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
Now traveling as Conrad Goltz, Rudolph Wegener (a.k.a. Mr. Baynes) travels to Germany on a Lufthansa rocket. He hopes that General Tedeki is able to affect change in the Home Islands, but Wegener is not optimistic. He wonders if the Nazis will eventually wipe out all life on Earth. Wegener wonders if there is another, alternate reality, “in some region or dimension that we simply do not perceive.” Though he cannot prove this alternate reality, Wegener believes in it.
Though Baynes/Wegener does not experience an alternate world in the same way Tagomi does, he is nevertheless sure that one exists. This certainty suggests the randomness of history, in which each event is contingent on the last. The history of The Man in the High Castle is in some ways just as possible as the history in The Grasshopper Lies Heavy—or as “real” history.
Themes
Wegener exits the rocket and sees children and families greeting the other returning passengers. Three men in black shirts, members of the Waffen-SS (the military), approach Wegener and address him by his real name. The “blackshirts” inform Wegener that they are going to take him to Heydrich. Wegener realizes that he will not be shot; rather, Heydrich is still alive and is using Wegener to try to strengthen himself against Goebbels.
In its final chapters, the novel periodically focuses on family, even in moments—like this one—of great political import. This suggests that focusing on everyday life and intimate relationships is perhaps more important than trying to create a historical legacy. The fact that Heydrich still has some power suggests that Operation Dandelion may yet be preventable.
Themes
Wegener’s temporary relief is cut short when he reflects that even though Goebbels may lose power, the alternative—Heydrich—is not much better. “We can only control the end by making a choice at each step,” Wegener reflects, “we can only hope. And try.” Wegener reflects on the difficulty of morality in such an ambiguous world.
Here, the novel lays out perhaps its most coherent theory of history: destinies are made in part by chance and in part by “making a choice at each step.” Results are not guaranteed, and human agency is not complete, but people can “hope. And try.”
Themes
The “blackshirts” begin to criticize Goebbels for the mob mentality he has stirred up. Wegener hopes that the competing factions of the Nazi Party will destroy each other, leaving the rest of the world alive, “once more to build and hope and make a few simple plans.”
Baynes/Wegener has often described himself as small. But here, rather than avoiding responsibility, his sense of smallness is almost a call to action: his plans will be “simple,” but he will still make plans.
Themes
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Juliana reaches Cheyenne and buys a newspaper. She finds an article about Joe Cinnadella’s death. Though suspicion has fallen on Joe’s wife (which Juliana had claimed to be at the hotel), nobody knows her real name or identity. Knowing that she is safe from the police, Juliana feels much calmer.
Juliana’s self-creation is now complete; she has shed her past identities and her past crimes. She is therefore able to move on to Cheyenne, where the Abendsens await.
Themes
Juliana gets comfortable in her hotel room and finishes reading The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. She realizes that very few people actually understand the meaning of the book. Juliana looks for a place to eat dinner, and she is impressed by the future-oriented brightness of Cheyenne. After sitting down at an expensive French restaurant, she reflects that Abendsen “told us about our own world […] he wants us to see it for what it is.”
The Man in the High Castle and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy have a lot in common: both are speculative fiction about what happens in the post-war world (and both were written using the I Ching). If Grasshopper is ultimately about its readers’ world, then the same can be said of The Man in the High Castle: it is not merely an imaginative exercise but a cautionary tale about prejudice and power.
Themes
Juliana puts on the dress but realizes she has forgotten the bra to go with it. She has a collection of pins, some from Frank and some from other men, so she picks a horse-shaped pin from Mexico to keep the dress up. She tries to call Frank long distance in San Francisco, but he does not pick up. Juliana hails a cab and heads to the Abendsens’ house.
Just as Tagomi thought of his wife in his moment of crisis, Juliana now does the same with Frank. Though she has been angry at Frank for much of the novel, her own confusing moral decisions have led her to be more forgiving toward him.
Themes
However, when Juliana arrives, the house is not the well-secured “High Castle” she has been expecting; instead, it is “a single-story stucco house with many shrubs and a good deal of garden made up mostly of climbing roses.” She is struck by the child’s tricycle in the front of the house, further adding to its sense of being “ordinary.”
This almost stereotypically normal house is a far cry from the imposing, secure tower Juliana has been expecting. The particulars of this house are also striking: there is, again, an emphasis on family, and there is also a particular kind of natural emphasis on the future (as signaled by the garden and the climbing roses, which represent new life and growth).
Themes
There is a small party going on. Juliana knocks on the door, and a teenaged boy—the Abendsens’ son—lets her in. A pretty woman, Caroline Abendsen herself, welcomes Juliana and introduces to her husband. Hawthorne Abendsen is tall, dressed in an expensive and graceful suit. Juliana is a little awed by him.
The novel’s emphasis on family continues, as Juliana meets Abendsen’s wife and son. It is also surprising that she gains such easy access to this home—she merely has to ring the doorbell.
Themes
Abendsen explains that he used to live in a real fortress, but that one day—while drunk—he developed a phobia of elevators. Since then, he has moved back to town and now he lives in this nice, one-story house. Abendsen pours Juliana a drink.
Abendsen did not choose to move away from a secure house for any ideological reason. This figure, so large in Juliana’s mind, is in fact remarkably regular.
Themes
Juliana asks Abendsen if he is familiar with the I Ching, but Abendsen avoids the question. Instead, he begins to ask Juliana about her dress; he compares the “technical secrets” that allow her to appear so beautiful to the “technical secrets” that allow him to write so skillfully. Caroline Abendsen grows frustrated with this flirtation.
Joe was right: Abendsen is drawn to women like Juliana, and here, he reveals himself to be a womanizer (or at least a flirt). More importantly, however, he draws a connection between Juliana’s self-creation (through clothes and make-up) and his own writerly, artistic creation.
Themes
Juliana realizes that Abendsen is attracted to her, but she continues to push him about The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. She says that the book showed her “there was a way out”; now, Abendsen’s calm, regular life shows her that there is “nothing to be afraid of, nothing to want or hate or avoid.”
Paralleling Tagomi’s decision to “find the small,” Abendsen has committed to a peaceful life. Abendsen’s reference to a “way out” also once again suggests possible alternate realities.
Themes
Juliana explains that she killed Joe to protect Abendsen and warns that there may be a “next one.” But Abendsen believes that the Nazis “can get you […] if they want to. Charged wire and High Castle or not.” Juliana realizes that Abendsen is “resigned to [his] own destruction.”
Abendsen may accept his fate, but he does so for a reason. Rather than trying to change the course of history, Abendsen has decided to focus on the things he can control (like his garden and spending time with his family). In prioritizing day-to-day life over the (maybe inevitable) Nazi threat, Abendsen embodies the novel’s central lesson.
Themes
Abendsen finally confesses that the oracle was the source of the entire Grasshopper novel; he consulted the I Ching to determine the characters, the historical time period, and even the specific events of the plot. Juliana wonders aloud why the oracle would have chosen to write a novel, especially one in which the Germans and the Japanese lost.
Philip K. Dick, too, consulted the I Ching to write The Man in the High Castle. In each case, the use of the oracle suggests that even the author is not a total agent over the world he creates; rather, there is always random chance (or perhaps fate) to take into account.
Themes
Abendsen instructs Juliana to ask the I Ching this question herself and presents her with his copy of the oracle. The I Ching answers Juliana’s question with the hexagram about Inner Truth; Abendsen realizes that his book is somehow true. He is deeply angry at this revelation.
Juliana’s reflection that the book has Inner Truth in some ways is a historical one: in the real world, the U.S. won World War II, and the Germans lost. But she is also realizing that in expanding its characters’ perspectives—in showing them alternate realities—the book allows its readers insight into themselves and their connections to other people.
Themes
Trying to change the subject, Abendsen offers to autograph Juliana’s copy of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, but she refuses. Abendsen speculates that Juliana is a kind of “daemon,” and Caroline comforts him, saying that Juliana is “terribly disruptive”; Abendsen merely replies, “so is reality.” He thanks Juliana for what she did in Denver.
Juliana disrupts the neat little world the Abendsens have built for themselves—but rather than dismiss her, Abendsen understands that reality itself is filled with disruption and confusion. Neither a High Castle nor a suburban home can keep out such confusion.
Themes
Caroline asks Juliana what she will do next. Juliana considers going back to Frank Frink, but she does not feel terribly concerned about the uncertain future. Caroline tells Juliana she wishes they had never met. Juliana is surprised that the truth has made the Abendsens so angry. “Truth,” Juliana reflects, “as terrible as death. But harder to find.” Juliana leaves the Abendsens’ and hails a cab—“moving and bright and living”—to take her back to her motel.
In the novel’s closing passage, Juliana again considers forgiveness and reconciliation (with Frank, in her case) as a crucial part of living in such a mystifying world. Forgiveness, uncertainty, and contradiction are perhaps all forms of the “truth” that Juliana reflects is so hard to find. But despite this uncertainty, she can now look forward to what is “moving and bright and living”—the future.
Themes
