Final Based on the Book Essay

A Scanner Darkly is a very powerful book. Following the life of Bob Arctor as he spirals into a fatal addiction to Substance D, the protagonist is what makes the story as interesting as it is. A sporadic, but detailed plot and a controversial theme add to the uniqueness of the novel while the setting never really captures you.

The story contains a number of interesting characters, but clearly has one main protagonist who drives the novel to its devastating conclusion. This person is Bob Arctor, a man who can be assumed that he is in his late 30’s to early 40’s and is someone who doesn’t hold any real significance in the world. While once having a family and living a normal life, he decided to throw it all away so something new would happen. He then joined the undercover police force to snoop out drug dealers, but wound up become an addict himself. His life became twisted and warped as his brain begin to fight with itself and the worst part was that it was all planned out to happen by the federal government.

The most interesting part of Arctor is the fact that he leads two lives. When at home or with friends, Bob Arctor is a regular guy who is looking for a good time. No one knows that he is secretly working undercover as Fred, the agent who is trying to advance higher up in the drug ring so to arrest someone important. As Fred he wears a scramble suit, a device that allows your identity to remain a complete secret. These two personas are forced to be oblivious and as Arctor falls into addiction, they do begin to take on different personalities. This is a result of Substance D, the drug that Arctor indulges in the most. Slowly throughout the novel, Arctor begins to mistake one thing for another. The drug causes a split between brain hemispheres, so when Arctor’s left hemisphere can’t understand something, his right hemisphere tries to fill in the holes. This deterioration even causes him to start speaking him German periodically, though he never realizes what he is doing.

Eventually Fred’s boss Hank feels the need that Arctor’s house needs to be watched and instructs Fred to do it. This forces Arctor to watch himself and while at first he is repulsed by the idea, he begins to grow a fondness for always knowing what’s going on in his home. This further adds to the split between Fred and Arctor, as Fred becomes disgusted by Arctor and forgets who he really is. Once the addiction is so bad for him, he is taken to a New-Path rehabilitation clinic to withdraw. By this point in novel, Arctor is just a mess. The after effects of Substance D, coupled with his growing paranoia of his friends and frustration with the fact that his girlfriend won’t put out for him, Arctor breaks down and essentially dies. He is reborn in the New-Path clinic as Bruce, a simple man who cleans bathrooms and doesn’t do much else.

This sad conclusion would normally be the result of having too much of a good thing, but it was unfortunately all preplanned by the government so Arctor may somehow be able to figure out what really happens in New-Path.

As Bob Arctor, an undercover narcotics officer, slowly becomes addicted to “Substance D”. His world begins to warp around him he loses his sense of reality and breaks down until he is forced into New-Path, a drug rehabilitation clinic. He never realizes that he had been set up by the federal government in an attempt to take down the rehabilitation clinic, for they are the ones distributing Substance D.

Arctor works as an undercover agent and poses as a drug user, but ultimately becomes addicted to the drug Substance D. This starts the conflict between his parallel lives, that as Fred the undercover agent and that of Bob Arctor the drugged out freak. As he becomes more involved with the substance abuse, a series of progressively worse events occur. When he nearly dies in a car crash, he starts to feel threatened by his friend Barris. The police division he works for then installs scanners into Arctor’s house and it is Fred’s duty to watch them. The thought of having to watch himself and his friends gives Arctor relief and he soon finds himself engrossed with watching the feeds.

After being suspected of becoming an addict, Fred is asked to take medical examinations where they proceed to explain how Substance D has caused his brain to compete with itself. This competition turns him into a mess and he is soon unable to tell whether he is Fred or Arctor. After his drug withdrawal begins his girlfriend, who is also an undercover federal agent, takes him to New-Path in order to complete her assignment. By this point Arctor isn’t able to understand what is happening around him. At New-Path Arctor finds drug manufacturing evidence, but never realizes that he was supposed to.

A Scanner Darkly deals with a wide variety of themes and ideas throughout its story. Philip K. Dick uses the characters to portray the life of a drug addict and how they are punished too harshly for their crimes, often being left to die or withdraw into insanity.

As the characters in the book, the most prominent being Bob Arctor, use a number of illegal drugs, their lives become twisted and destroyed. The author never tries to declare whether using the drugs is a good thing or not, for the reason Arctor takes them is to make sure that his undercover police position is never found out. This makes his intent justified, but his act illegal. The fact that Arctor is an undercover nark ties in with a second prominent theme. Philip provides many examples to where people portray themselves differently to get what they needed, often wearing metaphorical masks depending on what the situation needs. It’s the idea that every person you interact with my just be acting to get something out of you, a paranoid but not completely unrealistic thought.

The end of the story is where both of these themes mesh together into something more easily understandable. The reader discovers that Arctor had been set up to become an addict so he could infiltrate a drug rehabilitation centre and discover if they’re the ones creating Substance D. The catch is that it was Arctor’s girlfriend Donna who was part of the set up, devised by the Federal government. Arctor is never even told what is going to happen to him and has to live with the pain of withdrawal, all so the feds may be able to take down the organization; a small price to pay for the sake of the greater good.

A Scanner Darkly takes place in a city on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The time period is never given, but rather explained as being a few years into the future. This allows the author to make it a very surreal yet realistic American setting and makes the futuristic technologies never feel out of place. Over the several months in which encompass the novel, the main characters never deviate too far from Bob Arctor’s home and only a few key locations are ever introduced.

In the suburbia where Arctor and his friends reside, there is a clear emphasis on how the drug users are kept out of the “straight’s” areas. The streets and malls are littered with both in-uniform and undercover police agents who either make the people feel very safe, or very uncomfortable. While excursions are made throughout the story, it is within Arctor’s cluttered home where the plot advances the most. What was once a prim and proper three bedroom, two-bathroom residences becomes a complete dump covered in old newspapers and junk. This is due to the relaxed nature of everyone living inside and their ignorance towards the house’s appearance.

Other locations that are visited infrequently would be Donna’s house, the under cover police station and the apartment building which holds the holo-scanner feeds. Some crucial events do take place in these settings, but are rarely revisited. The final key spot that help conclude the story is the New-Path clinic in Santa Ana, where Arctor is taken to withdraw from Substance D. He is then moved from this residence to go to the Napa Valley farm facility, where he finds the blue flower that is used in the creation the drug.

As the book comes to an end, the reader is left to think about the unfairness that is dealt towards Bob Arctor. He is a character who was given a punishment far greater for the crime he did. Even though the setting where it takes place in isn’t particularly interesting, you never feel like it takes away from the amazing experience you get from reading A Scanner Darkly.