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Chapter 4
Themes
and Colors
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 administers the Voigt-Kampff test to Rachael, observing her physiological responses to morally complex scenarios designed to provoke empathy. While some questions, such as one involving a calfskin wallet, produce strong reactions consistent with a human, others reveal inconsistencies. For instance, Rachael responds faintly to scenarios about harming insects or admiring decor featuring animal trophies. When Rick tests her on questions involving personal and intimate scenarios, she sometimes reacts appropriately, but her responses are inconsistent. Despite her calm demeanor, Rick concludes that Rachael’s responses indicate she is an android, a determination she fiercely denies.
Because animals are so sacred in Rick’s culture, many of his questions revolve around them. Rick expects to invoke a physiological response in Rachael to determine whether she is truly empathetic or merely pretending. This methodology assumes that biological responses in and of themselves are predictive of one’s capacity to display empathy, which in Rick’s society is synonymous with moral righteousness. It is a questionable system because it discriminates based on uncontrollable responses instead of thought out reactions. Further, Rick himself seems significantly less empathetic toward animals than the test seems to suggest he should be, as a human. He wants them to boost his social status, not because he values them as fellow living beings.
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Rachael protests, and Eldon insists that her upbringing on a space colony explains her inability to respond as expected. He claims Rachael’s isolation from Earth’s cultural norms caused her empathy to be stunted. Rick pushes back, skeptical of their explanations, and accuses the Rosens of deliberately sabotaging the test to undermine its credibility. He believes that the company hoped to invalidate the test by presenting him with a Nexus-6 android under false pretenses. Frustrated, Rick insists on a bone marrow analysis to confirm Rachael’s android status, but she refuses, citing her legal rights.
Here, Eldon suggests that social conditioning has a significant impact on biological responses, a claim Rick cannot deny. Whether or not the Rosens sabotaged the test, it is still the case that the test is fallible and can be manipulated, which is a problem when the police commonly use it as their justification to end the lives (synthetic or otherwise) of those who fail it.
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Rachael tells Rick about the constant threat she faces, as police could mistakenly “retire” her during a routine stop. She admits to rarely leaving the Rosen facility to avoid this danger. Eldon criticizes the police for continuing to rely on an outdated test, claiming that it risks misidentifying humans with diminished empathy as androids. In response, Rick accuses the Rosen Association of taking the moral high ground while knowingly producing androids that are increasingly difficult to distinguish from humans. The Rosens counter by blaming consumer demand for their advancements, emphasizing that other manufacturers would have created similar models if they hadn’t. They also attempt to bribe Rick, telling him they will give him the owl he was admiring if he backs off.
Before leaving, Rick retests Rachael with a single question. He tells Rachael that his briefcase is made of “human babyhide” and asks her how she feels about that. Rachael does give a physiological reaction, but it comes a second too late, confirming that she is, in fact, an android. Eldon finally admits that Rachael is a Nexus-6 model equipped with false memories to simulate a human identity. This confirmation shakes Rachael, who says she did not know the truth. Rick asks if the owl is real, and Eldon admits that it is artificial.
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Rick leaves the Rosen Association with a heightened sense of unease. He reflects on the cunning and resourcefulness of the Nexus-6 androids, as well as the lengths to which the Rosens went to challenge his methods. The encounter deepens his distrust of the Rosen Association and reinforces the difficulty of his task. Despite his doubts and frustrations, Rick resolves to complete his mission and earn his bounty.
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