Previous
Chapter 13
Themes
and Colors
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
Shaken by the shooting, Tagomi reflects “there is no understanding. Even in the oracle. Yet I must go on living day to day anyhow.” He therefore resolves to “find the small,” and he takes the day off work. He considers going to a park and even taking the outdated—but still pleasant—San Francisco Cable Car.
Tagomi here articulates one of the novel’s central messages: if a complex, morally ambiguous world, understanding is impossible. But “living day to day” is possible: rather than chasing truth or trying to form history, Tagomi decides to seek out simple, joyful places like parks and the old Cable Car.
Active
Themes
As he strolls, Tagomi wonders if he can ever return to his office—and even if he eventually can, he thinks Operation Dandelion will have destroyed the entire city by then. Tagomi rides the Cable Car to the end of the line and almost forgets his briefcase; it now contains the Colt .44, because after the incident with the Kommando squad he carries the gun everywhere with him.
Even as Tagomi resolves to “find the small,” he cannot totally distract himself from the historical forces at play; he cannot picture his daily routine of going into the office because he is so focused on the possibility of nuclear destruction. It is also worth noting that in carrying around the Colt .44, Tagomi is symbolically carrying the weight of his murders.
Active
Themes
Tagomi wonders if perhaps separating himself from the gun will allow him to return to his former “delighted attitude.” Tagomi takes faith in the theory of “historicity,” which states that the past is “within the gun” just as much as it is within his mind. Accordingly, he decides to go to Childan’s shop and return the gun.
Active
Themes
However, when Tagomi tries to exchange the Colt .44, Childan grows cold and refuses to take it. Before Tagomi can leave, Childan takes him to a display case filled with the Edfrank jewelry. Childan boasts that this jewelry is “the new life of [his] country.” Tagomi admires the pieces, but he does not feel the same level of emotion that Childan seems to. Childan presses Tagomi to see the meaning of the pieces, and Tagomi tells Childan he is behaving rudely—but Childan does not seem to care.
Active
Themes
Get the entire The Man in the High Castle LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
As he leaves the store, Tagomi dismisses Childan’s obsession as “Anglo-Saxon fanaticism.” Before he can get far, however, Tagomi becomes envious of Childan’s newfound passion. He returns to the antiques shop and purchases one of the Edfrank pieces from Childan: “a single small triangle ornamented with hollow drops. Black beneath, bright and light-filled above.”
Active
Themes
Tagomi takes a pedicab to a small park. He sits on the park bench and stares at the little piece of jewelry, trying to meditate with it. A few minutes pass, but Tagomi still feels nothing. He gets up but then sits back down, trying to resist the constant pressure he feels to “rise and act.” He tries shaking the jewelry, he pleads it with to reveal its meaning, and he even holds the small triangle to his ear, but still Tagomi feels nothing. He tries smelling, touching, and tasting the triangle, all to no avail.
Active
Themes
Tagomi begins to study the triangle more intently. He muses that it is made of metal, “from the earth […] from that realm which is the lowest, the most dense”—yet in the light, the jewelry glitters. Tagomi reflects that these jewelers have therefore “brought the dead to life […] the past had yielded to the future.” Tagomi begins to see the triangle as a perfect balance of bodily yin and soulful yang, and he hopes it will give him peace and understanding in his own life.
Active
Themes
Suddenly, the light illuminating the triangle disappears and Tagomi looks up to find two white policemen in blue suits. Tagomi is upset that he has been “interrupted by that white barbarian Neanderthal yank”; then he stops and scolds himself for such “racist invectives,” which he sees as beneath him.
Active
Themes
Tagomi walks out of the park, but he is surprised to see that there are no pedicabs on the streets. Even more shockingly, an enormous metal construction hangs in the sky like a “nightmare of [a] rollercoaster.” Tagomi asks a passerby about this ugly metal stripe, and the passerby explains that it is the Embarcadero Freeway, which many people feel “stinks up the view.” There are still no pedicabs in sight, and Tagomi begins to feel that he is in a “mad dream.”
Active
Themes
Desperately, Tagomi heads into a dingy diner. White people are sitting on all the stools, and not one of them gives up their seat to Tagomi. When Tagomi insists that the white people give their seats to him, one snaps at him to “watch it, Tojo.” Tagomi is shocked by this disrespect; he realizes that he has wandered “out of [his] world, [his] space and time.”
Active
Themes
Realizing that he entered this alternate reality though the little silver triangle, Tagomi decides he must find the triangle again. He remembers that he left the jewelry in the park, so he heads back to the bench he was sitting on. Tagomi grabs the silver piece and begins to slowly count, hoping he will be able to return to his normal world.
Active
Themes
In order to determine whether he is still in the strange alternate reality, Tagomi summons two little Chinese boys. He pays them a dime and asks them to see if there are any pedicabs in the street—if there are not, Tagomi decides he will kill himself using the Colt .44. However, the boys come back and announce that there are many pedicabs in the streets. Tagomi hails one and heads back to his office.
Active
Themes
When Tagomi arrives in the Nippon Times Building, the whole mess from the day before has been cleaned up. He reflects that “historicity” is nevertheless “bonded into nylon tile of floor.” Tagomi learns that Tedeki is on his way back to the Home Islands, but that his co-workers have been unable to locate Mr. Baynes.
Active
Themes
Tagomi’s secretary informs him that a man from the German consul, Mr. Reiss, is there to see him. After some formalities, Tagomi announces that he personally shot the two Kommando men. Reiss tells Tagomi that the men were not even working for the German government and assures Tagomi that he acted “properly” in shooting them. Tagomi asks for forgiveness, and muses that he wants to read Cotton Mather—the famous American preacher—on hell and repentance.
Active
Themes
Tagomi tells Reiss that he believes Germany is “about to descend into greater vileness than ever.” Reiss listens to Tagomi’s anti-Nazi speech and curtly moves to leave. Before Reiss can exit, however, Mr. Ramsey appears with some papers relating to Frank Frink’s trial and extradition. Tagomi, however, refuses to sign the papers.
Active
Themes
Reiss accuses Tagomi of taking out general frustration on this specific situation; Tagomi dismisses this claim as nonsense. As Reiss leaves, Tagomi starts having a small heart attack. He stumbles back into his office, crashing onto the floor.
Active
Themes
While he is transported to the hospital, Tagomi wonders if he has ruined his career forever by snapping at Reiss. Tagomi speculates that this heart attack is itself a form of the Inner Truth he has been looking for, and he instructs his assistants to call his wife.
Active
Themes
That evening, a police officer releases Frank from jail with no explanation. The police give him back his personal belongings, and Frank marvels that this is a miracle of sorts. All of it—the arrest, the release—feels unreal. Frank wishes he could understand, but he realizes he will never be able to fully comprehend the world around him.
Active
Themes
