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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the next android Rick decides to go after?

2. What does Rick's wife accuse him of being?

3. What is the radioactive dust a result of?

4. Why does the woman surprise Isidore?

5. What do Rick and his wife decide to have for the rest of the day?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way does Rick question his beliefs?

2. How does Isidore show his desperate need for both friends and company?

3. In chapter 9 how do you think Luft almost fools Rick?

4. In what way does Rick's sheep symbolize denial of the artificiality of his life?

5. Why do you think Rick has a need to hold on to what he regards as reality?

6. What is the significance of the dead cat?

7. Is John Isidore really the 'chicken head' says he is?

8. What does Rick's determination to buy an Ostrich show about his character?

9. Why do you think Mercerism has become the dominant theology?

10. How does Pris's character show her to be an android?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

While Dick writes about a future world he takes elements and even generic conventions from other genre's. For example the main character Rick Deckard has the lonely and cynical view of a private eye from a Ray Chandler novel

1) What other generic conventions does Dick use in the novel? Are they merely homages?

2) In which ways do you think the future setting of the novel changes the meaning of any generic conventions Dick uses?

Essay Topic 2

Philip K. Dick is said to be a writer existentialist fiction with Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? one of his major works.

1) What is existentialist fiction?

2) What elements of existentialist fiction can you see within the novel's structure?

3) In what ways is Rick Deckard a typical existentialist character?

Essay Topic 3

In the book there are a number of characters that are either rarely seen or are never scene, but play a big part in the book. These include Polotov, Dan Holden, Mercer and Buster Friendly. Choose one of these characters and discuss what role they play in the story? In what ways does their presence affect the main character? Do they have as much influence on the main character as some of the more prominent characters in the book?

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