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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Humanity and Empathy
Reality vs. Artificiality
Alienation
Religion and Faith
Consumerism
Summary
Analysis
Rick and Resch arrive at the opera house to continue their pursuit of Luft but learn from a stagehand that she has left for the museum to see an Edvard Munch exhibit. They proceed to the museum and begin searching for her among the artwork, noting the somber and evocative tone of Munch’s pieces. Resch stops to study The Scream, remarking on its depiction of isolation and torment. Rick notices Luft examining a print of Puberty, a depiction of a young girl on the edge of a bed. The two men approach her carefully to avoid alarming the other museum visitors.
The setting of the Edvard Munch exhibit enriches the chapter’s mood, as the artist’s works explore existential despair and the human condition. Resch’s fascination with The Scream reflects his own internal isolation and unease, while Luft examining Puberty highlights her complex relationship with identity. The young girl in Puberty is on the threshold of transformation, mirroring Luft’s precarious existence as a Nexus-6 model trying her best to seem like a real human.
Themes
Rick initiates the encounter by casually offering to buy the print for Luba. Luba recognizes him and reacts with shock. Rick introduces Resch to her, while Resch produces his police credentials. Luba accuses Resch of being an android, which visibly unsettles him. Together, the men escort Luba toward the elevator, with Luba passively complying. On the way, she asks Rick to buy her the print of Puberty, and he obliges, paying for it with his own money. Luba thanks him, remarking that his gesture is something an android would never consider.
Rick’s decision to buy the print for Luba reveals an uncharacteristic act of generosity, one that both confuses and disarms her. This moment complicates Rick’s role as a bounty hunter, as it suggests a lingering empathy for the androids he is tasked with retiring. Luba’s passive compliance adds a layer of ambiguity to her character, as her actions oscillate between calculated manipulation and genuine acceptance of her fate.
Themes
Inside the elevator, Luba continues to needle Resch, accusing him of being an android and questioning his identity. Her remarks provoke Resch, who draws his laser tube despite Rick’s protests. When Rick tries to intervene, Resch fires, wounding Luba in the stomach as she attempts to evade him. She collapses in pain, screaming, and Rick ends her suffering by firing his laser tube. Luba dies instantly. Afterward, Rick burns the print he had purchased for her. Resch cannot understand why Rick would buy the picture with his own money and then burn it.
Luba wields words as her weapon against Resch’s composure. Her accusations about his potential android nature seem less like a calculated tactic and more like an act of rebellion, one last attempt to undermine her captors’ certainty. Rick’s role in ending Luba’s life feels almost merciful, yet the act of burning the artwork he bought for her signals his inner conflict. By destroying the print, Rick seeks to erase the brief moment of empathy he allowed himself, as if punishing himself for connecting with a target.
Themes
The two men leave the museum, and Rick begins to question Resch’s actions. He observes that Resch seems to enjoy killing, which disturbs him. Resch defends himself, arguing that retiring androids is necessary to protect humanity. Rick, skeptical of Resch’s humanity, agrees to test him using the Voigt-Kampff scale. They walk to Resch’s car, where Resch voluntarily surrenders his laser tube to reassure Rick that he is not a threat. Resch expresses nervousness about the test and worries about the possibility that Garland’s claims about him being an android might be true.
The way Resch casually discusses the nature of androids versus humans—without much reflection—suggests that he shields himself from existential doubt by adhering to a rigid worldview. Rick, on the other hand, cannot compartmentalize his emotions as easily, and this growing discomfort signals the deepening cracks in his professional identity. Resch’s insistence on taking the Voigt-Kampff test feels almost paradoxical. That is, the man who appears the least conflicted about his role harbors the most personal fear about his authenticity.
Themes
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Rick administers the test, carefully monitoring Resch’s responses. The results confirm that Resch is human, to his great relief. Resch asks Rick for his thoughts, but Rick remains preoccupied with the events of the day. He thinks about Luft’s death and the emotional impact it has had on him. Resch, trying to rationalize Rick’s reaction, attributes it to physical attraction toward Luba and advises him to address such feelings by pursuing intimacy with an android before retiring it. Rick finds the suggestion unsettling and wonders if such an attitude is what makes Resch such a good bounty hunter.
The confirmation of Resch’s humanity fails to provide the relief one might expect, as it leaves both men grappling with different aspects of the same question: what defines humanity? Resch’s suggestion that Rick’s emotional turmoil arises from attraction to Luba feels clinical, almost dismissive, as if he cannot fathom a deeper or more nuanced motivation. Yet, in making this claim, Resch inadvertently exposes his own discomfort with the complexity of emotions—empathy, guilt, or even desire—that Rick seems unable to suppress.
Themes
