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
As Frank prepares to apologize to Wyndham-Matson, he reflects that his former boss looks more like a “Tenderloin bum” than a factory owner. Yet Wyndham-Matson does have real power. When Frank asks for his job back, Wyndham-Matson refuses and merely tells Frank to pick up his tools from his old super, Ed McCarthy.
Wyndham-Matson’s misleading appearance—he doesn’t look powerful, but he is—is another example of how people’s identities are often different or more complex than they might initially seem.
Themes
Ed applauds Frank for his outburst the day before and tells Frank how much he admires his craft as a metalworker. Ed suggests they go into business for themselves, making custom jewelry. However, Frank points out that there is no market for contemporary American art; the only thing that sells are the so-called “antiques” popular at American Artistic Handcrafts.
The fact that there is no market for new American artwork takes on a darker tone in this passage, as this discourages American artisans like Ed and Frank from creating—American innovation has effectively ceased. Ed’s plan to craft custom jewelry is therefore a somewhat radical push back against Japanese colonialism.
Themes
Frank reflects on the troubled antiques business—for a long time, Wyndham-Matson’s company has been forging and selling pre-Civil-War American artifacts (which Frank helps to craft). Since there are a great deal of forgeries circulating in the market, Frank is aware that eventually the entire antiques business will collapse, but for now, it is highly profitable; in fact, forgeries are the main source of Wyndham-Matson’s profits.
To cater to Japanese antiques buyers, Wyndham-Matson sells historical objects; but to make these objects, Wyndham-Matson calls on highly skilled, American-born craftsman to create totally new pieces. The distinction between fake and authentic is thus blurred, as is the distinction between past and future.
Themes
Tempted by Ed’s proposal, Frank decides to consult the I Ching. The oracle initially promises him good fortune, but in its final line, it threatens that “the hour of doom is at hand.” Frank is baffled and begins to believe that the I Ching is warning of a third world war. “Did I start it in motion,” Frank wonders of the conflict, “or is someone else tinkering, someone I don’t even know?” Frank feels that he is “too small” to do anything about the impending war but make jewelry and hope for the best in his personal life. Frank therefore accepts Ed’s business proposal.
Again, Frank’s use of the oracle makes him reflect on people’s interdependence, as he wonders about his and other people’s role in bringing about a third world war. He also reflects on his own relative “small[ness],” which calls back to Juliana’s musings about the “tiny lives” people lead in the Rocky Mountain States. Frank’s resolve to make his own “small” life meaningful then comes directly out of his overall sense of powerlessness. This passage is also important because it adds tension to the rest of the novel—the “hour of doom” is imminent, but it’s unclear when, exactly, it will arrive or what it will entail.
Themes
Get the entire The Man in the High Castle LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ed invites Frank over to dinner; the two men need money to start their business, and Ed has a plan to get it from Wyndham-Matson. After Ed leaves, Frank’s thoughts return to the I Ching and its mysterious prophecy. He hopes that his jewelry business will take off, making him enough money to impress Juliana and win her back.
Ed is a family man, something that is not true of many characters in this novel. And Frank’s focus on his personal life is especially clear here: even as he starts off a new business project, his mind remains trained on his relationship with his ex-wife.
Themes
Returning to his shop after his appointment with Mr. Tagomi, Childan is surprised to find a well-dressed, white visitor. The visitor produces an Imperial business card, and he tells Childan that he is representing a Japanese admiral; they have just landed from the ship Syokaku. The visitor explains that the admiral wants to buy 12 Civil War guns. This would be an incredibly expensive purchase, and Childan is overwhelmed with excitement.
The PSA’s racial politics are especially clear here: white men gain power according to their proximity to Japanese people, so this white visitor has higher status than Childan.
Themes
Childan presents the visitor with an “authentic historic gun”—but the visitor recognizes the gun, a Colt .44, as a forgery. To Childan’s dismay, the visitor announces that he will take his business elsewhere because he cannot trust the items in Childan’s shop. However, the visitor tells Childan that he will keep the forgery secret because they are both “white men.”
Childan’s failure to sell the fake gun begins to suggest that authenticity or historical significance should not be prized above originality. Meanwhile, the visitor’s refusal to expose Childan as a fraud emphasizes the importance of racial solidarity in the society of the novel.
Themes
In a panic, Childan sends the gun to be tested at the University of California in Berkeley. A few hours later, the university informs that the gun is, in a fact, a fake: “a reproduction cast from plastic molds,” very professionally done. The university also suggests that there is a whole industry dedicated to producing these fakes, but Childan denies it.
Plastic is an ongoing symbol of fakery and deception in the novel, so the fact that plastic is used to forge the Colt .44s makes them all the more fraudulent. But even the scholars recognize the artistry in these guns (which have been made by Frank and Ed), and so the boundaries between art and artifice are even more blurred.
Themes
Childan calls Ray Calvin, the wholesaler who sold him the gun, and asks for a private meeting. Then, Childan phones the San Francisco office of the Tokyo Herald to inquire about the Syokaku. A girl at the Herald informs Childan that the Syokaku sank long ago. Childan realizes that the visitor was an impostor—but that he nevertheless had accurate information about the gun. Against his will, Childan begins to wonder if there really are many fake guns circulating in the market.
In a surprising twist, the visitor was just as fake as the gun—yet the imposter revealed the real truth of the fake gun. It is not surprising, then, that Childan finds his trust deeply shaken, as his entire of idea of truth has just been thrown for a loop.
Themes
