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Bob Arctor's Identity In 'A Scanner Darkly'

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In Philip K. Dick’s novel, A Scanner Darkly, he uses different objects, and the scenes will the medical officers to develop the relationship between split personalities and the self. A Scanner Darkly tells the story of an undercover cop who poses as a drug dealer but ended up becoming a drug abuser as well. Our main character, Bob Arctor (drug dealer identity) involved himself with a drug called Substance D or also known as “Slow Death”. With this drug, Bob loses his mental control because his mind is destabilizing due to the strength and the lethal qualities of this narcotic. Substance D is a mind altering drug that causes “a split between the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere...” (Dick 115). As the abuse continues, “the right hemisphere …show more content…

This novel takes the reader along Bob/Fred’s fractured journey, leading the reader to want to know how the split personality protagonist ends up. In the end, he is left in a disabling yet conscious state called Bruce without the memories of his identity, only his friends. With this sci-fi tale, Dick created new devices, including Substance D. As mentioned before Substance D is a narcotic that damages the left hemisphere, causing the right hemisphere to compensate or invent a split consciousness. Substance D provokes the physical destabilization in Bob/Fred’s brain; it is the cause of his inability to identify with a single personality. This substance induces a dissociative disorder by the means of substance abuse which can’t be the initial trigger, instead substance abuse usually provides a way to recreate an alternate identity again. Either way, Substance D’s purpose lies with its use as a mind altering drug that damaged Bob/Fred’s brain. Not only did the damage sent his hemispheres into a competition, but it conveys Dick’s meaning about split personalities or “split-brain phenomena” (Dick …show more content…

However, in the beginning, Bob/Fred appears to be more aware that Bob and Fred are the same person. This shows a high level of understanding and control, but as the story progresses Bob/Fred views the other differently. Towards the end, Fred watches Bob and comments on Bob’s actions as if he hadn’t made them. While watching Bob, Fred started addressing him in the third person when he usually would use “I”. Fred once thought, “The guy is nuts… He really is.” (Dick 198) and didn’t believe it when Hank said “That [he’s] Arctor.” (Dick 237) conveying his lost in mental control by forgetting that him and Bob are the same person. Substance D provided a way to convey split personalities through physically impairing Bob/Fred’s mind and by using two identities and splitting them into their own consciousness. With Bob/Fred’s initial awareness, it shows the self as one consciousness holding two identities that are fractured into two. Unlike Substance D, the scramble suit is an external representation of Bob/Fred’s mental instability. Even though, it doesn’t affect Bob/Fred’s brain physically, the suit displays a constant inability to choose an

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