Symbolism, Themes, & Escapism in the last half of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Symbolism

When looking at symbolism in this novel, it seems that a lot of the symbols have religious ties. Earth for example is so hot that people cannot go outside during the day or they will burn similar to hell, or the pit of fire. Earth is portrayed as some would think of as hell. The colonies are also somewhat tied into this imagery of hell. People are miserable on both the colonies and Earth, although Earth seems to the better of the two options to me. Sand on the colonies is making work difficult because it gets in the way similar to a plague like locusts. Another symbol would be the three stigmata and the trinity except the stigmata seemed to be an unholy trinity. When some people took the drug Chew-Z they felt an evil presence and all things evil are considered to be of Satan so Eldritch could have symbolized Satan since the drug was his. Plus Eldritch was advertising eternal life through the pills and people who had taken them felt an "evil presence" when in a hallucination. Seems very likely that Eldritch was symbolizing Satan.


Theme & Escapism

The themes of substance abuse, religion, and intentional sped-up evolution are central to the story and are relevant in today’s society. In the novel, people's realities are so horrible they must find ways to cope with everything. In today’s society, there have been many stories about overdosing on drugs like cocaine, weed, etc. I know of people within my hometown, school’s town and nearby smaller towns where several people smoke week. Evolving in a social sense seems to be the main goal of America’s younger generations. Climbing the social ladder to be the "most popular", which does not necessarily mean due to their kindess but rather in anyway possible. Watching young girls try to dress and act grown-up as well as wearing too much make-up seem to be what is needed for them to be popular. The younger kids seem to be more focused on being popular with people than being successful in school. Hence gossip has taken a higher standing than actual knowledge creating shallow superficial children seemingly incapable of intelligent conversation and manners.

There are several other things that today’s world is using to escape and I will name a few. One example would be drinking: how many people do you know that drink alcohol excessively? Most could have a reason for it, with the majority being wanting to forget something. Another example would be video games, especially when players become more concerned with their online lives more than there realistic ones. There are extreme cases of people spending every waking moment completely involved with their "online life". They can be whatever they choose online and don't have to worry about putting their true selves out there to be made fun of or physically being hurt. But that opens them up to emotional and mental abuse. Or they can possibly start to think of their online life as reality. Books can even be forms of escape. Moving around as often as we did, it was hard to make friends at first and when traveling so I would bury myself in my books because I was able to “live” in that world while I read. Losing yourself in a book isn't bad, unless you start to feel being that involved in a book as if it's your real life. 

Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Part 1

This novel, unlike PKD's other novels, focusing more on global warming rather than an imminent apocalypse. Terra (Earth) has been devastated by extreme heat and people cannot go outside during the day unless they have protective gear to keep them cool. Most people end up doing the chores and other outside activities during the night while it is cool.

While PKD does include the aspect of living on Mars as we have seen in previous novels. But this time, people aren't volunteering to go nor are they paying to get there. Instead, they are being drafted similar to a military draft and they are either stationed on one of the moons or Mars. The colonies there sounded very bleak with nothing for landscape except for sand. The thought of space makes one think of isolation. Being out in a cold and dark universe basically alone detached from human kind, it's no wonder that the people who live on the colonies use Can-D or Chew-Z to escape their reality of their lives. There are also these "miniatures"or P.P. Layouts that I think are similar to the Sims games today. These P.P. layouts are made to look like how Terra was before global warming happened and people can play as one of two characters. Unlike our video games though, people see through the character's eyes.

This novel is a bit disconcerting because while most would consider the concept of global warming pure science fiction, you have to admit that the chances of it happening could be plausible. For example, last year we in South Dakota hardly had snow at all. We were still riding motorcycle in January. We had a very dry summer after that and it was actually warmer than usual on some days. This year we are back on track though.

Dr. Bloodmoney, Part 2

Spoiler alert! Along with some observations from the reading.

At the beginning of the book, I wouldn't have thought that Hoppy would become this powerful being using his powers the way he did only to have his body taken over by Bill, who was just supposed to be a "dead" twin living inside of Edie. Interesting that Edie was actually telling the truth and most people thought she was kidding. If she had come up to me and said that, I probably would've done exactly the same thing don't get me wrong. Hoppy started to worry me when he started speaking in Dangerfield's voice and then more so when he started killing. I was a little creeped out by Bill when it was confirmed he actually talked to Edie during the incident with Hoppy. I am glad that Bill was able to stop Hoppy and that he and Edie were both able to live.

The only three that were mentioned as having "special powers" were Bill, Hoppy, and Bluthgerd (or Jack Tree). I did think of an interesting question about Bill though. Since taking over Hoppy's body could he still "see/communicate" with the dead or was he fully part of the living world therefore losing that ability? What would it be like if he still had it?

Was Dangerfield actually sick or is he one of those people whose symptoms are purely in his mind? He could've been experiencing pain in his chest due to a broken heart. Hey now, don't laugh. It could've been caused by overwhelming grief due to losing his wife. I know it had been a while since she committed suicide but pain like that can last awhile.

I was not surprised that Bonny abandoned her husband and child (actually children - but she didn't quite know/understand about Bill). I was mad that she was not being a good parent but after meeting back up with Andrew Gill, why didn't he suggest taking Edie? He knew she was his daughter yet he still ran away to the city with Bonny. I suppose I can look at it as she finally found the one she was searching for. But she went through several men to get there and she cheated on her husband multiple times.