What makes this chapter great in my opinion is that when deckard is
accused of the murder and taken to a police headquarters, the people
that arrest him seem almost as bewildered about the situation as he
is. He is strongly associated with being a murderer and yet they talk
to him casually and try to work through the problem together...and
these are apparently mortal enemies! I like the underlying sentiment
here. Reality isn't as solid as we would like it to believe and all
of Dick's characters seem compassionate to those facing the
consequences of this truth, even the androids. I also think it's odd
how calm deckard takes all the accusations and implications. He
simply knows that reality is as he remembers it and moves along with
equanimity. Resch seems something of a twin of Deckard. One wonders
how Deckard himself would respond to the bad news...
another thing I've noticed is the theme of entropy and how many
characters talk about how the whole earth is being steadily reduced to
kipple. I think it's a bleak outlook, but it's a common theme in
literature and film these days.
This piece was before it's time. In fact the only dissapointment is
in the dates, if you moved them to 2120 instead of 2020 it could still
be a view of the future. I think that all humanity has contemplated
these thoughts, what if the world ends and what will cause it to
ends? Actually I should ammend that, not all humanity has
contemplated this, but all thinking humanity has. Many societies
contemplated it over history, many 'calendars' have an end date that
arrives soon (the mayans being the most notible) (and it creeps me out
to no end).
I read a very interesting article in the paper here (and have even
linked to it: http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/insight/story/151427.html
) about the decline and fall of America. Many of us are convinced
that America will fall in the next generation as a superpower - and
that we underestimate our rivals problems. We think that our problems
will destroy us, and they might, but I think it more likely that our
problems will cause a greater divide between the classes instead of a
destruction of America. We are being split across increasing
'educational' lines as well.
Now that I am completely off topic, back to the book. I loved the
theme of entropy (new book out called 'The World Without Us' about how
the world would revert if we didn't exist / ceased to exist) and the
similarities between Deckard and Resch - did anybody else think that
Resch really was an android? I was completely convinced by the time
the test was given that he was. Deckard was disturbed that someone
could enjoy killing so much, but didn't he derive his greatest
pleasure from killing as well? It seems to be a game of wits with
him.
Other thoughts?