Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? disguises itself as a novel about the future, illustrating empathy by comparing human emotions to those of androids and animals. Dick’s novel, however, also reflects the pervasive struggle to find an identity in the world. By creating a post-apocalyptic scene where characters struggle to survive, Dick surreptitiously brings forward a question that we occasionally ponder, but never comprehensively explore: who am I? This is a common theme within the book, but also within college students. Daily, I see students struggle with isolation because students cannot define themselves, making it hard to connect with others. Although the novel appears to describe a bounty hunter bringing justice to escaped androids while simultaneously trying to establish himself as a pet owner, it actually describes how individuals must sift through an unfamiliar world to find happiness, to find peace, and to find themselves. Based on research conducted in 2013, there are two forms of loneliness, social and …show more content…
works as an empathy box itself, allowing students to connect and identify themselves and each other. Accordingly, none of these people are perfect, all of these people feel alone, and some of these people survive. Despite the distinct, intrinsic differences amongst all the characters, there is one commonality: they all have a form of alienation. Repeatedly, people possess an erroneous perception of their incomprehensible isolation that they must burden alone, which is demonstrated in the book as well when Dick writes, “While using my empathy box, like everyone else. This isn't new. But it was. Because, he thought, I did it alone,” (105). In the book, people share the pain and joy through an empathy box to provide comfort in the fact they are not alone; this translates to friendships in real life. These empathy boxes ruin false notions of isolation and remind people that they are not “resuming this climb”