Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Chapter-by-chapter summary

Spoiler warning: this section covers the whole plot, including the ending. The novel's numbered chapters are grouped here into seven parts.

Part 1: A morning with an electric sheep

A world war has left radioactive dust over Earth and killed most animals. Owning a real one is now a sign of status and decency. Rick Deckard, a San Francisco bounty hunter, keeps an electric sheep on his roof because his real sheep died. His wife Iran uses a mood organ to switch her feelings on and off. After a colleague is wounded, Rick's boss assigns him six remaining Nexus-6 androids who fled Mars. Why it matters: the bounty could buy a real animal, so his longing for the genuine thing drives the whole plot.

Part 2: The Rosen Association and Rachael

Before the hunt, Rick travels to Seattle to see the company that builds the Nexus-6. He needs to know whether the Voigt-Kampff test, which watches reactions to emotional questions, still works on the newest model. He tests Rachael Rosen, introduced as the owner's niece, and concludes she is an android. Her creator first denies it, then admits it. Why it matters: the test is less certain than the police claim, and the line between human and machine is already blurring.

Part 3: John Isidore and Mercerism

John Isidore is a lonely young man whom society looks down on because radiation has dulled his mind. He lives alone in an emptied apartment block and drives a van for a shop that repairs artificial animals. A new neighbour, Pris Stratton, moves in; she is one of the escaped androids. People in this world also grip an empathy box and share the suffering of Wilbur Mercer, an old man climbing a hill under a rain of stones. Why it matters: the kindest person in the book is the one the androids use.

Part 4: Polokov, Luba Luft and a false police station

Rick's first target, Polokov, claims to be a Soviet police official, and Rick kills him. Next he finds Luba Luft, an android living as an opera singer. Her voice moves him. Before he can test her, she has him arrested and taken to a police station he has never heard of, run by androids. Phil Resch, a fellow bounty hunter who is also held there, helps him escape. Why it matters: the androids copy human institutions to protect themselves.

Part 5: Doubts, a goat and Rachael

Resch later shoots Luft in a museum, and Rick feels a grief he did not expect. Because Resch seems to enjoy killing, Rick tests him and finds he is human. Rick starts to see that some androids seem kinder than some people. With his bounty he buys a real goat. Shaken, he calls Rachael, and they spend a night together. She says she has done the same with other bounty hunters to make them unable to do their job. Why it matters: Rick's certainty about who deserves pity begins to crack.

Part 6: The apartment and the fall of Mercer

The last three androids, Roy Baty, his wife Irmgard and Pris, hide in Isidore's apartment. Isidore welcomes them as friends. Pris cuts the legs off a spider he has found, treating it as a game. Meanwhile the TV host Buster Friendly announces that Mercer is a fraud, an actor on a cheap set. Isidore is shaken, yet Mercer appears to him and says the shared suffering is real anyway. Why it matters: it asks whether a feeling counts if its source is faked.

Part 7: The last hunt and the toad

Rick reaches the building and kills Roy, Irmgard and Pris. Afterwards he feels no triumph. At home he finds his goat dead, killed by Rachael. He flies into the northern desert, sees himself climbing Mercer's hill and finds a toad, a creature thought extinct. Iran then finds the control panel on its belly, and it is electric. Rick accepts this calmly and goes to sleep. Why it matters: the novel ends by asking whether made things have a kind of life too.

Characters

Rick Deckard

A San Francisco bounty hunter and the main character. He can only afford an electric sheep and dreams of a real animal. As he retires androids, he starts to feel pity for some of them, and that unsettles him.

Iran Deckard

Rick's wife. She depends on the mood organ and often sinks into despair. She resents the fake sheep and Rick's job, and in the last scene she is the one who finds the toad's control panel.

Rachael Rosen

A Nexus-6 android linked to the company that builds them. She first appears as the owner's niece. She draws Rick close, then makes sure his work cannot stay the same for him afterwards.

John Isidore

A lonely worker at a shop that repairs artificial animals. He treats the escaped androids as friends and tries to protect them. He may be the most gentle character in the book.

Pris Stratton

An escaped android who looks just like Rachael. She moves in next to Isidore and uses his kindness. Her cold curiosity shows when she cuts the legs off a spider.

Roy and Irmgard Baty

Roy leads the escaped androids and wants them to survive on Earth. His wife Irmgard is one of the group. Along with Pris, they are the last of Rick's targets.

Phil Resch

Another bounty hunter, who seems to enjoy killing. Rick suspects he is an android, but the test shows he is human. That leaves Rick questioning what empathy really is.

Luba Luft

An android who lives as an opera singer. Her talent moves Rick, and her death at Resch's hands makes him sorry in a way he cannot explain.

Wilbur Mercer and Buster Friendly

Mercer is the old man at the centre of the religion Mercerism, who climbs a hill while stones are thrown at him. Buster Friendly is a TV host who says Mercer is staged. Together they ask whether a shared feeling counts if its source is fake.

Writing about this book

Pick one question and follow it through the plot. Do not retell everything; use two or three scenes as evidence. Here are some starting points:

• Rick uses a test to decide who deserves pity. What happens to his certainty after he meets Luba Luft and Phil Resch?
• The mood organ and the empathy box let people manage their feelings with machines. Are they helping or harming?
• Why does the author make the cruellest scene a spider losing its legs, not a murder?
• The book ends with an electric toad. Does Rick treat it differently because it is artificial?

Pair each point with a scene and your own reaction. A good paper also links the story to something you have seen, such as how people treat pets, social media or voice assistants. Use short quotes only, and name the part of the book they come from.