73 pages 2 hours read

Philip K. Dick

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1968

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During Reading

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

CHAPTERS 1-5

Reading Check

1. What killed Rick’s living sheep?

2. What was the cause of World War Terminus?

3. What were the first androids built for?

4. Which android models are nearly indistinguishable from humans?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the conflict as presented through the opening scene? What problems do Iran and Rick face?

2. Who is Isidore, and what does he struggle with?

3. What are the stakes of the Voight-Kampff Test that Rick must perform at the Seattle Rosen Company Headquarters?

4. What is the impact of changing Rachel’s pronoun from “her” to “it” in Chapter 5?

Paired Resource

Segregating the Chickenheads

  • This essay in Disability Studies Quarterly examines Dick’s novel as a satire of the American Eugenics movement. (Note: To avoid plot spoilers, read only to paragraph 21.)
  • This relates to the theme Essential Empathy.
  • How does the historical context of eugenics clarify the author’s treatment of both Rick’s and Isidore’s characters?

CHAPTERS 6-9

Reading Check

1. What does Isidore not make distinctions between?

2.