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
Juliana Frink, Frank Frink’s ex-wife, sees a Nazi rocket fly over her head. She is relieved that the rocket is not destined for Canon City, Colorado—in the Rocky Mountain States—where she has lived for several months. Juliana works as a Judo instructor, having learned the martial art from the Japanese who conquered the PSA. She is no longer under Japanese rule, however: the Rockies are “Protestant land,” and they exist independently from both the Japanese and the Nazis. In this mountainous buffer zone, Juliana thinks, “we can live out our tiny lives. If we want to.”
In several different ways, this introduction to Juliana’s life emphasizes her removal from the coastal centers of power. The Germans’ rockets are flying overhead, suggesting that geopolitical tension and technology literally skip over this quiet town. Even more tellingly, Juliana views her life as “tiny,” separate from the history-making colonies in the PSA and the Nazi Reich. Yet it is this very insignificance that allows Juliana to “live out” her life with a normality that people in the colonies lack, as they are swept up in power plays and intrigue.
Themes
One of Juliana’s Judo students thanks Juliana for her transformative classes. Juliana tells her client that self-defense is important, as the Japanese may conquer the Rockies, too. The conversation ends, and Juliana stops for dinner at Tasty Charley’s Broiled Hamburger, a classic American diner. Juliana notices that a couple of truck drivers are gazing at her lustfully.
Though Juliana makes her living off of Japanese martial art, she is nevertheless constantly critical of the Japanese; without evidence, she depicts the PSA as an ever-growing force. Still, though Juliana is preparing for the threat of Japanese takeover, the Rockies clearly remain steeped in Americana: Tasty Charley’s is almost a parody of a classic Middle American truck stop.
Themes
Juliana is particularly interested in Joe, one of the truck drivers. He describes himself as a “wop” (a derogatory term for an Italian), and he tells Juliana that he is also from the German-controlled east coast. Even though Italy won the war, Italians are second-class citizens in the new Nazi United States of America, and Juliana silently muses on the perils of “being dark.” Her mind drifts to Frank and his “big nose”; she wonders if Frank “identifies” with the Japs because they are both “ugly.”
Again, Juliana’s exchange with Joe suggests that while the Axis Powers (Italy, Germany and Japan) won the war together, they are no longer united; in the Reich, for example, Italians are disdained for their “dark” skin. Moreover, Juliana’s prejudices come out here, suggesting that she (like Childan) is a perpetrator of racism as well as a victim of it.
Themes
Juliana encourages Joe to move to Colorado, as there are fewer racist laws in the Rocky Mountain States. Both truck drivers say that they hate the Rockies because the towns there are so removed from power. As Juliana admires the German success in “building back up” the east coast, the fry cook at Charley’s begins to critique the Nazis for their horrific treatment of Jews. The fry cook insults the truck drivers, and the truck drivers gear up to fight him, but Juliana calmly de-escalates the situation.
The truck drivers echo the Nazi party line: the Reich has done nothing but good, “building up” the U.S. and adding new technologies and infrastructure. The fry cook, however, refuses to let such slogans stand, instead reminding everyone at Charley’s that shiny buildings and rockets cannot erase mass murder. These competing views of the Nazis are enough to start a fist fight, suggesting that even in the neutral Rockies, political tensions are high.
Themes
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The truck drivers declare that people in the Rockies are too sympathetic to the Japanese, and Juliana privately agrees. Juliana begins to identify with—and feel attracted to—Joe. She reflects that Joe’s intensity comes from “idealism,” and she compares him to an “old-timer” pioneer—only “now the frontier isn’t here; it’s the other planets.” Juliana wonders if the issue with the Nazi temperament has its roots in “something foul” with sex, and she considers the rumors that Hitler committed incest. Even now, she reflects, Hitler is dying because of syphilis (a sexually transmitted infection) in his brain.
Juliana’s comparison of Joe to a U.S. pioneer is revealing of two things. First, it suggests geographic conquest is a way of creating a historical legacy (a connection the Nazis, jetting off to Mars, certainly believe in). Second, it suggests that Joe’s support of the Nazis is somehow deeply American, or at least in line with American values. Also of note: the fact that Hitler is dying of syphilis is an example of the novel’s fascination with the contrast between the historical and the intimate. Hitler altered the world with his military and victory, but he also fell prey to his bodily desires and ailments.
Themes
Juliana is increasingly drawn to Joe: “he breathes—death,” she realizes, and she finds it very attractive. She notices the two truck drivers talking about her, and one of them gives her a box of stockings made by I. G. Farben, the Nazis’ expert in synthetic materials. Joe asks Juliana for a ride to his motel, and she agrees.
Just as Baynes is associated with plastics, the “synthetic” material is important here: again, this is a signal of deception. Even as Juliana prepares to have sex with Joe, then, the synthetic stockings suggest that something more ominous is afoot.
Themes
Mr. Baynes, riding toward San Francisco on a high-speed Lufthansa rocket, strikes up a conversation with a young German man. Baynes tells his companion that he is a Swede and that he does not speak German; the German, an artist named Alex Lotze, is shocked by this fact. Baynes tells Lotze that he works in “plastics” and “polyesters,” and Lotze is shocked to learn that Sweden has a plastics industry. Lotze explains the Fascist ideology behind his art, which Baynes seems to disapprove of.
Lotze’s reaction to the fact that Baynes does not speak German reflects the Germans’ belief in their own supremacy (as does Lotze’s disbelief that Sweden could have a plastics industry). Their conversation about Fascist art is also important: Lotze’s work is purely about representing existing ideas, whereas Baynes seems to want something more human and revelatory from art.
Themes
Lotze thinks the San Francisco baseball stadium is hideous—he comments that looks “as if it was designed by a Jew,” which causes Baynes to reflect on the “psychotic streak” in Nazi thinking. When Lotze asks to see Baynes again in San Francisco—because they are “quite close,” racially—Baynes refuses. Instead, Baynes begins to wonder if he is really “racially kin” (or at all similar) to this “insane” artist.
To Baynes, the Nazis’ single-minded hatred of the Jews is “psychotic,” and he wants to distance himself as much as possible from this line of thinking. But in doing so, Baynes also struggles with the racial classifications that define Nazi thinking: if people can be grouped by their ethnic backgrounds, does Baynes somehow share Lotze’s insanity because they’re both white?
Themes
Baynes tries to articulate to himself the fundamental issue with Nazi consciousness: “it is their sense of space and time. They see through the here, the now, into the vast deep black beyond […] They want to be the agents, not the victims, of history.” By contrast, Baynes himself feels helpless and small, though he does not think it is bad to be either of those things.
Here, Baynes sets up one of the most important tensions in the novel. The Nazis think in sweeping, historical time, and they believe that they have the power to shape the future. Baynes views himself on a more human, “helpless” scale—but he also feels that his intimate perspective affords him a more meaningful life.
Themes
As they prepare to leave the rocket, Baynes tells Lotze that he is Jewish—something he has never told anyone before. Baynes explains that he has had all his stereotypically Jewish features altered so he is unrecognizable, and he vows that “there are others of us […] We did not die.” As Baynes explains, Lotze cannot report this fact, as Baynes has so many powerful connections in the Reich government. As he leaves the concourse, Baynes announces that in fact, he will use this influence to report Lotze.
Baynes’s supposed Jewishness is never again mentioned in the novel; like Lotze, the reader is left uncertain about whether or not Baynes is actually Jewish. Either way, Baynes’s claim that he has successfully altered his physical appearance suggests that humans—like antiques—can be created or faked. Moreover, Baynes undermines the Reich, hinting that its central goal (exterminating Jewish people) will never be complete.
Themes
Baynes notices that a representative from the Pacific Trade Mission of the Imperial Government has come to meet him, and he assumes (correctly) that this is Mr. Tagomi. Tagomi presents Baynes with his gift, boasting that it is “among the finest objects d’art of America.” Baynes is shocked to see that the gift is a 1938 Mickey Mouse watch—though the gift seems tacky to him, he can tell that Tagomi is presenting it in earnest. As the men prepare to leave, one of Tagomi’s assistants recites a Japanese poem from the Middle Tokugawa period: “as the spring rains fall, soaking in them, on the roof, is a child’s rag ball.”
Baynes’s confusion at Tagomi’s gift underscores the lack of cultural understanding between the two men. It also begins to suggest that Tagomi is more concerned with objects’ authenticity or historical significance than with their actual value, since the Mickey Mouse watch doesn’t seem particularly high-quality. The poetic quotation at the end also suggests, again, that Japanese culture tends to prioritize lyrical, metaphorical thought (in direct contrast to the Nazis, who are very literal in their thoughts and pursuits).
Themes
