The 1960’s were a time of great triumph and also great defeat
for America. The 1960’s saw huge achievements in technology from the first
video game console being invented to the first laser being fired (Oxford).
However, the Vietnam and Cold Wars were both in full effect in the 60’s
resulting in very troubling times for America. In 1968 Philip K. Dick wrote “Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and in this novel, just about everything symbolizes
something in society at that point. Dick does a great job of incorporating the
aspects of society at that time period into DADES. Some examples of this
include the empathy boxes, chicken heads, life on Mars, and life on Earth.
These symbolize drugs, disabled persons, the rich people, and the poor people respectfully.
One of the more important symbols that Dick makes are the androids. It is believable
that the androids symbolize many things, but perhaps the most important thing
they symbolize are emotionless, non-sympathetic people. This represents the
people whom were pro Vietnam War.
Dick
illustrates a world in 2021, World War Terminus has ended but not until it
killed millions of people. The survivors are forced to make a decision, go live
on Mars or continue life on Earth. It seems as though the rich and well off
people went to Mars while all the rest of the people are forced to fend for
themselves against the radioactive dust and the androids on Earth. The androids
were invented to be servants for families on Mars, but through time the
androids grew more and more like humans and are soon almost indistinguishable. The
androids, especially the Nexus-6 model are identical to human beings; they are
able to function the same way in every aspect except one. Androids lack the
empathy that normal human beings have, and this is the only way to distinguish between
a human and an android. Even so, sometimes it is very hard to distinguish
between an android and human with the test. This emotionless sense is what the people
against the Vietnam War believed all the Vietnam supporters were like. Young
men were being sent to Vietnam and forced fight whether they believed in the
war or not. The comparison can be made that the androids are the emotionless
people sending Americans overseas to fight. In DADES, society and more
specifically the bounty hunters are fighting against the androids, which is exactly
what the antiwar movement was doing. Looking at it closer the androids seem to
actually be comparable to the politicians from the 1960’s.
It can also be said that the
androids are actually controlling society without anyone knowing it. Buster Friendly,
one of the most well-known people on Earth has not only a TV program but also a
radio program that run nonstop for twenty three hours a day. Just about every
person left on earth watches these programs every day. It is safe to say that
Buster Friendly controls everyone’s life on earth for forty six hours a day. From
this piece of information, characters such as Mr. Sloat and JR Isidore are
starting to catch on to who Buster Friendly really is. “Buster is immortal…it’s
true. They’ve never admitted it, of course (Dick 76)”. Cleary Buster Friendly
and the other important people are actually androids not humans. Androids are controlling
the humans without the human’s realizing it. The Androids are controlling the
population more than originally thought, just as the politicians were in the
1960’s.
Dick a member of the antiwar
movement himself clearly believed that the Vietnam supporters especially the
politicians were not for the good of society, just as the androids are in
DADES. Dick does a phenomenal job in his symbolism of many of the objects in
DADES. It is clear that this book has a deeper meaning than what appears in the
text. Overall, DADES shows a view of what Dick believed could come of the world
if events such as the Vietnam War continued.
Works Cited
Oxford, Tasmin.
"6 Technologies to Thank the 1960s for." TechRadar. TechRadar, 17 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.
Dick, Philip K.,
and Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New
York: Ballantine, 1996. Print.
1 comment:
While none of the themes you open in the first paragraph are bad, you would be better off focusing more quickly. Note also that a symbol isn't quite the same as a metaphor - the slippage between the two bothers me a little, though it's not the end of the world. I'm skeptical of them claim that "they symbolize ... emotionless, non-sympathetic people", because in order to get to that point you'll probably need to accept Deckard and his beliefs at face value.
The 2nd paragraph is very general, like the first. Again, your general claims aren't insane, but they are suspiciously aligned with Deckard's beliefs, although there are other viewpoints in the novel. There is no analysis here of what empathy means to Deckard, nor any discussion of Rachael - who should already be here in some direct way.
The jump to BF being an android has some basis (although you skip over all details), but it should give you pause to make the leap so easily: androids are hunted and persecuted slaves *and* they are in control of everything? Philip K. Dick is a strange enough author that these two ideas can go together, but it's still by no means obvious that we should put them together.
Overall: Little analysis of the text + an easy acceptance of Deckard's viewpoint (without critical analysis) is a problem. That doesn't mean your viewpoint is wrong - but it does mean that you are basically expressing an opinion, rather than arguing it in detail.
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