Androids

I thought that the climax of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was interesting.  More information about each of the characters is unveiled along with some of their feelings.  Rick goes through a lot and is having trouble finding meaning in not just his job but himself.  Isidore has to deal with the androids and his feelings towards different groups.  I liked how John and Rick faced a lot of different things and then figured out how to deal with their problems.  I thought it was interesting that Rick overcame his dislike of killing the androids and instead decided to go after even more than he was originally supposed to.  It was good to see Rick's true self and that he doesn't like to be messed with at all.  It was also interesting to see some of John's reactions.  Since he has a low IQ he interacts with the world differently and that was a good perspective to see with everything that was going on.  He just wanted to be with others and that is why he embraced the androids, no matter their own feelings towards him.  I liked that he had to deal with the androids, the spider, and his new revelations on Mercer and Buster all at once.  Another cool thing was how Rachael messed with Rick and then how she killed his new goat.  She caused him to show his true self and I think that will be the end of her because of it.  I feel like Rick should have never trusted her in the first place but he let his feelings for her take him over.  Overall it was a good climax that I think will lead to a great ending.

The Rosen Corporation

There are many interesting things in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, all different in some way.  In my reading I enjoyed the various ways that the Rosens manipulated Rick.  When Rick first arrived he saw a couple different animals that seemed unbelievable to him.  First there was the Raccoon which Rick knew existed still, but he also knew the cost of such an animal was huge.  What surprised him way more was the owl that they had.  Owls were supposed to be extinct so that was truly unbelievable to Rick. Before Rick leaves as a failure, the Rosens try to bribe Rick with the owl but after a series of events Rick uncovers that the owl is in fact electric and everyone is back to thinking that owls are actually extinct.

Rachel Rosen was the first person Rick was to test.  Her results had her as being an android so Rick called her out on that.  Eldon Rosen said that Rick was wrong and that Rachel was simply a human that has lived in outer space most of her life.  After almost getting his electric owl Rachel says something that makes Rick still think that she is an Android.  He tests her with one last question and it is finally shown that Rachel is indeed an android and even Rachel herself did not have knowledge of that.

The Rosens manipulation was very good and they almost got their way too.  I find it weird that they would bother having an electric owl though.  Everyone on Earth assumes that they are extinct so it seems foolish to try to trick those that enter their building, though they did almost trick Rick.  Did the Rosens have any motive outside of making sure the latest Android model was safe to distribute?  It wouldn't seem that way but anything is possible in this book.

A&B Chapter 11

In chapter 11 in The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing it talks about various ways of revising a paper.  One thing it talked about was revising globally, which interested me.  Usually in papers when revising I would change a sentence here or there that would just effect that one sentence and nothing more, this would be revising locally.  When you revise globally though, you are looking at a much bigger picture.  Revising globally causes you to make revisions in several places based on whatever you just revised.  If you make certain changes in your paper it is possible you will want to go back to the thesis and make it better based on what you just changed elsewhere in the paper.  It is important to always look at the paper as a whole and not just as bits and pieces.  One other thing that I thought was interesting was using multiple drafts for one paper.  While I have never done it in the past, I can see how it would be useful.  In an important paper it is helpful to have the best possible ideas written down and shared in the best possible way.  To do this you would have to keep make new drafts as other parts of the paper change.  Having the best possible paper is important no matter what it is for.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I found how the characters in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? viewed animals to be quite interesting.  Owning an animal is very important for their social status in the book.  Some people will look down on you if you do not own an animal or let if you let your animal die.  Because of the way Earth is it is harder to find animals and that is why they are so important for social status.  Rick's neighbor Bill Barbour has a horse that he went to Canada to get, then he rode the horse all the way back to California to make sure that it wasn't stolen.  He did this all to increase his social status.  Rick on the other hand had a sheep that died.  In order to keep his social status the way it was he went out and got a replacement for his sheep, but this one was not living.  It was a perfect replica that was electronic.  It was nearly impossible for others to tell the difference between the real thing and the fake.  I find all of this very odd.  I personally would not care what others thought of me if these were the type of people to make judgments based on my animals.  If I wanted an animal I would have an animal just to have one, not so that others liked me more.  In fact I probably wouldn't be on Earth anyway, I would take my free Android and move to Mars, assuming the weather was nice.  The way animals are looked at in the book are just one of many ways people are different in their time then in ours, and I am very glad that is so.

A&B

There are several different things in Allyn and Bacon that I enjoyed learning about.  The ideas that are placed inside the book are very helpful to me.  The most interesting concept that I found was about the reader.  The guide talked a lot about thinking about the reader and writing for them.  I found this information very helpful for my future writings.  I have realized to a fuller extent just how important the reader is and that they mean everything to a paper.  I also enjoyed reading about how to further my reading and to think more critically.  The concept of reading with the grain and against the grain seems very helpful.  What that will do for me is allow me to see things in different ways.  I will not just hold one view point while reading, instead I will open myself and think about the different ways that I can read.  By becoming a better reader I allow myself to further my writing also, which is very important.  My ideas about writing did not exactly change, but they grew stronger.  What I have read in the Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing so far has allowed me to grow as a writer.  I believe the concepts to be very important and I plan on continuing my efforts at grasping all of them so that I can become the best possible writer that I can be.

English Class

I am writing this blog for my English class.  We are studying apocalyptic situations in this class.  One of the  books that we will be reading is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.  Above is an example of an apocalypse.  Apocalypse comes about in my different ways.  These different ways are often shown in movies, books, and television.  Some ways that have been shown are from natural disasters, AI rebelling, and zombie outbreak.  Robots have been seen killing humans in the movies Terminator, I Robot, and the Matrix.  All of these movies showed an attempt to wipe out humanity.  Robots fighting back are just one of many ways that apocalypse can happen here on Earth.