Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - My Part 1 Reflection

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11:07 PM
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

While discussing the week's workload of school work with a friend, I mentioned that I had to read 11 chapters of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. A person seated a booth over jumped in and corrected me: "No, you get to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," and proceeded to pile praise upon the book. After reading through its chapters for the first time this last week, I can definitely say that all the praise is deserved.

The book started quickly. Much like Rick was jolted into the world by his alarm clock, I was suddenly put into a world I knew little about. Prior knowledge told me that Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was the inspiration for the movie Blade Runner. But having only a vague idea of what Blade Runner was about (Robots?) left me assuming far too much about the beginning of this Novel. I thought Iran was a android for the longest time. Her first line of dialogue, "Keep your hand off my settings." and my spotty knowledge of the novel's universe firmly reinforced this. Rick's announced occupation of Android Killer dispelled this belief of mine fairly quickly.

Fun Fact: There is a Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? comic!  I'll be picking this one up next time I swing through  Sioux Falls for sure.

Despite its fast beginnings, I never really found myself confused. Every element of this strange world was carefully explained, but it was done skillfully enough were I never felt like I was having information spoon fed to me. Each step of the way seemed natural. Every artificial element of this fictional world seemed completely natural given the context and presentation. The chemically augmented fight between Iran and Rick, the electric sheep and its numerous neighbors on the rooftop, the idea of rogue androids infiltrating our society; none of these ideals warranted a second glance in context.

The character of Isidore was somewhat of an anomaly for me. I felt favorably to the character immidately simply because of his name; my grandmother's middle name is Isidore and I absolutely adore that name. As his character developed beyond my initial perspectives, I felt conflicted. This man is nothing like any character we had been introduced to by this point. Isidore was a 'chickenhead', someone who scored below standard IQ levels, and 'special' and thus unable to reproduce. He follows a religion which essentially condemns him as useless due to his being 'special'.

My first real moment of confusion during the story came while Rick was dealing with Luba Luft, as he is being taken away by the police officer that arrives. This feeling of confusion, no doubt, was intentional and matched much of what Rick must have been going through at the time. In my mind I saw two distinct possibilities  First, I thought that he had somehow been moved out of place in time. It sounds silly to say it was my first explanation, but in a unfamiliar science fiction universe it is definitely plausible. After all, Isidore had mentioned he could turn back time to save dying animals as a child. Maybe that was a theme to be expanded? My second situation guess proved to be the one that was true: the androids Rick was sent to hunt had created a psudo-police organization for the protection of robotkind.

I'm incredibly excited to continue on in this book. Rick has partnered himself with a android hunter who, unbeknownst to himself, is actually an android. The questions this novel seeks to create about humanity and its definitions are coming to light and I'm anxious to see their resolution.


1 comments:

Introduction

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4:54 PM


Hey, I'm Alissa. I'm a Junior English for New Media major, though I am only in my second semester of both my major and DSU. Prior to DSU I was a journalism student at SDSU. I'm really loving everything at DSU so far from the people to the coursework.  I'm originally from Huron, South Dakota. I never moved in all my 18 years in that town, but since moving out I've lived in Sioux Falls, Brookings, and Lincoln NE. I've also discovered a love for traveling recently. I've made friends all around the country and enjoy trekking out to see them whenever I can. Flying is wonderful, but road trips are my favorite; last winter some friends and I drove ~25 hours one-way down to MD for a convention. 
Ultimately, I'm pretty undecided on my career goals but my dream job would be anything involving video games. It may be a fantasy, but I'd love to find myself working for a developer or even writing news about the games I've spent my entire life around. Video Games have been a pretty big factor in my life since I was a kid. They're entertaining, but my main draw to games is the narrative. In my opinion, games and other interactive media represent immense potentional in storytelling; something I'm excited to see develop as the industry grows.
I've got no real experience with Phillip K. Dick, but my dad cites Blade Runner as one of his all time favorite movies. I've heard his name mentioned around and I've heard of several of his books, but I hadn't drummed up the initiative to look into his works until I saw a poster for this class.
Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to a great semester here,
Alissa

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