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Chapter 20
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 lands his hovercar in a desolate, rubble-strewn area near the Oregon border. Exhausted, he contemplates his unprecedented feat of retiring six Nexus-6 androids in a single day. He attempts to call Holden at Mount Zion Hospital but learns that Holden is too unwell to take calls. Feeling isolated and alienated from his own actions, Rick steps out of the car and begins to walk up a barren hillside, weighed down by his thoughts of defeat, despair, and disconnection from humanity.
The landscape, stripped of life and hope, becomes a projection of Rick’s inner turmoil, emphasizing his disconnection from humanity and the natural world. His reflection on retiring six Nexus-6 androids in one day is not a moment of pride but a hollow recognition of the sheer destructiveness of his actions. His inability to reach Holden at Mount Zion Hospital adds to his isolation, severing his connection to one of the few people who might empathize with his burden.
Themes
As Rick ascends the hill, he feels the oppressive heat pressing down on him, magnifying his sense of failure and disorientation. At one point, he nearly stumbles off a cliff. A rock suddenly strikes him, evoking the familiar yet unsettling sensation of fusion with Mercer from the empathy box. This time, however, the experience feels profoundly different because he endures it alone. Shaken, Rick scrambles back down the hill to the safety of his hovercar.
Without the buffer of the empathy box or communal context, Rick is forced to confront the raw, unmediated reality of what Mercerism represents—pain, endurance, and an unyielding connection to suffering. His retreat to the hovercar is not merely an escape from physical danger but a desperate bid to shield himself from the uncomfortable feelings that Mercerism asks its adherents to feel.
Themes
Rick attempts to call Bryant but cannot reach him. When he contacts his secretary, Ann, she urges him to return home because Iran is concerned. Ann also notes Rick’s fatigued appearance, comparing him to Mercer. After hanging up on Ann, Rick reflects on his entanglement with Rachael and his regret over losing his goat. He acknowledges the irreversible impact of his decisions, including his troubling connection to Mercer, and realizes that he cannot separate himself from this identity. He decides to call Iran but freezes as he goes to reach for his phone.
Rick’s inability to reach Bryant reflects his growing estrangement from the institutional structures that once defined his role as a bounty hunter. Ann’s observation of his fatigued appearance, paired with her comparison to Mercer, forces Rick to confront the blurring line between his personal identity and the symbolic figure of Mercer. The comparison is unsettling because it implies that Rick has internalized Mercer’s ethos so deeply that it now manifests in his physical demeanor. This realization compounds his regret over his entanglement with Rachael and the loss of the goat, both of which symbolize his failed attempts to find meaning and connection in a fractured world.
Themes
