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
At his office, Tagomi is finally able to meet Mr. Yatabe. As Tagomi looks at Mr. Yatabe, however, he is shocked to find that the man is actually General Tedeki, the formal Imperial Chief of Staff. Tagomi explains that Baynes is running late; he tells Tedeki that he fears “in this encounter something terrible.” Tagomi tells Tedeki that he thinks Baynes is actually a German, and that his presence in the PSA has been affected by the upheavals in the Nazi government. Tedeki explains to Tagomi that Baynes needs an alias to slow the Germans down; by pretending to be Swiss, Baynes forces the Nazis to go through a series of bureaucratic formalities before they can arrest him.
The secret meeting finally is revealed: Wegener (posing as Baynes) is here to meet Tedeki (posing as Yatabe) in order to circumvent a Nazi plot. But though two of the three people gathered in Tagomi’s office have been using fake identities, the novel does not seem to critique this inauthenticity. Rather, this deception allows the characters to interfere with the Nazis’ focus on immediate action.
Themes
Baynes arrives and introduces himself as Wegener; he clarifies that he represents a loose association of powerful men, not any formal arm of government. Then he describes Operation Dandelion: the Germans will manufacture conflict in the Rocky Mountain States as a pretext for declaring war. Once they have done so, the Nazis will launch a massive nuclear attack on the Home Islands, taking out all the most important Japanese government officials. The Germans will then have cleared a path to complete world domination.
The tensions between the Germans and the Japanese, which have been brewing through the whole book, here come to a head. The Nazis do not want to share power, and they are willing to drop a potentially world-destroying bomb to take full control. This is why vom Meere wanted to stop this meeting: if Tedeki knows about Operation Dandelion, he can try to prevent it.
Themes
General Tedeki wants to know the date that this is planned to happen; Baynes explains that it has been delayed by Bormann’s death. Baynes also tells Tedeki that certain powerful Nazis, including Goebbels, are in favor of Operation Dandelion. However, Heydrich—one of the most feared Nazis—is against Dandelion. Since Heydrich is in charge of the Reich’s space program, he wants to focus all of his energy on rockets, not on nuclear war.
Just as the petty conflicts between vom Meere and Reiss threatened to derail Nazi policy, now Heydrich’s desire for power might change the course of this nuclear bomb. If Goebbels remains chancellor, Japan will likely be destroyed. But Heydrich’s desire to focus on rockets—themselves an important symbol of Nazi excess—means that he does not want Operation Dandelion to distract from his department.
Themes
Baynes tells Tedeki that the Japanese government should interfere in the Nazi struggle for power, on behalf of Heydrich. Tedeki believes the Japanese emperor would never do such a thing, as Heydrich represents the worst of German society. Tagomi is baffled by this moral puzzle—to save Japan, the Japanese must give power to atrocious human beings. To Tagomi, it is tragic “that man should have to act in such moral ambiguity.” Tagomi realizes that no matter what they do, the Japanese will fail—their minds “cannot adapt” to the Nazis’ chaotic madness.
Allying with Heydrich would save many Japanese lives (and would stop the Nazis from successfully achieving world domination). But Heydrich would certainly pioneer new atrocities. The impossibility of doing right in such a morally ambiguous world hits Tagomi with full force here; though he has always tried to be good, that is no longer possible.
Themes
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Baynes suggests that to reach Heydrich, the Japanese should go through the Italian Foreign Minister. Tedeki asks Baynes to see proof of all of this before the Japanese jump into action; Baynes gives Tedeki cigarettes in a case, and Tedeki requests the case, as well.
Baynes’s plan to go through the Italian minister reflects the reality of global interconnectivity, which complicates and compromises all action. (And while this exchange with the cigarette is likely another coded action, the novel never explains it further).
Themes
Mr. Ramsey, Tagomi’s assistant, announces that there is a group of SD (police) men in the downstairs lobby. There are trying to reach Tagomi’s office, but Tagomi orders the power in the elevator shut off. Tagomi pulls out a Civil War-era Colt .44 from his desk, to Baynes’s and Tedeki’s surprise. Tagomi explains that the gun is part of his personal collection, but that he sometimes practices shooting it for fun. Tagomi points the gun at the office door and waits.
Various plot strands now come together: vom Meere and Reiss have been successful in their mission to disrupt the meeting, and Baynes and Tedeki are now in mortal danger. Most importantly, however, Tedeki takes out a Colt .44—likely sold to him by Childan and likely manufactured (forged) by Frank and Ed. The gun, meant mostly as décor, now gets put to its violent use.
Themes
As Frank crafts additional pieces of metal jewelry, he laments Edfrank’s lack of success—they have not been able to sell their jewelry to anyone but Childan, and even that was on consignment. Frank wants to quit the business and start selling their materials for scrap, but Ed urges him to stay on. Lamenting his bad fortune, Frank goes outside to smoke a marijuana cigarette.
Despite being talented artists, Ed and Frank’s inability to sell their work reflects how thoroughly the American art industry has been destroyed. Tellingly, Frank blames bad luck here, again viewing destiny as fated and out of his control.
Themes
While Frank is smoking, a plain-clothes white police officer approaches him. The policeman explains that Frank is under arrest for his impersonation at Childan’s store. As they drive to the police station, the officer informs Frank that the state will provide him with a lawyer.
Frank has spent years making fake guns on behalf of Wyndham-Matson and has never gotten in trouble. But now Wyndham-Matson, acting through the corrupt pinoc government, has had Frank arrested for a different kind of forgery (his false identity).
Themes
The policeman asks Frank if his real last name is “Fink,” prompting Frank to feel “terror.” The police reveal that they know Frank is Jewish, and they label him “an escapee from the Nazis.” Though Frank protests that he is an American, the policemen announce that he will be tried under German law—and that he will not actually be given a lawyer.
When Frank’s crime was impersonation, he was treated as a full member of society, with all the benefits of a justice system. No such courtesy is extended to Jewish people, however—being himself (Jewish) is considered a worse crime than pretending to be someone else.
Themes
While Tagomi waits with his gun pointed at his office door, Tedeki is on the phone with the Japanese military. Tagomi laments that while they are operating through official channels, the men downstairs are clubbing people to death. Tagomi calls Reiss at the German consulate, but his calls are not answered. Tagomi then calls the SD police office, yelling at them to call off the Kommando squad. The person on the other end of the phone pretends to know nothing about it.
The gap between official rhetoric and lived experience is striking here, as the various embassies’ polite language ignores (and perhaps obscures) the bloody reality on the ground.
Themes
Two white men, both part of the Kommando squad, barge through Tagomi’s door. Without thinking, Tagomi shoots them both dead. As one of them dies, Tagomi realizes that they are making eye contact, and that the dying man “still perceives” him. Tagomi calls for emergency medical aid, and various employees in the building re-emerge, no longer afraid.
The gun is probably a fake—but when it comes to fatal violence, it functions exactly as a gun is supposed to. This is arguably the novel’s most powerful questioning of what it means to be authentic: the gun has none of the historicity that makes it valuable, but its bullets can shape the present (and the future) in an instant. This scene is also important because of what it says about Tagomi’s character: though these men are trying to kill him, he still empathizes with their perspectives.
Themes
Baynes inspects the guns the Kommando squad were using. They are Japanese guns, meaning that the Germans can deny complicity in the whole event; this denial is made even more possible by the fact that the invaders were not German nationals. But though this first assassination attempt has failed, it is clear to all three men that the Nazis know who and where Baynes is.
Here, too, the gap between physical appearance and actual fact is striking: the guns are Japanese, but the Nazis were the ones who ordered the violence. The Germans’ discovery of Wegener’s plan makes stopping Operation Dandelion even more difficult.
Themes
In great distress, Tagomi turns to the oracle. Tedeki observes that Tagomi, likely raised as a Buddhist, is deeply shaken by having taken two lives. Baynes wonders if the I Ching is helpful to Tagomi, or if he would be more helped by the doctrine of original sin. Baynes reflects that Tagomi’s actions may have saved millions of lives, because now the Japanese can prepare themselves for Operation Dandelion. But for Tagomi himself, “the present, the actuality, was too tangible, the dead and dying Germans on the floor of his office.” Baynes hopes that Tagomi will recover from his despair and not “succumb” to it.
If the Nazis are always focused on the future, Tagomi struggles to move beyond “the present” and the “tangible.” This passage illustrates the gap between a historical view of life (Tagomi may have prevented the end of the world) and a view of life that prioritizes everyday experiences. Moreover, the moral ambiguity of Tagomi’s actions cannot be reconciled by logical thought alone. Instead, he turns to both Buddhist and Judeo-Christian spirituality to make sense of what he has done.
Themes
