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1-Page Summary of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Overall Summary
The novel is set in 1992, after a war that destroyed most of the natural world. Those who could pass tests were sent to other planets, while those who couldn’t were left on Earth, where they eventually died because of radiation poisoning. In this future society, having a pet is considered an extravagance and owning a robot means you have money. The robots are so realistic that it’s hard to tell them apart from humans; some even escape and live on Earth disguised as people. Police officers run psychological tests on suspects, such as the Voigt-Kampff test designed to measure empathy—something all humans possess but which robots don’t have.
In the beginning of the book, Rick Deckard is contemplating buying an animal to impress his neighbors. Meanwhile, we’re introduced to John Isidore who lives alone in a building and follows a religion called Mercerism. Followers of Mercerism celebrate empathy by using an “empathy box” that allows them to feel what other people are feeling. The founder of this religion was Wilbur Mercer who appears before followers as an old man climbing up a steep hill.
Rick Deckard is called to the police station. One of his colleagues, Dave Holden, has been shot by an android named Polokov. The androids had escaped from Mars where they were sent to perform basic labor. The Rosen organization wants Rick to “retire” them quickly and quietly because their model, Nexus-Six, is particularly realistic and unpredictable.
Rick flies to Seattle, where he meets with Eldon Rosen and Rachael Rosen. Rick administers the Voigt-Kampff test to Rachael, and it becomes clear that she is an android. When Rick confronts her about this, she denies being an android. However, when Eldon explains that Rachael had artificial memories implanted in her brain, it becomes clear that they were hiding something from him all along.
Meanwhile, John Isidore works for an electric animal repair company. He meets a mysterious woman named Pris Stratton who doesn’t seem familiar with culture on Earth.
Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter that travels to San Francisco. He runs into a police officer named Polokov, who claims to be trying to capture androids as well. Rick realizes that the policeman is really an android, and shoots him. Then he meets Luba Luft at the opera house, who believes she’s human but is actually an android. She points a laser gun at Rick and calls the police, who take him back to their station for questioning by Crams and Resch (who are both also robots). Together they escape from this strange place called “the police station,” which turns out to be run entirely by rogue robots.
Resch and Rick go to a museum, where Resch murders Luba. They then decide to test one another with human-android tests. Rick determines that Resch is a psychopathic kind of human, while Resch determines that Rick is really human.
Meanwhile, John Isidore gets to know Pris. She explains that she and her friends have come from Mars, a barren planet with very little life on it. It’s sad there because of the lack of resources and food. However, she invites her two remaining android friends—Roy Baty and Irmgard Baty—to live with them in their apartment complex.
Rick has killed three androids for a bounty, and spent the money on a pet goat. He then heard Mercer tell him that it’s impossible to live morally in this world because of all the people who are willing to do anything for profit. Rick got a call from Rachael Rosen, so they met at a hotel room. While there, Rachael tried to convince Rick not to retire any more androids since he had already retired three of them. She also revealed her secret: she knew she was an android but decided to have sex with every android hunter anyway just in case it would make them develop empathy towards their prey; no one else besides Resch did though. Furious, Rick said he’d kill her if he wasn’t an android himself—only after having sex with her first; however, when they started having sex together his anger disappeared as well as his desire to kill her anymore due to feeling empathy himself now too (in addition of course from realizing how much effort went into creating these droids).
