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Chapter 18
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
John grips the empathy box handles as the lights in his apartment go out. Irmgard and Pris urgently instruct him to confront any bounty hunter who knocks, lie about their presence, and refuse entry. Then, Roy orders John to step outside and check the hallway. Venturing outside, John releases the spider Mercer gave him onto a patch of weeds, relieved to see it crawl away. A man holding a flashlight confronts him, introducing himself as Rick Deckard. Rick questions John about the androids but gets no cooperation. Frustrated, Rick proceeds into the building alone to hunt the androids.
Releasing the spider, a gift from Mercer, onto the weeds represents John’s effort to embody the empathy Mercerism preaches, offering the spider freedom rather than subjecting it to harm. Rick’s sudden appearance disrupts John’s fragile equilibrium. While John’s refusal to cooperate with Rick highlights his loyalty to the androids, his hesitation reveals the moral conflict brewing within him. Protecting the androids—beings who mutilated a spider for fun—is perhaps empathetic, but it also allows beings who are decidedly not empathetic to continue living and destroying other beings.
Themes
Inside, Rick uses detection equipment to locate the androids. On the stairs, Mercer appears, warning Rick of an ambush by one of the androids resembling Rachael. Moments later, Pris, looking nearly identical to Rachael, approaches. Rick hesitates but ultimately destroys her. He continues to the Batys’ apartment and knocks on the door, pretending to be John. The Batys open the door, see Rick, and demand that he test them before firing. When Rick refuses, Roy fires at him immediately, narrowly missing.
Mercer’s intervention on the stairs bridges the metaphysical and the practical, framing Rick’s mission as more than just a task of bounty hunting. For Rick, destroying Pris is not just an act of violence; it is a moment of emotional suppression, where Rick must compartmentalize his feelings to complete his mission. By doing so successfully, he overcomes Rachael’s trap and comes one step closer to completing his mission.
Themes
A firefight ensues, which ends with Rick shooting Irmgard and then Roy. As Rick rests in the now-silent apartment, John appears at the door, devastated by the loss of Pris. Rick consoles him briefly before calling Bryant to report the mission’s completion. While Rick views the day’s work as necessary, John is overcome with grief, lamenting the violence and the loss of the androids he had befriended.
Irmgard and Roy are extinguished with cold efficiency. John’s devastation over Pris’s loss underscores his capacity for empathy, even toward beings society deems unworthy of it (and beings who themselves are relatively unempathetic). Rick’s brief attempt to console John is telling; it reflects his own discomfort with the violence he has perpetrated and suggests that, despite his outward resolve, the boundaries between humanity and androids are eroding in his mind.
Themes
