Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“A Day in the Life”

In this activity, students will explore philosophical questions raised by the novel by creating an original account of the events and conflicts presented from the perspective of a supporting character.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? raises many potential questions, and yet the reader explores them exclusively through Rick’s and Isidore’s character arcs. For this assignment, you will create an alternate account of the events from the perspective of another character. Depending on the character, you may focus on all the events of the novel or you may diverge from the plot to explore a single plot point, such as Phil Resch grappling with discovering he was employed by androids. Be creative, but make sure that your account remains “in character” as you explore a core question from the novel.

• Step One: Brainstorm—Determine which unanswered question and character most interest you. It may help to list several options and narrow it down.
• Step Two: Draft—Consider the format your account will take, such as letters, diary entries, police reports, a video log, a podcast, or even a performance piece. Outline, plot, or storyboard with your chosen format in mind. Seek feedback from your teacher and/or peers when finished to ensure you are meeting requirements.
• Step Three: Finalize—Create your final draft or product based on feedback.
• Step Four: Present—Present or display your final draft.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity offers students a chance to demonstrate their understanding of components of the novel while speculating and drawing conclusions regarding the novel’s unanswered questions. Clarifying that students can take creative license rooted in source material may increase engagement. Creating a quick version as a class may help students approach individual assignments with more confidence, while feedback during each phase may help students meet requirements. Formal sharing options may include class read-alouds or performances, publication on a class website, or a digital anthology.

Differentiation Suggestion: A list of characters and unanswered questions may help students choose topics efficiently. For students with organizational or executive functioning differences, graphic organizers or step guides may be beneficial. For multilingual learners, preselected and/or prehighlighted passages related to their character may help with time management and ease transition from language comprehension to character analysis. To include more learning styles and cultures, consider allowing options for group work, visual or performance art form such as video or storyboarding, or oral response forms such as a monologue. To provide opportunities for reflection, consider having students write statements that explain their choices regarding topic, medium, structure, and style.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Throughout the novel, technology is presented as both a necessity and a harm to humans.

• Is this novel intended as a cautionary tale about technology? (topic sentence)
• Make an argument as to whether it is technology or another element in Rick’s life that causes the conflict within the story. Then explain how details within Rick’s character arc support your argument.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, discuss what warning the novel may serve, whether about technology or something else.

2. At its core, the conflict of the novel revolves around being human and the qualities that might exclude one from humanity.

• Who is the most human character in the novel and why? (topic sentence)
• Considering the book’s themes and messages, define what it is to be human and then explain why the character you have chosen best fits this definition.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain whether, based on this definition, being human is a condition worthy of aspiration or praise.

3. Several symbols support the theme within the novel, such as the Voight-Kampff test, Wilbur Mercer, kipple, and the electric sheep. For this essay, choose only one symbol.

• What might this symbol represent, and how does it connect to deeper story elements? (topic sentence)
• Explain where the symbol appears and how its meaning relates to plot, conflict, and theme.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain what conclusion this symbol helps you draw regarding one or more of the book’s themes: Essential Empathy, Isolation and Decay, and/or Artificiality Versus Authenticity.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Doubles or pairs are a motif within the novel, appearing in the form of both opposing and complementary ideas, characters, details, and events. How does this binary motif inform and propel Rick’s conflict and character arc? What comparisons does it invite the reader to make? What does the development of this motif suggest about deeper themes? What reconciliation, if any, does this motif point toward in the end?

2. A central question explored within the novel is what it means to be human. How do Rick’s and Isidore’s character arcs explore this question? How does technology, including the androids and their approximation of humanity, complicate the search for one’s humanity? Ultimately, what conclusions can be drawn from the novel regarding a deeper understanding of what it is to be human, or whether the question truly matters?

3. What role does ambiguity play both stylistically and structurally within the novel? How does it factor into suspense and tension? In what ways does ambiguity both cloud and inform the reader’s understanding of characters, themes, and/or messages? Are these ambiguities resolved, or do the events remain open to interpretation at the end of the novel?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What direct historical parallel does Dick make with the androids?

A) Panic around androids parallels panic around McCarthyism.

B) Android history parallels American enslavement and colonization.

C) They parallel the differences between US and Soviet philosophy.

D) They parallel the threat and power of atomic weapons.

2. What is Mercer’s rule of life?

A) Thou shalt not kill.

B) Kill only the killers.

C) Empathy before the self.

D) An android may not injure a human being or animal.

3. Why does the electric sheep demoralize Rick?

A) It is an eerily convincing copy of the one that died of tetanus.

B) It makes Rick think herd animals are cultish and inferior.

C) It keeps malfunctioning despite the expense of the model.

D) It neither needs nor appreciates his empathy.

4. What truth do the Voight-Kampff questions show the reader?

A) Empathetic responses are learned, not innate, since many readers would fail the test.

B) Android intellect is less of a problem than their lack of empathy.

C) The right questions can always separate the authentic from the artificial.

D) A plant-based lifestyle is morally superior to one using animal products.

5. What might kipple represent?

A) It represents the careless destruction of the earth.

B) It represents the failure of humankind to show empathy.

C) It represents a distraction from the ideals and tasks that matter.

D) It represents the Sisyphean struggle against absurdity and entropy.

6. Why would Dick completely undermine the premises of his novel by casting doubt as to whether Rick might be an android?

A) It encourages feelings of empathy for androids.

B) It confuses the reader as much as it confuses Rick.

C) It symbolizes the human conflict of self-alienation and existential doubt.

D) It creates empathy for Rick as a character.

7. What is the underlying significance of finding Luba Luft at the art gallery?

A) Resch displays a coldness toward her that leads Rick to believe he is an android.

B) Luft’s appreciation for art casts doubt as to whether empathy is real or performed.

C) Alluding to Munch’s artwork provides a visual cue for android emotions.

D) Viewing art engages empathy, but Luft cannot empathize, so it is ironic.

8. What does Isidore’s character reveal about empathy?

A) Perfect empathy opens one to exploitation and suffering.

B) Only those designated “special” can have empathy.

C) Empathy is always reciprocal.

D) Empathy makes it impossible to survive.

9. Which word best describes Isidore’s relationship to the androids?

A) Exploitive

B) Desperate

C) Dependent

D) Empathetic

10. What is the irony of Mercerism as Rick understands it after fusing in thanks for the goat?

A) Its tenants require care for animals, but Rick cannot afford one.

B) It is difficult for Rick to have empathy for the artificial.

C) Rick understands that Mercer must be an android to live so long.

D) To “kill only the killers,” Rick must become a killer, so he cannot identify with Mercer.

11. Which of the following does not occur during Chapter 22 in which Isidore finds a spider? 

A) Isidore shows Pris the spider and Pris tortures it.

B) Buster Friendly announces that Mercerism is fake.

C) Mercer approaches Isidore in a trance and admits he is an actor.

D) Isidore frees the spider, demonstrating empathy to Pris.

12. How are Isidore and Mercer alike?

A) When Isidore fuses with Mercer, he is cut by the same rocks.

B) Mercer is a “special” like Isidore.

C) Isidore’s suffering, despite his lack of wrongdoing, makes him a martyr.

D) Isidore cannot distinguish artificial from authentic beings.

13. What does Rick’s assertion that everything he has done has been “wrong from the start” illustrate about the larger human condition (Chapter 20)?

A) Immoral acts are an unavoidable part of human survival despite empathy.

B) Bounty hunting is immoral no matter the rationale.

C) Technology easily blinds humans to their own evil nature.

D) Empathy is as impossible for humans as it is for androids.

14. In what way are Mercer and the toad alike?

A) Mercer created the toad, so they are like parent and child.

B) Rick despises both for the emotional ordeal they put him through.

C) Both the toad and Mercer are examples of pure empathy.

D) Though proven to be artificial, they still carry truth and meaning.

15. Which quote from Chapter 22 offers the best evidence of Rick’s character transformation?

A) “I couldn’t stop because there would be nothing left after I stopped.”

B) “But it doesn’t matter. The electric things have their lives, too.”

C) “So now all he can do is move along with life, going where it goes, to death.”

D) “‘Ok,’ he said. ‘Long deserved peace.’”

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. What makes Rick and Isidore different, and why are both rewarded by Mercer in the end?

2. In what ways is Rick a hero who is entitled to “long deserved rest,” and is this the only way of interpreting the ending?