Roy Symbolism

The last technique I will be talking to you about is symbolism. Symbolism is said to be the key technique that helps an object to represent particular ideas and themes. For example, in the scene where Roy begins a cat-and-mouse game with Deckard, a dove is seen to be grasped in Roy's hand. As Roy's life is almost over, Roy undergoes a phase of transcendence, brought on by the proximity of death and the white dove. The dove in his hand, which represents peace, conveys the idea of how peace is now restored. As a result, Roy prevents Deckard from falling to his death, and ultimately becomes his saviour. This reinforces the idea that non humans tend towards humanity while humans tend towards non-humanity. As Roy releases the white dove, the duality

of man and robot unites and through Roy's act of redemption, Deckard understands how important it is to make the most of the time he has, rather than bear life as a burden. Apart from the symbolic character that Roy portrays, Deckard is also seen as a symbolic character. Although Deckard is introduced as a disenchanted character that sees no value in the replicants, his confrontation with Roy and Rachel transforms his character into one who finds humanity. Through Roy's determination to kill him, Deckard develops the need and desire to live. On the other hand, Rachel, who Deckard suspects to be a replicant, presents him with an emotional perplexity he has never experienced before: love. So, through the development of the symbolic character of Deckard, it can be seen that humans also end up realising their fleeting qualities of mortality.