43 pages 1 hour read

Philip K. Dick

A Scanner Darkly

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977

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Essay Topics

1.

Dick focuses his narrative on the perspective of the users rather than the straights or law enforcement. How does this focus serve his themes of identity confusion and the perception of reality?

2.

Arctor’s speech to the Lion’s Club shifts between a plea for empathy and a get-tough-on-crime approach. How do these approaches correspond to each of his dual identities?

3.

Dick frequently writes about vast, faceless bureaucracies. What are some examples in A Scanner Darkly? What do the fictional technologies that enable those bureaucracies metaphorically imply about their natures?

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