his status as human or android, and this is something that at this point in the book as we said in class today is a “grey area” of what makes a human a human. The Scream painting was a good way to tie this all together.
I think the reason Dick described the painting in such vivid detail was to really hit home the comparisons between the person in the painting and the androids; in a way, Dick was using such strong descriptions to help the reader feel empathy for the person in the picture and, by extension, the androids. While I can’t get in Dick’s mind, I think it is highly possible that he could have intended this metaphor to apply to both the andys and to Deckard’s situation, although, if I had to pick one, I’d lean more toward the picture representing the androids’ situation.
The painting that Luba Luft admires offers important insight to the theme of the novel. “The Scream” by Edward Munch, is a surrealistic depiction of a violent landscape with a sexless, deformed person screaming for a reason that is unknown to the viewer. It serves as a metaphor for Rick’s experience with Phil Resch. Through his encounter with the android police department and with the cold blooded killer Resch, Rick Deckard begins to become removed from his old self and he finds the world he now inhabits disorienting. On the one hand, he realizes he lives in a world that has been violated of all empathy. Rick therefore decides that it’s true human empathy that makes one truly human must extend to all things, even things that are not alive in the technical sense.