Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
discussion
The "fake" police station is really bugging me
date
newest »
newest »
I just figured the andys were only playing cops and not doing any actual police work. Resch may have been programmed to go along with it. That would explain why no one knows about them.
It's been many years since I read the novel, but I remember thinking that the fake police station seemed wholly implausible. It's one of several reasons why DADOES isn't one of may favorite P. K. Dick novels.
The fake police station has always been my favourite bit of the book, possibly because it is not in the film. I love the whole "omg I am losing my mind" feeling that Deckard has throughout it.It would not surprise me too much if the other bounty hunter did not notice that the fake police station was not real, as he is meant to be a bit thick.
If the world is in ruin and people don't spend a lot of their time going to the decayed areas I believe it entirely possible one building in such an area could be overlooked enough for the fake police station to operate.It does help when you consider the Androids have infiltrated many aspects of the local governments/police, although it is a good point as to how many are people remaining and how many are Andy's.
What ruins the plausibility for me was the idea that they had Androids unaware they were androids working there, in order to preserve their secrecy they couldnt afford to have anyone talking about it openly.
I wonder who decides whether or not you know you're an andy. "You there. You'll know you're an android. You over there, you'll think you're human."
Dan wrote: "There's just no way that a human (resch) worked at a fake android police station for 3 years without realising."Wasn't Resch an android?
It was mentioned in the book that Garland had probably taken over the identity of a police inspector, thus accounting for Resch's working for the androids longer than they'd been on earth.This does not, of course, account for the existence of an entire second police department.
It could be that Deckard works for a special branch, housed in the "old headquarters", dedicated to hunting androids. This makes a little sense, as this activity is hidden from the public, so it's just the sort of department they would hide in an old, allegedly-abandoned headquarters.
But if this is the case, why was Resche employed at the "official" police agency?
Phillip Dick tends to include unexplainable events in his novels, and this (to me) is one of them. I have never determined whether he left this sort of thing unresolved on purpose, or (as is more likely) if he was in such a rush to get the book finished (and get paid) that he didn't go back through and see if it all made sense.
That's really the magic of PKD. He keeps us talking about it.
Dick was a borderline schizophrenic (sometimes not so borderline) and while (probably as a result) he came up with really creative stuff, sometimes he didn't have it all worked out all that well (probably also as a result)... and I think that Andy-infested police station was an example of such
Nils wrote: "If the world is in ruin and people don't spend a lot of their time going to the decayed areas I believe it entirely possible one building in such an area could be overlooked enough for the fake ..."This. I'm sure the andys could set up their organization like this.
Resch, otoh, bothers me. I do think he's human, but I'm not sure how he could work for the fake 'police' without messing up their secret organization.
But I do agree with Scott that the ambiguities are intentional, and meant to be provocative.
Btw, I blame/ credit PKD's drug use more than his mental illness for his visionary work. But then, I've not done extensive research....
Nils wrote: "If the world is in ruin and people don't spend a lot of their time going to the decayed areas I believe it entirely possible one building in such an area could be overlooked enough for the fake pol..."This was my thoughts as well!
"Btw, I blame/ credit PKD's drug use more than his mental illness for his visionary work." If this were the case, then all those junkies I came across in the housing hostels (that I've had the misfortune to spend time in) are great writers waiting to be discovered. I don't think so.
By that logic, your implication is that everyone who is diagnosed with a mental illness is an undiscovered artistic genius, too.I'm sure some ppl struggling w/addiction and some struggling w/ what has been labeled insanity *are* brilliant... and some aren't.
But what I was saying about PKD is that he was brilliant, and that he probably was challenged by both 'mental illness' and excessive experimentation with drug use, and that I suspect that the drug use influenced his work, especially the scope of the visions, more than the mental illness.
I strongly suspect this because I've spent time with people facing both challenges (though not people facing both simultaneously, I admit) and the hallucinations of those with their brain chemistry altered by substance abuse have a lot more in common w/ PKD's paranoid but imaginative explorations of versions of reality than do the interpretations of the world described by those I've met who are challenged by their own brain electro-chemistry.
"By that logic, your implication is that everyone who is diagnosed with a mental illness is an undiscovered artistic genius, too."I didn't say that either. But by your logic everyone who is a drug addict is an undiscovered literary genius. Obviously not. I've known a lot of drug addicts (unfortunately) and most of them are idiots and incapable of writing anything coherent. So personally I'd rule out drug use completely as having any cerebral benefit. In my experience it turns brains into mush. :) Dick wrote brilliantly in spite of his problems not because of them, IMO
Anyway, nuff said, we seem to have derailed the original post.
I can honestly say I didn't notice the "fake" police station. I must have been reading the book whilst half asleep in bed. I'm intrigued enough to want to go back and read it all over again now.
I didn't notice thefake cop station either. Now I want to reread that part. I don't think I want to do the whole book again.
Kelly wrote: "I didn't notice thefake cop station either. Now I want to reread that part. I don't think I want to do the whole book again."Well I just reread it this weekend, looking out for the "fake" police station, and it all began to make sense. I think the station wasn't fake, the cops inside it were (except for Resch - although I'm still not sure about that). The "fake" station is the one Deckard works from because it's an undercover operation so nobody is supposed to know about it. I think. Well, that's how I see it. Kind of twisted if that's the case, the fake police working from the real station, the real police working from the fake one :)
Lostaccount wrote: "Kind of twisted if that's the case, the fake police working from the real station, the real police working from the fake one"That's PKD for ya
all discussions on this book |
post a new topic
There's just no way that a human (resch) worked at a fake android police station for 3 years without realising.
But regardless of resch, there's no way that there's a huge fucking fake police station sitting in city staffed entirely by androids and it's a secret to the "real" human police station that deckard is a part of.
Also, it could be possible that instead of deckard being an android, he's simply insane, he could "think" he's a bounty hunter, but in actuality not be, he could be killing human beings and not killing androids for all we know.
There are many times when he's left alone, whenever he talks to another character on the phone or to check in with his police station he's always alone, away from his suspects.
The only thing I can be sure of is that deckard is not simply as presented, he is 100% not a regular human bounty hunter, the story simply doesn't make sense if he is.
I'm also questioning whether his wife even exists or whether she's a product of his insanity.
1. Deckard is an android?
2. Everyone on earth is an android?
3. Deckard is a human but insane/doesn't work as a bounty hunter/is a killer?
4. Resch doesn't exist?
5. His wife doesn't exist?
6. The fake police station is the real police station, deckards police station doesn't exist and is a product of his insanity?
7. It's moral and encouraged to have an animal because they're trying to get androids to empathise with animals?