Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Man in the High Castle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Prejudice and Power
History vs. Daily Life
Authenticity vs. Originality
Agency vs. Chance
Moral Ambiguity and Forgiveness
Art, Perspective, and Truth
Summary
Analysis
Mr. Baynes has had “a terrible two weeks.” Mr. Yatabe is nowhere to be found, Bormann’s death has thrown the entire German government into chaos, and Tagomi is getting increasingly impatient with the whole situation. Baynes reflects on the absurdity of the situation—he had traveled to California in 45 minutes by rocket, and now he must sit and wait around for two weeks.
Like everything else on earth, Baynes’s critical but mysterious meeting has been derailed by Bormann’s death. More important, however, is Baynes’s frustration at the uneven pace of his journey. Given the amount of waiting he has to do, the Nazi rockets have not actually saved Baynes any time, another way in which German attempts to intervene in history clash with lived, daily experience.
Themes
Baynes reads in the Nippon Times that Dr. Goebbels has been named the new leader of the Nazi party; his wildly popular radio speech has clinched the deal. Baynes calls Tagomi again to inquire about Mr. Yatabe, but Tagomi again says—with an edge in his voice—that no such man has appeared.
In what is perhaps a subtle testament to the power of language, Goebbels’ skill with propaganda has elevated him above his competitors. (In real life, Goebbels was also the German chancellor, albeit for a single day).
Themes
Baynes is under strict instructions not to contact any members of the Abwehr, even though there are at least ten such people in the PSA. However, many of these operatives are known to vom Meere, the prominent—and dangerous—regional chief of police. Baynes wonders if the Reich knows about the whole secret meeting; he reflects that the Nazis could arrest and punish any Germans involved in such a meeting, which in this case would be Baynes himself. It is also possible that the Germans have managed to detain Mr. Yatabe somewhere along his journey.
As his relationship with Tagomi sours, Baynes looks for another solution. It is crucial to note that Baynes is in the PSA against Nazi wishes. And in fact, Baynes is an undercover member of the Abwehr faction, just like vom Meere mentioned earlier—so it is quite probable that Baynes and Rudolf Wegener are the same person.
Themes
Baynes wonders if he should just tell Tagomi everything he was supposed to tell Mr. Yatabe; Tagomi cannot act at a policy level, but he could report information back to the Japanese Home Islands. However, Baynes fears that Tagomi might have a breakdown when confronted with such vital information. Even worse, Tagomi could merely refuse to listen to Baynes’s shocking reveal.
Though Baynes initially said Mr. Yatabe was a businessman, here it becomes clear that he is actually someone high-up in the Japanese government. In a neat demonstration of the unpredictability of fate, Tagomi—a mid-level, mild-mannered bureaucrat—might suddenly become a crucial player in important policy decisions.
Themes
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Baynes hails a pedicab and travels to the large Fuga Department Store. Most of the salesgirls are white, while the department managers are Japanese. Baynes goes over to the men’s trousers section. A young clerk comes over to help him, and Baynes informs the clerk that he is looking for a man named Larry with a red mustache. The clerk reports that Larry is out to lunch but will return soon, and Baynes heads to the dressing room with a pair of slacks.
The detail about the make-up of the department store once again enforces the PSA’s racial hierarchy. Baynes is clearly working in some kind of code, adding further credence to Tagomi’s belief that Baynes is a spy.
Themes
A few minutes later, a middle-aged Japanese man enters the dressing room. He asks Baynes for permission to go through his wallet, and he and Baynes discuss how they both have teenaged daughters named Martha. Then, Baynes asks about Mr. Yatabe. The other man tells Baynes to come back tomorrow, as he will have more information then.
Having gone through this series of coded actions, Baynes is able to get information from this man, who seems to be a spy posing as a department store worker. Again, this passage throws into question what is real and what is fake—likely, neither of these men have daughters named Martha, yet readers are left in the dark about the true significance of this exchange.
Themes
As Baynes heads back home, he wonders how it is possible that this department store agent will be able to get information from Berlin so quickly, especially because it has to be coded and decoded. As he drives past strip clubs, pasted over with pictures of “utterly white nudes,” he congratulates himself for having done something “at last.”
Though World War II is over, a sense of oppressive secrecy remains. For the second time, the novel mentions strip clubs with “white nudes.” The novel is perhaps satirizing the fact that American soldiers were known to sexualize women in U.S.-occupied countries, as the Japanese are doing something similar to white women.
Themes
While the car radio plays German folk music (which Joe says is inferior to Italian music), Juliana reads The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Joe complains about the Nazi spectacles that take place in New York, which the Germans force people to go to. He speaks fondly of the old days in New York, when there was a great deal of theater. Meanwhile, Juliana reads a section in Grasshopper celebrating the advent of TV. According to the book, “only Yankee know-how” could have done accomplished such a thing.
In several ways, this exchange brings home the cultural effects of Nazi military victory. Theater, with its emphasis on intimate moments and human connection, has been replaced with bombastic German spectacle. And in Grasshopper, which imagines U.S. victory, television is a flourishing industry (just as in the real world).
Themes
Joe criticizes the book, saying that the author has merely “taken the best about Nazism, the socialist part…and he’s left out the bad part, the SS part.” Juliana reads on. Grasshopper depicts how American factories increased production to meet Chinese demand, leaving the U.S. as the most prosperous country in the world. The British are similarly producing goods for India, Africa, and the Middle East.
As he did earlier, Joe suggests that the Nazis are not as different from their American opponents as the Americans would like to believe. In a different way, Grasshopper implies something similar: though the U.S. and Britain have not engaged in direct territorial conquest, they are using goods and services to dominate other countries economically.
Themes
Juliana muses that she always thought the British were the best leaders; she wishes they had won the war. Joe says nothing. Juliana reads more of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. In the novel, the U.S. is fully integrated, while racism remains in many of the British territories. Overall, though, the book describes an almost magically peaceful world.
Juliana idealizes the British, while Grasshopper reveals that Britain, too, is a complex and prejudiced place. Indeed, Winston Churchill—the Prime Minister who led Britain through World War II—believed that white Protestants were superior to other racial and religious groups.
Themes
Joe summarizes the rest of the book: this peace lasts for about 10 years, but then “human nature” gets in the way. Joe explains that in the book the British, led by Winston Churchill, begin to put Chinese people in concentration camps. However, Joe holds little stock in the novel; he feels that neither the U.S. nor Britain has any “spirituality” with which to unify and govern the world.
Churchill’s racism ends up playing a major role in Grasshopper, and Joe uses this fact to suggest that “human nature” is inherently flawed. Joe’s focus on the Nazis’ inherent worth and “spirituality” is surprising given that he is Italian (or at least he claims to be).
Themes
Juliana reflects that Joe seems like a “devout Fascist.” As if reading her mind, Joe explains that he is not an “intellectual,” because in fascism, all that is needed is “the deed.” Joe contrasts the money-hungry U.S. and Britain with the Nazis, driven by a kind of “folkness” or “communal mass spirit.” Juliana makes fun of how quickly Joe is talking, and he replies indignantly that he is “explaining Fascist theory of action!”
Part of this passage is meant to be comedic: Joe is talking about how talking is unimportant, undercutting himself in the process. But more than that, this passage states the central Fascist idea that humans can change the world through their actions—as long as they act quickly and dramatically.
Themes
Joe’s mood darkens, and Juliana fears for a moment that he will hit her. However, he calms down, and reflects that Italy really is powerless; it’s a “two-bit empire” with a “clown for a leader.” He spoils the rest of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy for Juliana, telling her that Britain wins in the end and conquers the whole world. Juliana tells him that she hopes he will be able to relax in Denver.
The idea that Joe is a violent and surprising man resurfaces here. And his spoiler alert reveals that in Grasshopper, the U.S. and Britain win World War II, but things still go very differently than they did in reality. Like the Germans and Japanese, the U.S. and the British continue to vie for power, and Britain ultimately becomes the single global ruler.
Themes
Suddenly, Joe has an idea: Hawthorne Abendsen lives in Cheyenne, only a hundred miles north of Denver. Since Juliana loves The Grasshopper Lies Heavy so much, Joe suggests that they could drive together to meet Abendsen and ask him some questions about the novel. Juliana loves this idea. She and Joe decide that they will buy new clothes and get haircuts in Denver before they go to meet the famous author—but first, Joe makes Juliana promise that she will tell Abendsen they are married, as he is worried Abendsen will pursue her romantically.
Given that Joe has been distracted the entire time he has known Juliana, this plan is disconcerting: is it really as spur-of-the-moment as Joe makes it seem? It is also worth noting the role dress-up plays here: in order to meet Abendsen, Joe and Juliana must transform themselves physically. Just as Abendsen created a work of fiction to connect with readers, then, Joe and Juliana are creating fictionalized versions of themselves in order to connect with Abendsen.
Themes
Tagomi, having woken up feeling anxious, consults the I Ching. The oracle gives him Hexagram 51, which predicts shock. As Tagomi reads the oracle, thunder and lightning erupt. Tagomi gets a call and prepares himself to be surprised—sure enough, the call is from Mr. Yatabe, who informs Tagomi that he has arrived at last in San Francisco. Mr. Tagomi calls Mr. Baynes, and the three men plan to meet in a few hours at the Nippon Times building.
While Joe frantically makes plans, Tagomi merely consults the oracle and waits for its predictions to come through. Yet without realizing it, Tagomi is at the helm of what readers can now understand is a critical meeting for the Nazi opposition.
Themes
As Mr. Baynes gets ready for this important meeting, he worries that he has messed things up by going to the Japanese agent the day before. To calm himself down, he sings a German song in the shower. His worry for himself is “the trivial worry. The finite, private worry about my own particular skin.” But his work, which has global importance, can now truly begin.
The novel’s rapid shifting between perspectives serves to speed up the action and raise the dramatic stakes. Baynes’s dismissal of the “private” as the “trivial” suggests that even as he works against the Nazis, he has absorbed some of their ideology—he earlier professed the value of “smallness,” but now he can only focus on his role in history.
Themes
