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Chapter 16
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 drinks coffee while waiting for Rachael to finish her shower. When Rachael joins him, she teases him about their earlier intimacy, noting that androids cannot control their sensual desires and accusing Rick of taking advantage of her. However, her tone is lighthearted rather than accusatory. As they prepare to leave, Rachael speaks candidly about her short lifespan, lamenting the inability of androids to sustain their existence due to the limitations of cell replacement. Then, they head to the hovercar, where Rick broods over his task of retiring the three remaining Nexus-6 androids.
Rachael’s comment about androids’ inability to control sensual desires reframes their encounter, implying that her behavior is dictated more by programming than genuine feelings for Rick or desire for sex. This tension forces Rick to grapple with whether their shared moment had genuine significance or was another manipulation. Rachael’s candid reflection on her limited lifespan adds a layer of existential tragedy, contrasting her apparent emotional detachment with the inevitability of her rapid decay.
Themes
As they drive toward the suburbs, Rachael reveals more about her interactions with other bounty hunters. She confesses that her intimacy with Rick was part of a strategy she’s used successfully against previous bounty hunters, who were no longer able to kill androids after sleeping with her. Rick grows furious and claims he is going to kill Rachael to prove to himself that he can do it. However, after a moment of tension, he realizes he cannot kill her after all. Instead, he decides to drop her off at the hotel and let her return to Seattle. On the way there, Rachael turns on the radio to hear Buster Friendly’s radio program. Buster Friendly is a known antagonist of Mercer, and he is scheduled to deliver an exposé on Mercer momentarily.
Rachael’s admission about seducing other bounty hunters strikes a devastating blow to Rick’s sense of control and individuality. Her revelation not only invalidates their shared experience but reframes it as a calculated move in a larger pattern, reducing Rick to a predictable cog in the system she seeks to undermine. His fury and threat to kill her are immediate attempts to reclaim agency, as if proving he can eliminate her will reaffirm his purpose as a bounty hunter. However, his inability to follow through demonstrates the potentially irreversible impact of her manipulation: Rick has indeed come to humanize her, if not also other androids.
Themes
