How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
John Isidore gradually experienced a waning of the living room in which he stood; the dilapidated furniture and walls ebbed out and he ceased to experience them at all. He found himself, instead, as always before, entering into the landscape of drab hill, drab sky. (2.21)
Philip K. Dick's stories often contain a device that allows characters to enter a hallucinatory or alternative version of reality. In Do Androids Dream?, this machine is the empathy box, which lets people experience Mercer's reality as if it were their own. How weird. Wonder what it would be like to have a box in our living rooms that gave us the impression of seeing other people's realities, although it really all takes place on a soundstage and … oh. Where'd we put that remote?
Quote #2
Releasing the handles, he examined his arm, then made his way unsteadily to the bathroom of his apartment to wash the cut off. This was not the first wound he had received while in fusion with Mercer, and it probably would not be the last. (2.30)
Here's another longstanding Dick motif. Once a character passes through the boundary between the two worlds, the realities blend together and even interact with one another. But isn't it weird that the characters in the novel are so laid back about it? Like, "A rock from another dimension struck me in the arm this morning; boy do I hate Mondays."
Quote #3
"This is Deckard. How much is an electric ostrich?"
"Oh, I'd say we could fix you up for less than eight hundred dollars. How soon did you want delivery? We would have to make it up for you; there's not that much call for—" (3.40)
Before you stick up your nose at Dick's characters plugging into the empathy box, think about this: we create different versions of reality in our everyday lives. In economics, we assign value to objects (or ostriches) based on demand for the item. The value has nothing to do with the ostrich's intrinsic worth or its role in nature. In a way, saying the ostrich is worth $800 is one way of creating a version of reality called economics. Mind blown.