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Chapter 2
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 stops on his way to work to admire an ostrich in a San Francisco pet shop. The bird’s rarity and high price intrigue him, but he quickly moves on, arriving late at the Hall of Justice. Inspector Harry Bryant asks Rick to meet at 9:30 in his office. Bryant reveals that Dave Holden, the department’s top bounty hunter, lies in the hospital with a spinal injury from a laser attack. Rick learns more from his secretary, Ann Marsten, who speculates that a Nexus-6 android attacked Holden. She explains the advanced capabilities of the Nexus-6 brain unit, which has caused concern among police worldwide. Bryant has even contacted the Soviet police, urging them to file a complaint against the Rosen Association, the android’s manufacturer.
These moments make it clear that Rick’s job is fundamentally dangerous and could easily kill him. However, he continues to do it anyway because he wants to buy a new animal. Like so many things in the book, the Nexus-6 androids, which are now causing a problem in society according to Rick’s department, are a corporate product. The novel also reflects the time period in which it was written (late 1960s), as the Soviet Union still exists and apparently managed to survive World War Terminus. Here and elsewhere, it sounds as if the Soviet Union and the United States are on good terms. It is unclear whether they were on opposite sides during World War Terminus.
Themes
In his office, Rick reviews the specs for the Nexus-6 brain unit. The unit’s complexity surpasses human intelligence in some cases, though it lacks the human capacity for empathy. Rick considers androids as solitary predators incapable of the emotional connection central to Mercerism. This perspective justifies their retirement and aligns with Mercerism’s principle of eliminating “The Killers,” which Rick associates with rogue androids, or “andys,” as he often calls them.
Rick’s worldview is shaped around the assumption that humans, by nature, have empathy while androids do not. However, as the novel progresses, it becomes increasingly unclear whether this distinction is true. There are many ways in which the androids seem more human than Rick gives them credit for, a fact that is mirrored in the human-sounding nickname he gives them (“andys”).
Themes
While working through his thoughts, Rick recalls the ostrich he saw earlier. He contacts the pet shop to negotiate a lower price, but the salesman refuses. Frustrated, Rick calls the shop that sold him his electric sheep and inquires about the price of an electric ostrich, which costs significantly less. However, he ends the call abruptly when he realizes it is time for his meeting. While preparing to meet with Bryant, Rick thinks about how it is fortuitous that there will be more work for him because of Holden’s injury.
Rick’s behavior suggests that he is not drawn to any particular animal, only the social status it grants him. Again, his frustration comes out because he lacks the appropriate capital to be able to buy what he wants. Although Rick fancies himself a morally upstanding person, he fails to realize the way the consumerist society he lives in corrupts his thoughts. Rather than worry about Holden’s injury and the implications it might have for his own future, Rick is simply happy because it means that there is more work—or perhaps more accurately, more money—for him.
Themes
