Setting: Flashback to Arctor’s house. Inside the examination room. Outside and inside Arctor’s house, Arctor then goes to the apartment where he monitors the holo-scanners that are in his house.

Character:

Charles: Charles is becoming more and more distant from the rest of the group. He actually cries after leaving Arctor’s house because what happened to Jerry and what’s happening to his friends.

Luckman: Luckman shows that he is fairly civilized compared to the others, wearing nice clothing and toting around books. He isn’t afraid to speak his mind and defend what he thinks is right.

Arctor: He’s becoming increasingly paranoid of Barris and frustrated with Donna.
Barris: Shows just how little he actually cares for his friends after letting Luckman just lay there and almost die.

Plot: Arctor continues his examination with the psychiatrists and a flash back occurs. The event that made them first suspicious of Fred being an addict was when Barris bought a ten speed bike. The group then thought they got ripped off because they only counted seven gears, with none of them being able to figure out that each of the two gears uses the additional five gears to make a total of ten gears. They had to go out and ask a random person how the bike worked. Arctor refuses to do any more of the test and then leaves. Later, Charles drives over to Arctor’s house with a plan to make Barris look like an idiot. He drives up to find that Luckman, Barris and Arctor are all working on Arctor’s car. Charles fails in his attempt to fool Barris and then decides to leave after he feels that the house isn’t mellow anymore, just like with Jerry’s house. Barris and Luckman start to quarrel with one another. After Charles leaves, they go inside and talk about Donna being a thief. Arctor then has to leave, but can’t take his car and tried to borrow either Luckman’s or Barris’. Arctor states he’s walking to Donna’s, but actually heads to the monitoring apartment so he can watch footage from his house. While there, he watches the live feeds and sees how Luckman almost dies by choking and how Barris does nothing to help him.

Theme: If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a noise. Continues the theme of how people act different when they are in different situations.

Setting: A run down apartment with a variety of tenants is where Kimberly lives. The highway that Bob and crew are on is very busy, then they are back at Arctor’s house.

Character:
Arctor: After the events of the day, Arctor begins to realize that he’s starting to become paranoid and everything is becoming murky to him. He feels like he is starting to become a burned out head like Luckman and Barris. He now feels relief that the cameras are set up in his house so he can find out who’s out to get him.

Luckman: Luckman is much more normal than any other of Bob’s friends, besides Donna. He agrees with Bob that Barris is screwing with them and has a fair knowledge of different things like mechanical know how. He talks in a weird manner, but not in riddles like Barris.

Barris: Barris is looking more and more like a psycho and it’s becoming more apparent that he’s out to get Bob Arctor, though it’s not certain why. He will randomly do things without taking into account how other people will feel or react, it’s like everything is just one big game to him.

Plot: To allow his house to be bugged, Bob has to leave for long enough to let the agents do their job. He first goes to visit a friend, Kimberly, but while there Kimberly’s supplier comes and threatens to kill her. Arctor tries to help, but Kimberly soon freaks out and yells at Arctor to leave. Arctor, Luckman and Barris then drive to San Diego to pick up something and while driving, Arctor’s gas pedal breaks and they nearly crash. Once they pull over, Luckman finds the car’s been tampered with and they proceed to freak out about it. They all take some tabs of D and Arctor has a bad trip. He gets paranoid and starts yelling at Barris, how Barris is the one doing this, breaking is precious item, his car and now poisoning him. After calling a mechanic, they head home to where Barris has set up a video camera and left the door unlocked with a note, in an attempt to find out who’s trying to burn them. Once they find a warm joint in the ashtray they all freak out and think about selling the house, only to find that it was Donna in the house all along. The next day, he goes to work as Fred and talks to Hank about the cameras getting set up. After Hank tells him how to observe Arctor and where the station is to watch them, Arctor is told to go to room 203 for an examination. Two doctors proceed to do some testing which includes showing cards to Fred to see if he can determine the object. He gets the first one right, but screws up the second test. He asks what alerted them about him becoming an addict and they tell him it was the incident with the bicycle.

Theme: The theme seems to change during different sections of the book, while before it was more directed towards drug use and the lives between the straights and the users, now it’s become more deep. Arctor is starting to question who he is and which life he truly lives, that of Bob Arctor and that of Fred. The same could be said for everyone, it’s like we all put on masks (metaphorically) to hide who we are depending on the situation, but eventually these masks meld into one being and from there you no longer know which mask you are wearing, or if there were any masks in the first place. Paranoia slowly takes over the mind until only a puddle of thoughts is left in a person.

Setting: In an office where undercover agents can discuss various assignments in their scramble suits; Hank’s office. Bob’s backyard is also a mess, garbage thrown about everywhere. Arctor’s house was once clean and organized, but after he left his family it became a mess.

Character:
Fred (Bob Arctor) realizes that he is slowly changing and that Fred and Bob are becoming the same person. When in the scramble suit and being Fred, Arctor is able to talk about personal issues without emotion or any attachment, but as soon as he leaves the dread and guilt come to him. This makes him want to take more substance D even though he is a nark trying to arrest people who deal drugs. Later we find out that Arctor had a wife and kids, but after hitting his head on a cabinet decided to get rid of them. He hated how nothing new would ever happened and needed change.

Hank is Fred’s boss, another person who uses a scramble suit and talks with no emotion. He assigns Fred his job and is fairly level headed and easy going, usually joking about how stupid addicts are.

Barris shows just how bizarre he is by confessing that he broke Arctor’s machine. He goes on to say that he doesn’t know his motive for it and that he might have been hired and given amnesia. He really is an odd person and becoming more paranoid.

Plot: Fred talks to Hank about his assignments, like Weeks and other people that are connected to Arctor. Hank tells Fred that Arctor is his new subject and that he has to bug his home. This poses a problem for Fred since he is being asked to watch himself. Barris, Charles and Luckman sit around Arctor’s backyard and try to make a silencer for a gun. Arctor lays in bed and thinks about his past, why someone broke his cephalochromoscope. It goes on to talk about Jerry Fabin and his aphid trip. Jerry attempted to burn his house down, with him in it, but Arctor and his friends had called the police and Jerry was carried away to New-Path. After Barris comes in his room and confesses that he tampered with the chromoscope, Arctor takes a couple Ds and goes to sleep.

Theme: People feel the need for change and to fill this need many do whatever possible. In this case it’s doing drugs, even though you know your situation will become progressively worse, many want to have that excitement if only for a short while.

Setting: A small diner where things are very calm and laid back, then they drive to a 7-11 and finally head to Bob Arctor’s house. The house is a complete mess with newspapers all over the front lawn, the inside is no better. Barris has set up a little lab inside the house to perform experiments but much of the items are junk.

Character: Charles Freck thinks about going to New Path to help get rid of his addiction to D, he starts thinking about this after he watches Jerry Fabin and his condition. Charles is experiencing for of the side effects from D that Jerry had before. Jim Barris is another friend of Bob Arctor and lives with him. He has a large knowledge of chemistry and the make up of various drugs. He is strange and intelligent, always making sarcastic remarks and screwing with people’s minds. Charles doesn’t know whether Barris is insane or intelligent. Barris appears suspicious of Bob in general while Charles doesn’t think much of it. Arctor realizes that the people at New-Path are even more hard pressed than the secret authorities that he works for. Arctor is easily able to act to get information he needs.

Plot: Charles Freck and Jim Barris meet in a local diner where they discuss various things. Mostly about Substance D and how Charles is thinking of going to rehab in New Path. While eating their meal, Charles talks about wanting to get more D from Donna, Barris then asks if he would like to pay 98 cents to find out how to lay her. Charles agrees but only does it so he can buy from her. Barris explains how using legal materials from 7-11, he can produce 1 gram of cocaine, Charles pays the bill and they head to the store to purchase some Solarcaine.

Barris grabs a plastic bag, fills it with the contents of the can of Solarcaine and proceeds to put it in the freezer. The two converse more about Arctor, who he really is, where he’s actually employed. Charles states that he may just go to New Path right now, but decides against it because he wants to see if the experiment will actually produce cocaine.

Bob had been assigned to enter a New Path residence to look for a dealer posing as an addict. He poses as an addict himself so he can get inside and ask questions about Spade Weeks, his assignment. After the employees treat him like garbage, Arctor decides that finding Weeks is hopeless and leaves.

Theme: When Bob Arctor has to go into New-Path to find Weeks, he has to hide his true identity just so he can get in. The companies don't like the cops snooping around and would actually stall for time until the fugative was able to escape, mostly to get paid off and gain benefits for themselves. It just shows what people are willing to do as long as they get something out of it.

A Scanner Darkly

Characters:

1. Jerry: A scatterbrain character who has begun to see aphids everywhere and thinks they are slowly killing him. Has an addiction of trying to get rid of them. Only cares for himself...and his dog.
   
2. Charles Freck: Sarcastic and free thinking. Helps Jerry "collect aphids" Is a heavy user of substance D. Thinks things through in a very cautious way, always looking out for himself. Is constantly anxious about his supply of D. Hasn't had any brain damage yet from using D.
   
3. Donna: She's the girlfriend of Bob Arctor and a D dealer. She appears pretty normal and doesn't actually use D herself.
   
4. Bob Arctor: Appears to be the protagonist of the story, works as an undercover agent to catch narcotic dealers. Using Donna to get to someone higher up in the drug ring. Is known as Fred when wearing his scatter suit and working as an agent.
   

Setting

The location is a city in California near L.A. Much of the story so far takes place in a poor neighbourhood that is split between the users and the straights. Though no real line is drawn, there is a clear emphasis on how the straights (non users) have their malls and houses full of security to keep the users out. The time frame isn't given specifically, but is supposed to be a few years in the future from whatever the current time frame is presently. The mood makes it feel like everyone is very anxious and cautious of one another, always watching.

Plot

So far, the plot has consisted mainly of character and setting introductions. No major events have yet occurred. Jerry began to try what he could to get rid of the aphids, but nothing worked. Charles Freck met up with Donna and tried to obtain more D for himself but won't get some for a couple days. Bob had to give a speech to a group of straights about his job and how to prevent substance D from spreading. Bob went off topic and was told to report back at his office to talk with some higher ups. He was able to score a large amount of D from Donna to try and move higher up in the drug ring.

Theme

Theme isn't super prevalent yet, but some ideas are given. The fact that the drug use is so high and infects places like the law enforcement could be said to show how people give into their desires (in this case, D) Really though, nothing major has shown itself yet.