Theme Questions
1.
How is Deckard’s toad at the end of the novel a
reflection of a changing theme of Blade Runner?
2.
How are Mercerism and Buster Friendly’s show
similar? Is either better than the other?
3.
Discuss the contrast between ignorance and
empathy present in Blade Runner.
4.
Do you believe Deckard to be a Human or Android?
Is there a difference?
5.
In the film, both Racheal and Roy Batty succeed
in saving Deckard’s life. How does this act of Empathy towards Deckard show the
changing state of emotions in androids?
6. “I rode down with two creatures, one human, the other android…and my feelings were the reverse of those intended. Of those I’m accustomed to feel-am required to feel”. Discuss how this quote demonstrates the change in Deckard’s empathy towards humans and androids.
7. Are the values of Mercerism still valid knowing
that the religion is fake?
8.
Is Blade Runner a cautionary tale or a tale of
acceptance? Explain your answer.
9.
Is Deckard in love with Racheal or is it purely
a sexual love?
10.
Throughout the novel animals are tended to very
carefully, not because of love or compassion but rather because they are a
symbol of status. Discuss what this novel says about consumerism and values of
humans as they compare to today.
1- Deckard’s toad at the end of the novel symbolizes how much he has changed from the beginning of the book. In the beginning, Deckard’s attitude towards androids was that it was his job to retire them and only that. He also thought that having an electric animal was embarrassing and he continuously tried to buy a real one. In fact, his first goal was to spend the money he made killing androids on a new animal. However, throughout the book Deckard began feeling more empathy towards androids. This was shown by him thinking he could not retire Pris Stratton because she looked like Rachael Rosen whom he had feelings for. He also made love to an android which shows how he changed. The toad simply showed Rick’s new attitude toward androids and electric animals. While he was still disappointed that it wasn’t real, he had no problem keeping it and deciding to treat it as if it was real.
ReplyDelete9- I believe that the affair between Deckard and Rachael was purely sexual love. The first reason why is because Deckard had drunk two glasses of bourbon which is like alcohol. This could have greatly affected his actions and influenced his feelings for Rachael. Secondly, Deckard seems to completely forget about what happened with Rachael by the end of the book. Deckard appears to love his wife much more than Rachael and has no thoughts about her either. If Deckard really was in love with Rachael, he would have at least thought about her at the end of the book. Lastly, Deckard and Rachael did not know each other well enough for their actions in chapter sixteen to be considered anything other than sexual love. The author also goes into great detail about how interested Deckard was about Rachael’s physical appearance which would suggest sexual love as well. Therefore, that is why I believe that the affair between Deckard and Rachael was purely sexual love.
ReplyDelete8- I think that Blade Runner can be seen as both a cautionary tale and a tale of acceptance depending on how you look at it. It can be seen as a cautionary tale if you look at the author’s message of the consequences of nuclear war and the consequences of advancing technology too far. However, it can be seen as a tale of acceptance if you look at how Rick accepted the electric animal at the end of the book when he wanted a real animal for most of the story until that point. I personally see it more as a cautionary tale because the cautionary messages seemed stronger and more powerful to me than the acceptance message.
ReplyDelete8 - I think that Blade Runner is a cautionary tale because Philip K. Dick is warning us about the future. Every human feels the need to be the one to make an impact on the world. We also have a burning desire to fight in order to show our dominance. And to add more fuel to the fire, as humans we feel the need to achieve undisputed control. Blade Runner warns us that our dominant race will practically run us into the ground. The novel takes place in a post nuclear war setting. From what we already know, nuclear weapons cause more than just physical pain. The people in the future, from the novel, suffer in a world that Philip describes as empty and decaying, a world we would soon find ourselves in if we continue on our path for power and destruction. Blade Runner gives us a glimpse of where the human race will be if we do not proceed cautiously.
ReplyDelete#4 - I think that Rick is a human. In Blade Runner the way the androids are differentiated from the humans is by taking a test that is supposed to generate empathetic answer. Androids don't have empathy. Towards the end of the novel, Deckard finds it harder to kill the androids be cause he felt empathy for the replicants. So by the books definition, Rick Deckard is a human. However the beginning of the book has a page titled mandroid, that talk about the topic of whether or not Rick is an android raising the question even before reading the book.
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