Products of dystopia : Philip K. Dick’s reflections on uncomfortable social realities in three novels

Abstract

This dissertation explores ways in which a selection of Philip K. Dick’s novels express the idea of products produced in a dystopian setting and how these products reflect uncomfortable social realities. The first novel to be discussed is We Can Build You, in which constructed humanoids referred to as ‘simulacra’ are uniquely situated to reflect societal decay under a system of late-stage capitalism and governmental overreach through mental health institutionalisation. The second is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which also features constructed humanoids, although the androids of this text are far more advanced and agentive. These androids and their role in the society of the text, are explored considering their positioning in the dynamic of empathy established in the novel’s post-apocalyptic setting. The final text discussed is The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, which is analysed with special attention to the use of drugs and escapism, as characters seek to escape the climate apocalypse ravaging the Earth. The use of such drugs and the solipsistic nightmare world in which the characters are entrapped, forms the basis of this discussion. The works of Umberto Rossi in The Twisted Worlds of Philip K. Dick and Evan Lampe in Philip K. Dick and The World We Live In are drawn from extensively throughout the dissertation, as they are instrumental in establishing the nature of the dystopian societies described and the perspectives through which we view them. This dissertation explores an under-represented aspect of Dick’s works, in that it discusses the use of products as reflectors of social reality. Dick’s writing often engages with capitalist characters, societies or ideas and the products of such a society are important to discuss as they reflect the priorities and values of such a society. This is a field of Dick’s work that would benefit from more discussion