Blade Runner: first 5 chapters
•
Chapter 1:
–
What does Deckard’s relationship with his wife
show us about his character?
–
How are humans’ relationships with animals
strange?
–
Does this relationship differ from that with
other humans?
–
How do empathy, the empathy box and
Mercerism figure into human relationships?
Chapter 2
•
What has happened to earth?
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What is an andy? Organic? Robotic?
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What is their social status?
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What is a chickenhead? What is their social
status?
Chapter 4
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What is the problem with the Voight
-
Kampf
test?
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How are psychotics and androids similar?
•
In this respect, how does Rachel Rosen
point to an irony in Deckard’s personality?
Chapter 5
•
What do we find out about Rachel?
•
How is it presented as significant, by Mr.
Rosen?
•
What, if anything, does Deckard’s
interaction with the Rosens show us about
the Rosen Corporation?
•
(It’s like an entity, has a personality type,
according to Deckard,
which leads us to...
)
Wiener, cybernetics, and its
dangers
•
What is cybernetics?
–
(it’s the study of computing, robotics, and other
self
-
directing devices)
•
What are Wiener’s fears?
•
How does the opening of Dick’s novel
reflect those fears?
Chapter 6
•
What is kipple?
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Who is Buster Friendly?
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What do you think of Isidore’s interaction
with Priss?
–
Do either of them exhibit empathy?
–
Does Isidore seem mentally disabled?
•
Does Isidore’s discussion (p. 58) of the
empathy box reveal anything about “non
-
special” humans?
Chapter 7
•
What do we discover about Buster Friendly and
Mercer in this chapter?
–
Pp.’s 61, 64
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65
•
What is notable about the cat and fake cat on pp.
68
-
69?
•
How does this relate to the issue chickenheads?
•
Aside from a childlike innocence, are there really
differences between chickenheads and normals?
(p.73)
Chapter 8
•
Rick says (p. 83) that nobody can handle the
new androids but him. Is this significant?
•
Think of the movie
Chapter 9
•
In what ways is Luba Luft different from other
androids?
•
Possible answers: Intelligence, will to live, ability
to undermine the Voight
-
Kampf, desire for
empathy (if not the power)
•
To what does Rick attribute the possibility that
Luba thinks she’s human?
•
Answer: To false memories. Why is this issue of
false memories important? Think of Deckard.
Chapter 10
•
What things are unusual about the police in
the Department that Phil Resch works in?
•
they’re androids; they work in a closed
system, which is fake.
Chapter 11
•
On the first page of the chapter, Garland says that
he had an “intuition” about Deckard: Does this
seem odd? Why?
•
Answer:Garland’s an android
--
they’re not
supposed to operate like that, are they?
•
What do we discover about Resch (via Garland)?
•
What about the idea that Polokov was an
advanced,
undetectable
andy? Does that have
broader implications for others?
Chapter 12
•
Why do you think Deckard buys the Munch
painting called
Puberty
for Luba?
•
Why do you think he burns it after she’s
dead, and then says he wants to quit (119)?
•
What do you make of Resch and Deckard’s
discussion of these things on pp. 120
-
21?
Chapter 12 (continued)
•
Phil Resch passes the Voight
-
Kampf; but
we never see the test? Do you think there’s
a reason Dick doesn’t show Deckard giving
it to Resch?
–
In this connection, what do you think of
Resch’s question: “Do you have your ideology
framed that would explain me as part of the
human race?”(123)? Also see 126.
(More)
•
Do you think this might have something to
do with what Rachel reveals on page 166?
That the corporation is working toward
making andys that are indistinguishable
from humans?
•
If this is so, if making another species of
human is implicitly sanctioned, why bother
killing androids at all? Or is it sanctioned?
Chapter 12 (more)
•
Could the Rosen Corp. itself be controlled
by androids? Or might it be, on the other
hand, as Deckard thinks in chapter 5, an
collective, hive
-
like life form? Or both?
•
See 174
-
75.
Chapter 13
•
Do you think there’s any significance to
Pris’s statement (131) that the andys left
Mars because it was lonely?
Chapter 14
•
Notice how Irmgard depicts bounty hunters
to himself (139)? How might this be
significant?
Chapter 15
•
note that Rick says he has gained empathy
for androids (152
-
53). Do you think this is
significant in any way?
Chapter 16
•
Notice that Rick’s thoughts reveal to us that
androids are programmed to lack empathy;
also that humans are, to some degree
programmed (162
-
63). So where do we
draw the line between “us” and “them”?
•
Are “they” just a reflection of what
“humans” are, but the difference is that (we)
humans are blind to our lack of humanity?
(See Rachel’s thoughts on bottom of 165.)
Chapter 17
•
Or is it that we must have an alternate, or
enemy “other” by which to identify
ourselves (a la Hegel)? See page 180.
•
In this connection, notice that the androids
treat the spider they find with similar
coldness to the way humans treat them.
End chapters
•
what do you make of the fact that after
Deckard has a “merging” with Mercer and
dreams of having rocks thrown at him, he
awakens to find that his cheek is bloody?
•
What about the exchange between his
secretary and him about the death of his
goat (both on 206)?
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