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Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

“She doesn’t care whether we own an ostrich or not; nothing penetrates.” (Chapter 8, pp.87-8)

In this sentence, Rick laments the deviant apathetic mentality of his wife, Iran. As early as chapter 1, we see that Rick and his wife are owners of an artificial brain simulation machine, on which specific numbers are dialed in order for the user to achieve a certain mood. Much to Rick’s surprise, Iran admits to scheduling lengthy depressive episodes into her day so that she can feel true hopelessness and despair for being left on Earth after most other living beings have emigrated. While Iran deems this despair as natural, it’s especially clear with this quote in chapter 8 that Rick cannot even begin to understand why Iran might want to feel anything other than the artificial contentment which he habitually dials in. Iran’s peculiarity is also underlined in this sentence by the fact that she does not care whether or not the couple owns a real animal. 

As seen throughout the book, owning an animal is not only considered a symbol of status in this society, but it is also considered a measure of morality and even piety. In fact, this lack of interest in owning or caring for animals is what distinguishes androids and “chickenheads” from the real, sane humans. In this way, it could be said that Iran shares attributes of an android or of a chickenhead (who seem to be characterized by deteriorating levels of mental illness) and thus it can be inferred that the morally-upright Rick has little respect for his wife. In fact, he even says in the following lines that he wishes he had gotten rid of her earlier, and then reminds himself that he still could. However, what I find most interesting about his disdain for his wife on the basis of her having android-like qualities, is that the reader also sees the intense attraction Rick experiences towards actual android women like Rachel Rosen and Luba Luft. That being said, I would say that within the greater context of the book, this sentence points to the shared societal attitude of distrust and contempt toward the mentally ill, as well as the image of women as expendable and artificial.