I think he goes up to Oregon because it's on the way to Seattle where Rachel is. What is emphathy? What is love? Can you point to it? Can you touch it? Does that mean it doesn't exist? If empathy and love are what makes human's special, we have to be ready for some folks to tell us 'they aren't real' and still believe they are real anyway.

There is no contradiction that Mercer may be an 'actor' yet to Deckard what he represents is entirely real subjectively within his mind. For Dick, 'reality' always somewhat exists subjectively within the minds of his character. This internal journey of Deckard is also why there is no contradition between Mercer being 'fake' and 'real' at the same time.

My sense with Dick is that even though he paints nightmarish worlds, he is essentially optimistic about humanity and the universe (he's had his own Christian philosophy for instance). He can empathize with androids but ALSO 'do his duty' by killing them. What makes Deckard a transcendant 'human' creature is that he can 'violate his own nature' for the sake of the greater good. Basically, 'human's empathy makes them weak and incapable of tough actions.' Rachel's key mistake was thinking that by sleeping with Deckard, he would empathize with Pris and by unable to kill her. BUT.and this is key.he doesn't JUST have empathy. The androids, while deserving of some sympathy, are still lacking this crucial component (pulling the legs off of a spider one by one is just sadistic).Д«. He is not just a cold killer.he does have real empathy, even toward some androids. Yet when he interacts with Mercer, Mercer tells him, essentially: 'it's wrong to kill, but you've got to do it anyways.' Thus, Deckard evolves beyond the simple stereotypes of human or android. Deckard clearly shows the human trait of 'empathy.' Unlike the 'cold bounty hunter,' he even has empathy for specific androids - even before Rachel he has empathy for the opera singer. This by extension comments on 'what it means to be human.'Дeckard's specific interactions with Mercer are meaningful to me in this light. My take - the book itself is all about Deckard's journey of self discovery. Maybe that it is ultimately futile to try to distinguish real from fake? Maybe that it's mankind capacity for empathy that's important, regardless of the object of that empathy? Or maybe that empathy cannot tell us apart from the androids at all, as shown by the fellow cop who doubts his own humanity because he cannot feel empathy (and who is, ironically, shown to be human after all)? Of course, you know the toad turns out not to be real at all, which is a twist typical of Phil Dick. I don't think this means Deckard is Mercer, though that's just a figure of speech. Finding a toad 'connects' Deckard to Mercer, which is meaningful for him. The toad is also said to be Wilbur Mercer's favorite animal.Deckard has been shown to want a real animal, or at least a decent replica, through the whole novel.A living animal is in itself an oddity in a world where most animals are extinct, very sought after, and extremely hard to come by.He finds a living toad in the desert, which is extraordinary and has multiple implications: So in the end, Deckard indeed has an epiphany of sorts. This is in keeping with Phil Dick's themes of 'fake vs real' and 'what makes us human?'. It is alleged by some androids, which might be lying themselves, that Mercer is an actor who was paid to play a role, and that his 'plight' was filmed in a television studio. Here is my take:Дeckard lives in a world of forgeries: androids are fake humans, electric pets are fake animals, and even Wilbur Mercer - a messiah-like character who serves to emphasize mankind's capacity for empathy - might be a fake himself. I think the ending is open to interpretation.

Does androids dream of electric sheep