sits staring at the dust, to his amazement he
sees a small
toad crawl out from beneath the
dust and rocks. The policeman is
delighted at
this discovery of life in the wastelands,
because toads
are classified as an extinct
species, and are of great value within a
world
supposedly devoid of animal life outside of zoos
and very
expensive pet shops.
After very carefully collecting the small
creature in a box, he
takes it back to his flat
to show to his wife, Iran, their precious
prize.
But whilst inspecting the toads underside, she
discovers a
small electronic panel in its
abdomen.
The significance of Deckard's discovery of
an artificial toad in the
wastelands is left to
the recipient's imagination, although it's
not
unreasonable to suggest that this may be a
Dickian take on the
theme of the mechanisation
of contemporary life. The character of
Rick
Deckard is like a policeman who is learning how
to grieve; this
same theme is also adopted in
some of Dick's other novels; A Scanner
Darkly |
(1977) and Flow My Tears The Policeman Said
(1974). It is
as though Dick, the author, takes
pleasure in building the hopes and
aspirations
of his main character, only to shatter the
illusion in
one cruel stroke.
There is a sadness or a melancholy feel
running through the main
theme of Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep? which is also
expressed
in the film. The hatred or aversion of death,
entropy and
decay, which is either called
"gubble" in his earlier novel Martian
Time Slip
(1965) or "kipple" in Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep?
This is a scene from the latter novel where
John Isidore, the
"chickenhead" or "special" is
trying to explain to Pris Stratton what
"kipple"
means:
"Kipple is useless objects, like junk
mail or match
folders after you use
the last match or gum wrappers
of
yesterday's homeopape. When nobody's
around, kipple
reproduces itself. for
instance if you go to bed leaving
any
kipple around your apartment, when you
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