Original artwork, not a still
A Scanner Darkly • 1977
Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Dick's undercover narc is paid to be suspicious, and he cannot tell any more which suspicions are symptoms and which are sound. The line admits the joke at the heart of paranoia: now and then the delusion happens to be right. It is quoted by anyone who has been called paranoid and then proved correct, and it sums up the book's whole mood of surveillance and doubt.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for A Scanner DarklyShow the scene
In chapter 6 of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly (1977), Bob Arctor, a narcotics agent living undercover as a drug user, returns home with his housemates Barris and Luckman after a drive. Barris, convinced intruders have been through the house, pulls out a pistol and hunts for traces, while Luckman jokes along. Arctor watches him and thinks the line in his own head: paranoia has briefly lined up with the truth, because his handlers really have been bugging the house, and Barris is about to start working out the rest. It is internal narration, not spoken dialogue.
Sources (1)
- A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick (Internet Archive scan of the novel)Chapter 6, the return to the house, after Barris takes his .22 down from the bookshelfReference checked
Context reviewed