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The main theme of the story is how Milt responds to the changes around him. He decides to not kill himself because he still feels like he has something to prove . He is questioning what reality is.

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The main idea of the story is how Miltion find out the truth.how the Terra willing won the war."I'm on Terra to prove that the proxmen really won and that few

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A main idea in the short story is conflict/resolution. There was an over population on the earth and the man named Milt Biskle made Mars a liveable place. he wanted to go live on earth, but because of the how crowded it was, he would have to stay on Mars. But his family was on earth. So a resolution to this problem was the family could come to mars to live with him. A compromise was made. "what if your wife and children, Milt, are among the passengers of this first transport?

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The main theme in Philip K. Dick's short story, "Precious Artifact," is the natural and constant search humans undergo for fulfillment. The character Milt acknowledges his own depressive state of mind openly while consistently mentioning components of his sadness. He spent a considerably large amount of time working in complete solitude. "For everyday service in his lonely job [...] Had made no use of the expensive wig which he had bought from Terra [...] It had indicated how far he had drifted from social interaction" (292). His clear loneliness and lack of interest shows his solemn need for fulfillment. After receiving unfortunate news, he goes as far as purchasing amphetamine just to fill the void. Soon after, Milt realizes that the entire planet he was on was illusory. That sudden comprehension caused Milt to crave fulfillment even more. He acquired a cat from his home planet given to him by the Proxmen. He decided that the cat is what will keep him sane; his psychiatrist claimed the pet will make him able to "hang onto his psychic balance" (306). Milt completely relies on the cat to make him feel complete, not knowing that it's a robot ran on batteries. Proxmen engineers build specific robots for the Terra people based upon their past in order to keep everyone feeling fulfilled in their new lonesome reality. Every aspect of the theme fulfillment is connected and may have a much darker symbolic interpretation. As briefly mentioned previously in this response, Milt acquires some fulfillment after hearing bad news by taking an amphetamine. His use of the drug to cope is portrayed without warning and never specifically mentioned again. However, a very similar situation occurs in which Milt receives bad news, searches for fulfillment, and receives a quick fix; the cat. All of the robotic entities being created for the workers are designed to keep them happy, hardworking, and focused no matter what they see or find out. Therefore, the robots symbolize stimulants since they have the same effect on the workers as amphetamine would. Plus, the random, singular drug use by Milt was so arbitrary that it undoubtedly was placed there for a reason- possibly to foreshadow the theme. Lastly, it's significant that Dr. DeWinter mentioned the possibility of the cat's batteries running down since amphetamines are like a battery- they're very strong and powerful at first, but they slowly take away the user's charge until they feel empty.

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the main idea in "precious Artifact'" is that through all the illusions that Milt faced and through all the troubles going on in his life he searches to find happiness through the midst of suffering. the story also makes you question what in the story is real and what is not real, the things that may seem real at the time turn out to be fake which is how the theme of the story is illusion

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A main idea in "Precious Artifact" is control. Biskle wants to return to Earth but his psychologist, Dr. Dewinter stops him from doing so because its still overpopulated. He also wanted to commit suicide but was stopped by the stewardess. He has to continue working for the Prox men. The symbolism for control is the cat. It's something from Earth that brings him comfort and keeps him motivated. "This artifact, accepted by the Terrans as an authentic organism from his familiar past, would provide a pivot by which the man would hang onto his physic balance(Dick pg 30)." This cat is being used to manipulate Biskle. Throughout the passage he was questioning reality. At the end it's revealed by the physiologist that the kitten is run on batteries and isn't real. The world he saw was not the real one. Biskle wants to believe what he sees and he fastens onto phantoms. It shows his weakness that he wants to have company after being alone.The theme of controlling Biskle through illusions is portrayed throughout the passage.

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A main idea in the short story is conflict. There was an over population on the earth and the man named Milt Biskle made Mars a liveable place

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The main theme in the "Precious Artifact" is that not all lies are meant to harm people. That sometimes you lie to someone to keep them safe from a ugly truth. Like how Prox lied to MIlt about cats and dogs being alive and giving him hope that parts of Earth survived so he had motivation to work and live.

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The theme in the "Precious Artifact" short story is that Milt has been living on Mars as a slave and he wants to travel back to Earth to get his family back. When he gets to Earth he hallucinates a lot and he can't tell what's real and what isn't. There was a war between the Proxans and the Terrans although the Terrans won. Milt's job is to fix up Mars and he is an engineer, but not everything seems right. The theme or main idea to this short story is illusion. Milt isn't fooled by the illusions although they can trick him sometimes. The cat symbolizes his past life of something that was once dead but is now alive. The cat that is alive now has batteries. It is physically a cat, you can touch it, but it isn't actually a living animal. It just appears as one. The cat comforts him and he doesn't feel lonely. In order to survive or have a mentally healthy state of mind, he needs the cat to feel this way. He needs the cat to survive.

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The main idea/theme of "Precious Artifact" is illusion. Milt Biskle is coming to find out what is real and what is not but the other people are in the dark about what is actually happening. The cat in the story Milt Biskle had kept with him was there for his own mental state to keep true to what is real and what is not as a reminder.

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The main idea of the "Precious Artifact" is about how people in the existence combined with the people both on Earth and Mars fail to cease actual reality with what happened within the history of the universe and whether it is an illusion or total reality. This also could mean the fact that whatever people may see that they think is real doesn't mean what their seeing is either a hallucination or true to the actual universe.

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The constant theme that runs in the story ´´Precious Artifact´´ Prescription of what you think the reality is no always true. The main character, Milts idea of reality of landing of Mars and the condition of Earth and the no longer existing of Terran. His pet plants, Martian Wug plants is the symbolized his grip of the reality. When he was working in Mars, the plants were perfectly healthy, meaning that Milt had no idea of the true reality. Once he landed in Earth though, he stared to doubt the true form of the Earth he was presented by the Proxme. The plant then started to follow Milt and was in last grip on his life like how Milt was on the last grip on his perception of his reality. ¨unreal squirrel, unreal grass... was it actually? Would they ever show him the substance beneath the illusion? he doubted.¨And finally when he finds the truth, the plant die with his idea of Earth

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A main theme in the short story ¨Precious Artifact¨ is illusion. Between both groups there is a unknown truth in their universe.  The Proxans and the Terrans are weary that everything is false. Everything is real but it just isn´t during that period. The cat is a representation of past reality but is now fake (robotic cat). It purrs and does everything a real cat would do but its not real. On page 293 its says, ¨I hope so, Biskle thought as he picked up the ticket.But it depends on what I see on Terra. Or rather let me see¨ (Pg 293). This here show that what is reality and not all depends on what the people themselves think because a lot of the things arn´t

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The theme of a Precious Artifact by Philip K. Dick is that the reality one perceives is not always the truth and can be more broadly summarized by saying that there is a set of illusions that prevent the truth from being seen. This can by seen when  Milt Biskle is terraforming Mars to help reform the planet after the Proximen and the terran people had a war. After Milt finishes his job his visits  Dr.DeWinter, the psychiatrist, tells him that Earth has not changed and Milt believes that the terrran people won. On his way back to earth he learns that the proxima invaded Earth and all life form has been killed which is the truth.
One of the symbols within the text was the wug plant which died of dehydration when he came to Earth, which made no sense since Earth is more humid than mars. This plant dying symbolizes the fact that what he was seeing was all a facade and the reality was that earth was invaded and all of the terran were wiped out. Milt states when he sees his plant die " Don't try to explain this...you know what it shows.Terra is supposedly more humid than mars, even reconstructed Mars at its best. Yet this plant has completely dried out. There's no moisture left on Terra because I suppose the Prox blasts emptied the seas. Right?"

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A key theme in Precious Artifact is hope/how hopeful terrans(people from Earth) are. The main character, Milt Biskle continues to be hopeful and believe what he wants so he can have some sort of happiness in his miserable life. The story starts with Milt Biskle requesting a therapist. The fact that he requested one in the first place meant he still had hope that he could be more happy. And both time he thought of/tried to kill himself, he reconsidered. Even though he reached that point, he must of had a sliver of hope to enjoy his left to end up not going through with it. He accepts the cat without even questioning if it was fake, not second guessing the fact that in ruins and no other life forms there were still cats and dogs, his favorite pets/animals, even though they already deceived him once before with a fake earth. And as for the other terran engineers, for each one they constructed their favorite animal/pet as some sort of robot without them knowing it was fake to maintain a somewhat sable mental state.

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A main theme in, "Precious Artifact" is the many levels of illusions that the characters are placed under. The Proxans allow milt and the other remaining Terrans to discover a false truth to satiate them. They suspect that the world around them is false and so the Proxans give them what they want, they create a show out of them discovering the truth, so that they think they have won and continue their work. Furthermore, the Proxans themselves half believe the lies they tell. This is evident in the language they use, they dart around words and take great care to say non-polarizing things as if they were speaking about a volatile subject. With so many contradicting falsehoods, who can be sure what is real and what isn't? This is symbolized by the quarter that falls through the meth dispenser, which was the illusion, the dispenser which it fell through, or the quarter itself?

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The main idea of "Precious Artifact" is the earth is overpopulated and they wanted to populate to Mars. Milt had to reconstruct Mars for people to be able to live there. He was a engineer and that was his job to fix and to study what it was like in Mars. But all he wanted to do was go back to earth to see his family, even though they would be coming to mars eventually. When he got back he was unsure what was real or what was fake. The theme for this short story is trying to see if the parts are an illusion or have happened in real life. On page 293, 'Well, then theres a compromise that occurs to me. Greet your little family when it arrives here on Mars and then we'll arrange a trip to Terra for you. At our expense. And in exchange you'll agree not to address the gathering of reconstruct engineers or burden them in any way with your nebulous forebodings."

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What is a theme (main idea) in the "Precious Artifact" short story? Identify symbols/symbolism with specific evidence from the text. Include your name.