In Philip K. Dicks, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, animals have nearly become
extinct after World War Terminus and the resulting nuclear fallout. This has suddenly
caused animals to become a symbol of wealth and prestige rather than simply a slab of
meat bought at the grocery store. But all-the-while, throughout the novel, Dick makes it
apparent that the role of animals is actually to satisfy the owners desire to simply own a
real animal, opposed to a replicant animal, which is seen through the interactions of
Deckard and his sheep, then again with his goat, and also with Isidore with the cat. In an
effort to distinguish themselves from all other beings on a world that has been ravaged by
war which has caused most people to emigrate to other planets, humans display their
control or dominance over animals by preserving their existence on earth. It can be seen
that humans actually do value and care for animals but not for an individual animal. Rather
they possess them for the glorification of their status in society.
First, lets distinguish the relationships that are present in this book. Throughout the novel,
animals are held in high demand and are quite valuable due to their scarcity, but when you
think about this in relation to the relationship between humans have with androids on
earth, there something is different. Although there are only a few androids on earth, the
humans hunt them down while they preserve the disappearing animals. This concept has to
do with the idea that humans want to be seen as unique from every other being in the
world. Humans are becoming threatened by the androids as they become more like humans
while the humans become more like machines. One example of this is how humans use a
mood organ to set their mood for instance seen in the opening chapter. As for trying to
preserve the animals, since they are not seen as a threat to humans and are seen as
something natural, possibly even more natural than humans, they make an effort to sustain
animal life on earth. Its seems as though the humans common goal is to prove that they
have power over the other creatures and beings of the world.
These ideas tie into John Bergers main points in his essay, About Looking, which is the
fact that humans have distinguished themselves from all other beings, even though they are
