“She was a wonderful singer. The planet could have used her. This is insane” (136)—Rick Deckard.
Why in a destroyed world, barley able to prevent itself from crumbling, would such talent as Luba’s be discounted? Well, I guess the simple answer to that is because Luba is different. Luba Luft is an android, and so, despite her talents, contributions to society, or pure desire to break free from her master and live life as a more privileged human, she will never be accepted and will always be hunted as a danger to the human race.
With this quote, Rick, a bounty hunter who claims to “stand between the Nexus-6 and mankind, a barrier which keeps the two distinct” (142), begins to realize that maybe the androids do have something to offer to society. However, due to his fear of androids, his job, and the promise of money, Rick inevitably retires Luba, despite his awe of her voice. He says, “this is insane” yet does not alter his actions and spare Luba’s life because he is too set in his ways and not open to a change in the social order.
Androids are seen as second class citizens, not even citizens, in Dick’s world, and because humans fear them and refuse to give them a chance to assimilate into earth society, this classification will never change and society will miss out on all of the potential androids possess such as their singing and police talents. Even though Rick is beginning to realize the error of his ways, he has not yet made the mental leap to accept androids for the benefit of society. This quote thereby shows the harm closed-mindedness can cause and demonstrates that in order to make a social change for the better, people of the higher class must be willing to take a leap of faith and change their mindset to allow new people and new ideas into their way of thought.
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI saw that same ambiguity regarding people's thoughts on androids, especially when Rick killed Pris. From Rick's perspective, the right between him and the android Pris goes as follows: "He fired at her as, imploringly, she dashed toward him. The android burst and parts of it flew; he covered his face and then looked again, looked and saw the laser tube which it had carried roll away" (221). Rick's perspective on android humanity shifts from before and after he kills Pris. When she is alive, he refers to her as "she" and grants her some humanity. But when he kills her, suddenly she becomes an "it." This is to distance himself from the fact that he killed her because he is probably uncomfortable with how close she is to a human. Your post reminded me of this portion of the book because of what you said about Rick starting to realize the error of his ways but not fully making the mental leap of learning to accept androids for the benefit of society. Since he referred to her as "she" initially, he probably sees Pris as at least a potential member of society, but the fact that he referred to her as "it" once he killed her probably indicates that he isn't fully ready to accept her. He still sees her as prey.