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Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Long Lashes:
Android women's remarkable eyelashes are a motif in the novel. In Chapter 6, when John Isidore meets Pris, Dick remarks on Pris's eyelashes to foreshadow her real identity:
Now he saw that she had a nice figure, although small, and nice eyes markedly established by long black lashes.
The phrase "long black lashes" echoes the first use of the motif in Chapter 4, when Rick meets Rachael on the roof of the Rosen Association Building:
She eyed him from beneath long black lashes, probably artificial.
Rick administers his empathy test on Rachael and almost has to admit that he was wrong about her—she is human after all. However, one last question demonstrates that he was right all along. One look at Rachael's beautiful eyelashes is enough to tell him that she is an android. Two chapters later, the attention to Pris's eyelashes is a teaser for the reader. It hints that John's new neighbor may not be human. Pris later slips up and accidentally introduces herself as "Rachael Rosen," confirming for the reader that she is, somehow, Rachael's double. It eventually transpires that they are the same model of android.
Rachael and Pris are not the only androids with beautiful eyelashes. Luba Luft also has "elongated lashes" that suit her well onstage as an opera singer. Whereas many opera performers would have to don false eyelashes as part of their stage makeup, Luba's false eyelashes come pre-installed. They exaggerate her femininity so that it can be recognized even from a great distance. Taken together, Rachael, Pris, and Luba's eyelashes suggest that android women are almost too feminine (and, to the straight male characters, too desirable) to be real. John is the character who most obviously falls into the eyelashes' "trap," and Pris's eyelashes frame "nice eyes" that draw him in and make him desire her company all the more. The passage goes on to mention that Pris has answered the door topless and to describe her semi-nude body in sexualized terms. Her eyelashes and odd behavior alike make her a sort of femme fatale, enrapturing John even as they suggest that she is an android and therefore dangerous to this unsuspecting, mentally disabled man.
Rick may be quicker to recognize an android "femme fatale" when he meets Rachael, but he is not as immune to his desire for her as he may wish. When he eventually has sex with her in Chapter 16, he again notices her "great eyes, with their elaborate lashes" and thinks that they "could only be those of a grown woman." The very feature that first looked artificial to Rick eventually becomes the feature he can't resist. What Rick can't admit to himself is that he desires Rachael not in spite of her artificiality but rather because she is artificial, youthful, and ageless. His wife, who is human and aging along with him, woke up that morning with "gray, unmerry eyes." Far from having sex, they spent their morning arguing about depression, unfulfilled aspirations, and Iran's growing disgust with Rick's career. It is Rick and John's desire to escape the difficult conditions of their humanity and mortality that ultimately lead them both into dangerous relationships with android women. The android women's false eyelashes represent not so much the danger of female sexuality as the danger of the fantasy that this kind of escape is possible.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Long Lashes:
Android women's remarkable eyelashes are a motif in the novel. In Chapter 6, when John Isidore meets Pris, Dick remarks on Pris's eyelashes to foreshadow her real identity:
Now he saw that she had a nice figure, although small, and nice eyes markedly established by long black lashes.
The phrase "long black lashes" echoes the first use of the motif in Chapter 4, when Rick meets Rachael on the roof of the Rosen Association Building:
She eyed him from beneath long black lashes, probably artificial.
Rick administers his empathy test on Rachael and almost has to admit that he was wrong about her—she is human after all. However, one last question demonstrates that he was right all along. One look at Rachael's beautiful eyelashes is enough to tell him that she is an android. Two chapters later, the attention to Pris's eyelashes is a teaser for the reader. It hints that John's new neighbor may not be human. Pris later slips up and accidentally introduces herself as "Rachael Rosen," confirming for the reader that she is, somehow, Rachael's double. It eventually transpires that they are the same model of android.
Rachael and Pris are not the only androids with beautiful eyelashes. Luba Luft also has "elongated lashes" that suit her well onstage as an opera singer. Whereas many opera performers would have to don false eyelashes as part of their stage makeup, Luba's false eyelashes come pre-installed. They exaggerate her femininity so that it can be recognized even from a great distance. Taken together, Rachael, Pris, and Luba's eyelashes suggest that android women are almost too feminine (and, to the straight male characters, too desirable) to be real. John is the character who most obviously falls into the eyelashes' "trap," and Pris's eyelashes frame "nice eyes" that draw him in and make him desire her company all the more. The passage goes on to mention that Pris has answered the door topless and to describe her semi-nude body in sexualized terms. Her eyelashes and odd behavior alike make her a sort of femme fatale, enrapturing John even as they suggest that she is an android and therefore dangerous to this unsuspecting, mentally disabled man.
Rick may be quicker to recognize an android "femme fatale" when he meets Rachael, but he is not as immune to his desire for her as he may wish. When he eventually has sex with her in Chapter 16, he again notices her "great eyes, with their elaborate lashes" and thinks that they "could only be those of a grown woman." The very feature that first looked artificial to Rick eventually becomes the feature he can't resist. What Rick can't admit to himself is that he desires Rachael not in spite of her artificiality but rather because she is artificial, youthful, and ageless. His wife, who is human and aging along with him, woke up that morning with "gray, unmerry eyes." Far from having sex, they spent their morning arguing about depression, unfulfilled aspirations, and Iran's growing disgust with Rick's career. It is Rick and John's desire to escape the difficult conditions of their humanity and mortality that ultimately lead them both into dangerous relationships with android women. The android women's false eyelashes represent not so much the danger of female sexuality as the danger of the fantasy that this kind of escape is possible.
Related Themes:
Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Euphemia:
In Chapter 15, Rick brings a new, real goat home to a delighted Iran. The name he suggests is an allusion that foreshadows what will come to pass between him and Rachael:
Something warned him. Something made him say, “Let’s not go down to the apartment yet. Let’s stay up here with the goat. Let’s just sit and look at her and maybe feed the goat something. They gave me a bag of oats to start us out. And we can read the manual on goat maintenance; they included that, too, at no extra charge. We can call her Euphemia.”
Euphemia is the name of a Christian saint who is said to have suffered and died for her faith. Devoted to the Christian God alone, she refused to make a lawfully mandated sacrifice to Ares. She was subsequently arrested, tortured, and fed to a bear. According to the story, the bear was a last resort after lions (traditionally associated with Christ) refused to do more than lick her wounds. The lions cemented her status as a virgin martyr with God's favor on her side.
Rick's choice of name at first seems out of character. He has never seemed especially drawn to any religion, Mercerism or Christianity. The purchase of the goat is first and foremost a capitalistic triumph: he and Iran have finally been able to afford another real animal. They can be proud of their goat instead of ashamed of their electric sheep. Faith ought to have nothing to do with it. And yet, Rick does seem to be having a crisis of faith. Some feeling "warns" him away from the empathy machine when Iran suggests they go share their joy with other followers of Mercer. Instead of using a machine to "fuse" with the rest of humanity, he feels compelled to experience authentic, unassisted intimacy with those who are here with him right now, human and animal.
Euphemia's name begins to make more sense after Rachael kills her several chapters later. The only reason Rachael lives to exact this revenge on Rick is that he cannot bring himself to kill her when he has the chance. Regardless of how "real" or artificial she is, he cannot deny the real intimacy and betrayal of their relationship. What's more, he does not want to deny himself the sense of empathy and mercy he feels toward her. She may not deserve it, but he does. True to her name, Euphemia becomes a martyr for Rick's faith in his own authentic feelings over any belief system that would have him override them.
Related Themes:
