Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
A breakdown of word trends to denote prominence
A breakdown of word trends to denote prominence
By using Voyant Tools, there are several significant tactics to analyze trends to develop a further understanding of Machine Readable Text. Full documentation can be found here.
Character Comparisons
By comparing one character to another (especially the main character), we can understand the imporantance of a character throughout the text. Additionally, analyzing what sections of text the character appears most prominantly (and how prominantly) can tell us how important a character is in a specific point in the story.
Rachael v.s. Rick
Rachael is by no means one of the two primary characters in the novel. She is only seen in the beginning and the end, yet Rick develops a keen obsession of her throughout the novel. Interestingly, when she is introduced, her name is mentioned more often than Ricks, indicating her importance. Whenever she is present in text, Ricks prominence begins to subside, and in most cases when Rachael is involved, she actually overtakes his frequency.Isidore v.s. Rick
Isidore and Rick are both main characters throughout the novel. While Rick is of greater importance (because his overall frequency is greater), Isidore does surpass him in frequency in multiple situations throughout the text. In fact, they seem like complete polar oposites. Whenever one is of prominance, the other is not. One may argue that this is because the characters are not usually mentioned together until the end, however the end of the trend graph does not support this. While yes, they interact near the end of the novel, one is still peaking in prominence while the other is at a minimum. What is more interesting is their relationship between sections 3 and 4. Perhaps there is greater meaning in that section? Looks like a re-read is in order.Supporting Characters
There are various characters who appear in the novel. Of these, there are a few that could be considered significant supporting characters. Interestly enough, if one views their prominance of a timeline divided into sections of the novel, each has their own part to claim dominance, however at the end of the novel, all are mentioned and are somehow involved.Visualizing Through Progression
By analyzing the frequency of a topic, one can determine how prominenant the topic is over certain sections of the novel.
Rick
Rachael
Isiodore
Resch
Pris
Topic Prominance
By analyzing the frequency of a topic, one can determine how prominenant the topic is over certain sections of the novel.
Mercer
Religion, for example, serves as a prominant topic for what seems the entire novel. However, when plotting its frequency on a trend chart, its clear that its prominance only becomes significant towards the end of the novel.Mercer v.s. Isidore
Isidore is a very loud voice for the primary religion in the novel. He mentions its importance every time he is mentioned in the novel. It makes logical sense then to compare Isidore's prominence to the prominance of Mercer. Interestingly, Mercer has no relationship to its most prominant supporter.Topics and Supporting Words
By comparing one topic's prominance to words that are clearly involved with it, one can usually see a coralation.
Android v.s. Test
As the topic of androids is mentioned, "test", a word that is usually connected in some way to the subject of androids, also increases.Writing Techniques
Analyzing the sections of text for prominence of certain words can indicate if the writer changes their writing style throughout the text.