Created by IU South Bend Students Seianna Giden and, Hilary
Lester, and IU South Bend Alumnus (’05) Andrea Sowers,
Estella Tabb Ganger (Riley High School Class of 2005), Marteve
Grey (Washington High School Class of 2005), Michael Redding
(Adams High School Class of 2005).
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1. How does Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
differ from standard science fiction? How does it fit with
the genre?
2. Describe the setting. How much is known about the World
War Terminus that occurred, and how does it effect the book?
3. How does nuclear war change people’s view of life?
4. Discuss the kipple. Why don’t the survivors just
clean things up?
5. Is it because of the war that humans started worshipping
animals? Why? Are they status symbols, like cars or mansions?
6. Does Dick’s lack of descriptive detail for the setting
make the book different from other science fiction novels?
Is this significant?
7. In many ways, Dick is describing a fake society (electric
animals, mood organs, etc.). How does this reflect our society
now (“extreme makeovers", cloning, etc.)?
8. What do you think the ending means? What do you think
Rick’s feelings are for the toad, and what did his earlier
experiences in the book have to do with it?
9. Does his reaction to the toad confirm his outlook on life?
10. Why does Rick’s wife tell the customer service
representative that he loves the toad?
11. Discuss Mercerism. How does it compare to religious practices
today?
12. How does Mercer compare to other religious figures?
13. What is Dick trying to do with Mercer?
14. When Rick is convinced that he has become Mercer, are
there similarities there to other religious myths?
15. How do the characters in the book react to Buster Friendly’s
news about Mercerism? How is this reaction significant?
16. Explain Buster Friendly’s role in the book. Is
he an important character? Why or why not?
17. If you could add a channel to their TV system, what would
it be?
18. Describe the relationship between Buster & Mercer.
If Mercer is a God, is Buster a Devil?
19. Both donkeys and toads are connected to Mercer and Mercerism.
Both animals have a lot of literary symbolism attached to
them (donkeys—Jesus rode on, Burdern’s Ass, stubbornness,
ignorance; toads—ties to Christian Devil, witchcraft,
poison, bridge to higher world, guilt, death, resurrection,
sexual instinct, etc.) Do you think the author had any of
these ideas in mind when he chose the animals to be tied to
Mercerism?
20. Why is the animal hierarchy (owl, toad, etc.) set up
the way it is?
21. Do the electric animals and androids have lives that
should be valued? Why or why not?
22. What are the human’s social responsibilities for
creating life (the androids?)?
23. In the world of this novel, what is life, and which lives
are sacred?
24. After reading the novel, who do you think is more superior—the
humans or the androids? Can this even be determined?
25. What is reality in this book? How does anyone really
know that they are not an android?
26. According to the worldview described in the novel, what
constitutes making a being something worth caring about (humans,
chickenheads, animals, androids, electric animals, etc.)?
27. What is Isidore’s role in the story? How does he
reflect the social needs of humans?
28. How do Rick & Isidore’s stories compare and
contrast throughout the book?
29. What is the significance of the title?
30. What is the point of the mood organ? What does it reflect
about human nature? Does the mood organ make the human’s
arguments about androids having no empathy somewhat suspect?
31. If humans’ emotions are controlled by a mood organ,
how do they know if they have real love or commitment to each
other?
32. What is Rick’s favorite setting on the mood organ?
What does this tell you about his character and his experiences
throughout the book?
33. Why does Iran set her mood organ for depression?
34. Why are the androids reluctant to use the empathy box?
35. How does the empathy box work?
36. Do the androids have emotions? If yes, is the concern
to humans that they are not having the right emotions?
37. Is Rick an optimistic character? Why or why not?
38. Is Rick more optimistic than other characters? Is Isidore
more optimistic than Rick? Or is Isidore just more naïve?
39. Why are the hierarchies of life important in this society
(regulars, chickenheads, etc.)? Why do they create these class
structures?
40. Argue for or against the idea that Isidore is a victim
of believing society’s labeling of oneself.
41. Was more explanation needed on what makes someone a chickenhead?
42. Owls symbolize wisdom, and can also be a bad omen of
death. What can be made of the fact that all owls died off
during the war?
43. Isidore’s boss is described a wise, with a screechy
voice and glasses, “looking like a top-heavy owl”
(p. 75). Given this description and what we know about owls,
is it important that he says a Latin phrase which means “death
is certain, life is uncertain.”? Why would Dick choose
this character to say this?
44. What about the fact that the owl at the Rosen Association
turns out to be a fake?
45. The novel has a circular pattern ending with Rick’s
waking up, ending with his going to bed. Is this significant?
46. Discuss Rick’s transformation throughout the book.
Did his talk with Reisch start to change things for him? Defend
your argument.
47. Why does the book end with his wife?
48. When Iran orders the flies, do you think Isidore will
be the one to deliver them?
49. The word android derives from the Greek words for “man”
and “similar to.” How does this term relate to
Rachael, Pris, Roy Baty, Luba, and the other hunted characters?
How do they differ from robots? Is this difference significant?
50. Is there a linked consciousness between all androids?
If one android feels something, do they all feel it?
51. Could it be argued that the only ones truly living on
Earth are the androids?
52. Why were the androids created in the first place?
53. Are there parallels to be made between the androids and
slavery?
54. Are the Mars’ colonies a commentary on segregation?
55. How does humans’ treatment of androids relate to
today’s current social problems/conflicts—religious,
sexual, racial, etc.?
56. Discuss the rights denied to androids—cannot have
a will, cannot carry a weapon, cannot come to Earth, etc.
Why have they been denied each of these rights?
57. Are the androids and the ethical issues surrounding them
similar to the questions we face today with cloning? Why or
why not?
58. Thinking in terms of a theme of social interaction, discuss
the following ideas of community and self in the book:
A. Isidore—after what he experienced, will he be able
to ever live without people again?
B. Rick, who goes off by himself, fuses with Mercer and then
returns to society
C. Rachael, who grew up in the association, referring to herself
as property of the association.
D. Other examples?
59. Why do the humans want to kill the androids? Why do they
claim the androids are violent? Is it because the androids
are becoming more and more like humans?
60. Is it because the androids are evolving—rebelling,
trying to live like humans, that the humans are hunting them
down?
61. Discuss the Voight-Kampf test and Rachael’s answers
to the questions.
62. Why do you think the creators of the Voight-Kampf test
chose the questions that they did?
63. What are the flaws in the Voight-Kampf test?
64. Discuss the scene where Rick uses the Voight-Kampf test
on himself.
65. Why did Rachael kill the goat? Does this prove that she
does have feelings?
66. Do you think Rick could have killed Pris if he had not
had his vision of Mercer in the apartment? Why or why not?
67. Overall, Rick is more sympathetic to the female androids
(Luba, Rachael) than the male androids. Is this because of
sexual stereotypes?
68. Are all the women in the book sexual figures? Even the
secretaries, etc.? Why or why not?
69. Is it significant that Rachael and Pris are doppelgangers?
What do you think it means?
70. Think about the scene where Rick has sex with Rachael.
Is the fact that she is an android significant? Why or why
not?
71. Describe Rick & Iran’s relationship. How will
his sleeping with Rachael affect it?
72. Discuss when Rick fuses with Mercer. What does this mean?
73. If Mercer is a fake, why did Rick and the others get
bruised by the rocks?
74. Why does Rick see Mercer?
75. Is Mercerism a satire on organized religion? Is it an
affirmation of the human need for spirituality? Both? Neither?
76. If you have seen the film Blade Runner, how
is it similar to the book? How is it different?
77. Is Rick an android? Why or why not?
78. Discuss the scene at the false police station.
79. Is Reisch and android? Why or Why not?
80. What was Reisch’s deal? Was he helping Rick or
not? Why is it so easy for him to kill?
81. With evolution, humans have produced stronger humans
with a greater will to survive. Since there has been an evolution
of sorts among the androids (new models such as the Nexus
6 being created) could it be that this has created a stronger
will to survive among the current batch of androids?
82. What are the essential differences between humans and
androids? Argue for your answer as if you were trying a case.
83. When Reisch and Rick catch up with Luba at the art gallery,
she is looking at her favorite painting,
“Puberty” by Edvard Munch. Why do you think
this is her favorite painting?
84. Discuss the physiology of the androids. How does this
affect how humans view them?
85. What do you make of Reisch’s advice to Rick, to
first sleep with the android, then kill it?
86. Look on page 193, where Rachael asks Rick if it is a
loss that she can never have children, or to even be a child.
What would it be like to be born, so to speak, fully grown?
87. Why the term “chickenhead” to define Isidore
and others?
88. If animals are revered, why use “chickenhead”
as a derogatory term?
89. Is Isidore smarter than he is given credit for by others?
Point to examples in the text.
90. Why does Pris cut off the spider’s legs? Why didn’t
Isidore stop her?
91. If the androids are so life-like, why are the fake animals
not made in the same way? Why are they electric?
92. How does this book reflect the time it was written (1968)
and in what ways was his vision of the future (or rather,
of the present) seem spot on?
93. Is the ending battle anti-climactic?
94. If you have seen the movie, compare its ending to the
book’s ending.
95. Have you read the book Fahrenheit 451? If yes,
how would you compare the two societies?
