ipl-logo

Character Analysis: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep

743 Words3 Pages

In Phillip Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, one of the main characters, Rick says this quote after he had previously “retired” three androids and needed to buy a living goat to reestablish his empathy. This quote shows the struggle Rick has with dealing with the aftereffects of sympathizing with androids and questions his reasons on why he views that empathy as being wrong. My question is does he need this animal to remind him what their empathy is supposed to be? Perhaps, he wants this animal to be the source of his empathy, giving him a clear sign that empathy can only exist with animals and humans as he was taught. What is so interesting about this passage is that he uses the word “had to” in referring to buying the animal, claiming …show more content…

He exhibits compassion for Luba, even buying her a book during the last minutes her life, yet his empathy does not cause action to come from him. He does not personally retire Luba; he still allows her to die. Overall, he hardly displays empathy in this book, but his vital moments of doing so reside with androids. But yet, he believes that he needs an animal. He seems to have the capacity for empathy based on his interactions with androids, but needs this living animal, a symbol of his society’s empathy, as a way to stabilize himself. He connects empathy with a living animal and needs one, otherwise, he cannot continue. An interesting choice of words that Phillip Dick makes is that Rick does not say that he couldn’t continue with bounty hunting if he didn’t have an animal, Rick only says “go on,” which raises this question on whether he meant only in bounty hunting or did he mean in all aspects of his life. The latter seems the best one to conclude to because Rick seemed so dazed because of the entire situation with his interactions with the androids, that I do not know if he knew how to function without this animal in his …show more content…

He decides that he must dissuade that side of him to stop, and he is hoping that getting an animal will do that. His empathy does not stop him from doing the actions of a bounty hunter, just merely causes him to question it. Even in this passage, he continues to use the word “retiring” when referring to murdering the androids, which shows how deeply conditioned he is to begin with. Even with the empathy he felt, he still uses the language that dehumanizes them. He does not question the standards of empathy placed on him about humans and animals nor knows how to react to feeling even the slightest bit of empathy for androids. Additionally, he does not actually question why he has just a negative reaction to empathizing with androids; he just wants to remove it from himself. That is why Rick is such a complex character in the sense of the lack of his own understanding the empathy he is feeling, yet he does not innately change his actions because of his own feelings. This book obviously questions the standards of empathy and who deserves it. This is the crucial aspect to why this book is important, and understanding that Rick has empathy but refuses to act on such empathy is a key aspect to relating how his rejection and inaction towards fixing the issues surrounding empathizing with androids. I believe this to be because he has been taught that empathy should only exist for animals and humans, and he wants to

Show More
Related
954 Words | 4 Pages

He was not only careless with the feelings of others, but also with his well being. He didn’t seem to know what would be awaiting him in the wild because he

Read More
290 Words | 2 Pages

“The Rattler” portrays the narrator’s moral conflict between his sense of duty to other people and his respect for all life through diction and anthropomorphism. The narrator describes hunting as “the sport in taking life”, showing disdain for the past time by implying that those who hunt do not value the lives of animals, adding later that hunting “is a satisfaction I can’t feel.” His thoughts show that he values the lives of animals just as much as humans. Another example is that after initially choosing to leave the snake alone, he then “reflected that … my duty, plainly, was to kill the snake” in order to protect the “children, dogs, horses, at the ranch, as well as men and women lightly shod.”

Read More
1055 Words | 5 Pages

When certain situations happen to people with good morals, they feel empathy for those who do not understand people as easily. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, a respectable lawyer and his children are involved in many unique experiences that help them learn necessary life lessons about society during the 1900’s. Scout and Jem learn a particularly important lesson about racial injustice when their father takes on a life-changing case. Upstanding characters show empathy more than others since good morals lead to self-respect and happiness, it allows people to appreciate the good around them. Throughout the novel, exemplary characters like Maudie Atkinson, Atticus Finch, and Scout Finch demonstrate empathy for characters who don’t

Read More
976 Words | 4 Pages

She emphasizes for the helpless beast and wonders why the men pick on such a helpless creature. She feels this empathy because, in a way, she can relate to the mule. The way the mule fights back against its oppressors is the way she wants to fight back against her husband Jodie ’s control and assessment of her place in society. The way the mule has “more spirit than body” is how she feels about her marriage; she has the will to become her own woman but doesn’t have the ability to tell of her husband.

Read More
763 Words | 4 Pages

Within The Descendants, Matt King evolves from his apathetic self to an empathic character to his family and friends. According to According to Frans De Waal, empathy is “the process by which we gather information about someone else” (De Waal, 86). In other terms, empathy is the ability for one to understand another’s feelings. Empathy is commonly mistaken for sympathy. Sympathy refers to feeling for another’s situation and wanting to improve one’s condition.

Read More
1521 Words | 7 Pages

By doing this, it makes his final statements all the more effective and thought-provoking since the audience is subconsciously making the connection between how dogs should be treated as food and how other animals are currently being treated as food. Yet, he hides this connection under the guise of a harmless argument for the consumption of dogs, making his final argument a realization, of sorts, for the reader. The sudden shift of focus from

Read More
436 Words | 2 Pages

One of his goals was to get an alive pet, instead of an electric one. He gets motivated by the fact that he has to retire six androids and the faster he does that, the more money he gets. Over time, he does get a real pet, but at the end of the novel, it falls to its death because Rachael pushed it off the roof of Rick’s apartment. On page 27, Rick stops in front of a pet store

Read More
595 Words | 3 Pages

Character development is a crucial element to any story, especially due to the fact that is is utilized to create depth within a piece of writing. In Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen presents an extremely dynamic character by the name of Jacob Jankowski. In his old age, he undergoes a significant change in his attitude throughout his time at the nursing home. Through the remembrance of old memories from his life at the circus, Jacob Jankowski develops a sense of happiness and rediscovers his independence.

Read More
622 Words | 3 Pages

Winter Dreams By F. Scott Fitzgerald is a short-story telling of a 14 year-old caddy named Dexter Green. In this narrative Dexter meet Judy Jones while working at his golf course. As the story continues on, Dexter becomes severely infatuated by Judy. The desire to be hers overcomes him so greatly, he works his way to wealth to be in the same social class as her, hoping to catch her attention and marry her someday. However Judy may be beautifully the outside as she ages, but her insides say differently.

Read More
538 Words | 3 Pages

He continues to look at the “rights” of moral agents and that moral agents can only be if they themselves can make moral decisions. Animals cannot make moral

Read More
719 Words | 3 Pages

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. To me the word empathy in “To Kill A Mockingbird” means “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.” Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” suggests that empathy is a universal feeling, but everyone experiences it in different occasions and in different ways. Many people empathize through real life experiences. Scout is one of those people.

Read More
1003 Words | 5 Pages

In George Saunders’ essay from The Guardian, he states, “We often think that the empathetic function in fiction is accomplished via the writer’s relation to his characters, but it’s also accomplished via the writer’s relation to his reader” (The Guardian). In Kurt Vonnegut’s story “Harrison Bergeron”, we can see this idea shown through the reader’s connection with Harrison.  Vonnegut uses the main character of the story, Harrison Bergeron, as a symbol of empathy by allowing the reader to relate to his desire for individuality.

Read More
265 Words | 2 Pages

Then, Goodall uses the phrase "There are many ethical issues, which we seldom face up to, whenever an animal is killed" (paragraph 11,first sentence) he utilizes these words to empower and motivate the readers to think more in depth about the issue and also to make some changes. While Goodall states her point of view she builds a strong relationship with the audience. This text is extremely effective because it gives the audience and future readers a backdrop of trophy hunting. Jane Goodall does an excellent job in crafting her opinion to the readers, for she shows her sympathy and understanding of the issue through the use of

Read More
1592 Words | 7 Pages

Both people and animals walk on the streets and either could step on or touch something sharp and cut themselves. Animals could also eat trash and, depending on what it is, it could cause harm to them or potentially kill them. “As I turn up the collar on my favourite winter coat” (stanza 2, line 1), while not being a direct piece of figurative language, means that he has choices between which coat he wears. He is more privileged than others, which is a reason to help others. Also, more figuratively, turning up the collar on your coat can mean that you are shutting people out and only thinking about yourself.

Read More
1381 Words | 6 Pages

The killing of animals, which causes pain is a definition of animal cruelty. To be precise, the terms apathy and empathy can be compared in the exhibition of harming animals. Apathy is one of the reasons why animal cruelty occurs. This is because others feel the pleasure in hurting animals instead of taking care of them due to psychological disorders. For instance, Jeffrey Dahmer is one of the many notorious psychopathic serial killers who torture animals for satisfaction.

Read More

More about Character Analysis: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep

Related Topics

Open Document