This thesis studied the linguistic construction of empathy and sympathy in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? through Martin and White’s appraisal theory, with special reference to the affect subsystem. To complete this linguistic approach, the study included Leech and Short’s model for speech and thought presentation in narrative fiction and Fowler’s classification of narrative types, to examine the degrees of narratorial access to the characters’ consciousnesses. This multi-framework analysis provided a deeper understanding of how empathy is not only expressed by the characters but also shaped and controlled through narrative strategies. Accordingly, the research addressed two questions: (1) How is empathy linguistically constructed in the novel through Appraisal Theory? and (2) Is there a difference in the way empathy is linguistically represented between human and android characters, and to what extent is that difference the result of narrator interference? Close readings of key passages involving human and android characters provided sources for comparison. The findings revealed that human characters show a varied range of emotional expression, ranging from conflicted self-reflection to generous interpersonal empathy, while androids are often framed through ambiguous, detached, or calculated affect. However, moments of emotional complexity in androids challenge the supposed absence of empathy. The study demonstrated that the narrator plays a crucial role in constructing the boundary between human and android Affect. Humans are often granted direct or free access to thought and are described with evaluative language that produces sympathy, whereas androids are more often presented externally, through behavioral cues or judgment, with limited access to their internal states. As a result, empathy emerges less as a stable psychological trait and more as a narratively imposed construct. The thesis concluded that Dick’s novel undermines the assumption that empathy is an inherent human essence, instead revealing it as an ideologically shaped category sustained by narrative discourse.
