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Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Peaches:
In Chapter 13, John Isidore drives home with precious food and wine to share with Pris. Dick uses imagery to highlight the rare "pleasure" still available to the characters through food, even in the techno-dystopia of the novel:
The smell of peaches and cheese eddied about the car, filling [John's] nose with pleasure.
Unlike Rick and Iran, who seem highly dependent on the mood organ to feel much of anything, John remains attuned to the real, simple pleasures that are available to him. The mere smell of peaches is a luxury to him. He hopes to enjoy sharing the peaches with his new neighbor, Pris, but the pleasure they bring him now means that they will not be a waste even if she refuses his company. John's ability to appreciate the simple sensory joys that are available to him is perhaps due to the fact that his intellectual disability gives him little chance of upward mobility. Even though he is more competent than he gives himself credit for, radiation poisoning has made him quite literally a second class citizen. And yet, the vivid imagery here suggests that his life might be more satisfying than the eternally unfulfilled Rick and Iran's.
At first, Pris tells John that the food would be "wasted" on her, presumably because she is an android incapable of taking real, visceral pleasure in food. However, she soon changes her mind. Dick uses even more vivid imagery to describe what happens to Pris when she eats a peach slice:
“I’ll try a slice of peach,” she said, and gingerly picked out a slippery pink-orange furry slice with her long fingers. And then, as she ate the slice of peach, she began to cry. Cold tears descended her cheeks, splashed on the bosom of her dress.
Pris is not supposed to be able to feel the way a human can, and yet the reader feels through her "long fingers" the "slippery" flesh of the peach slice and its "furry" edge. They see the "pink-orange" slices through her eyes as she picks out just the right one. The taste moves her to tears, and Dick allows the reader to imagine how the "cold" tears feel as they run down her face and onto her dress. This is not the reaction the reader would expect of an android, nor is it the reaction Pris seemed a moment ago to expect of herself.
It is quite possible that Pris is acting. The passage is written in the third person from John's perspective, so it is a more faithful representation of what John thinks he sees than anything else. Pris knows John expects her to enjoy the peach because that is what a human would do. Even if Pris is putting on a show, however, the moment remains at least partially genuine. Sharing the peach gives John a sense of long-needed connection. He enjoys seeing Pris's reaction—real or artificial—to the peach he has offered her. This passage thus probes the relationship between pleasure and performance, a relationship that becomes especially fraught after Rick has sex with Rachael.
Related Themes:
