Day 212: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I said before that this is one of the most unsettling novels I've ever read and that remains decidedly true after the end. Unfortunately, I haven't wrapped my head around this one very thoroughly. I have more questions than answers really. The first impressions will be closer to a review than this post due to that reason. I'll state my opinions about the novel here, but I'm not very confident about many of them. If you're looking for an answer to the question of 'should I read this book,' then the answer is probably yes if you like classic sci-fi and mind bending tales about the nature of life.

First off, Mercerism. The quasi-religious ideology practiced in the book by anybody who isn't an android. By use of a device called an empathy box, multitudes of devout Mercerists connect with one another to experience Mercer's climb. His climb is very reminiscent of Sisyphus' punishment, as he ascends to the top of a hill, only to be stoned by an unseen crowd, fall into a pit of death, and then rise again on a wave of life. The wave of life here is very literal. He seems to use some kind of necromancy or something to bring dead animals back to life and ride the growing tide of their bodies to escape the pit. Anyway, the key point here is that joining with Mercer via an empathy box allows one to experience the lives of all those who connect at the same time, their recent triumphs, and their recent defeats as well. Deckard describes this intense empathic experience as a kind of emotional insurance, so that depressed individuals can use the happiness of others to stave off despair.

The part I'm confused about is the reality of this phenomenon. At times, Mercer seems to exist in the flesh before Deckard (though it's hard to tell if he's just hallucinating due to exhaustion). Near the climax, Deckard realizes he has fully fused with Mercer, in a sense becoming the man himself. Mercer also seems to revive a spider for the character J.R. and that has me really confused about his true nature. Additionally, Mercer is revealed as a fake by the androids. The vision seen when connected to the empathy box is apparently a Hollywood production, and Mercer is just a character played by an alcoholic actor. All this makes for a murky vision of who this guy is, but that's ok. I'm pretty sure PKD made him this way on purpose.

I think the point is that it doesn't matter if he is a fake or not, and the empathy he generates in people is real either way. This theme is reflected in the androids that Deckard comes to empathize with over the course of the novel. In the most unnerving scene in the book, three of the androids that Deckard is hunting have hidden out in a building with J.R. Isidore. J.R. is a mentally handicapped 'special,' or more commonly (and derogatory) 'chickenhead,' who lives alone until the outlaw androids show up. While intellectually disabled, J.R. is a deeply empathic individual who immediately tries to help the androids because of his own status as a lesser human. The unnerving part comes when J.R. finds a spider, an extremely rare occurrence in the post-apocalypse. After he excitedly shows the spider to the androids, they immediately start snipping its legs off one at a time to see how many it really needs to walk. The irony of this is that the TV broadcast announcing Mercerism as fake is going on in the background, with the androids declaring that empathy is merely make believe. Of course, they have no idea why J.R. is so disturbed by their treatment of the spider, or why he still runs to his empathy box to join with Mercer and share his pain with countless others. They can't understand why humans would knowingly engage in the falsehood.

Mercer revives J.R.'s spider, but it's unclear if this spider is electric or not. Deckard meets J.R. outside his building, sees him returning the spider to the wilderness, and asks him why he doesn't keep it, as it is highly valuable. His answer of course is that the androids inside would mutilate it again. Still, J.R. refuses to help Deckard hunt the androids, even after they show him their complete lack of humanity. This is the point at which Mercer seems to become a physical manifestation, helping J.R. with the spider, and Deckard with hunting the androids.

After killing the Androids, Deckard finds a toad in the wilderness, Mercer's favorite animal, which turns out to be electric. He no longer seems to care if the toad is an android however, and resolves never to hunt an android again.

PKD seems to make the point that to hold empathy for an unempathetic being is just as important as holding empathy for our fellow humans. I think the point is that drawing lines in the sand between ourselves, 'chickenheads,' androids, and anything else, does nothing but reduce the empathy we have for each other. Trying to cast yourself as the only thing deserving of empathy ultimately makes you less worthy of it.

Let me know what you thought of this book, cause I sure would like to hear some alternative explanations, or additional things I might have missed about the theme of the novel.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley