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
After his meeting with Childan, Ray Calvin calls Wyndham-Matson with the bad news: the factory’s fake Colt .44s have been discovered. Wyndham-Matson feels that Frank and Ed are behind this snafu, but he does not know how they accomplished it; Wyndham-Matson had already bought off both the newspapers and the pinoc police.
The world of wealthy, successful white people in San Francisco is clearly pretty small. It is easy, therefore, for Wyndham-Matson to operate his forging business, as he knows all the white people in positions of power and so can keep his illegal activity quiet.
Themes
Wyndham-Matson decides it will be easiest to buy Frank and Ed off as well, and he resolves to give them the $2,000 they need to start their business. However, he also recalls a rumor that Frank is a “kike” (a derogatory term for Jewish person). If Wyndham-Matson notifies the German consul that there is a Jew in the PSA, the Germans will extradite Frank to the east coast and murder him.
The various threads of Frank and Ed’s plan become clear—they have successfully blackmailed Wyndham-Matson, and they now have money for their business. More importantly, though, this moment reveals Wyndham-Matson’s cruelty (as well as his anti-Semitism). Though he knows revealing Frank’s Jewishness will kill him, he has no qualms about doing so.
Themes
Wyndham-Matson is frustrated by the whole situation, which has interrupted his time with his mistress Rita. “This whole damn historicity business is nonsense,” he announces; to prove his point, he shows Rita two identical cigarette lighters. One is very expensive, because it was in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s pocket when he was assassinated. The other one is worthless. Wyndham-Matson tells Rita that the only way to know the difference is to have the papers to prove it; historicity, he claims, is “in the mind,” not the object.
In this crucial passage, Wyndham-Matson asserts that authenticity (or “historicity”) is a subjective feeling and not a tangible fact. Interestingly, the valuable lighter Wyndham-Matson has dates from Roosevelt’s assassination—something that did not happen in the real world. Roosevelt’s assassination is the exact moment at which the novel’s history deviates from reality. In pairing Wyndham-Matson’s critique of authenticity with this break in historical fact, the novel suggests that questions about a given item’s “historicity” are also questions about the stability (or instability) of history itself.
Themes
Rita does not believe that one of the lighters belonged to Roosevelt, so Wyndham-Matson gets the papers to prove it. He has bought the lighter for exactly this reason: to prove that “the word ‘fake’ meant nothing really, since the word ‘authentic’ meant nothing really.” Rita reminisces about what would have happened if Roosevelt lived; she believes the Americans would have won the war.
By showing Rita the papers, Wyndham-Matson again underscores the idea that authenticity is something created by people, not inherent in objects. In questioning the word “authentic,” Wyndham-Matson also opens the door to view fakery (or deception) in a new, more positive light. And indeed, throughout the novel, deception is often viewed less as lying and more as invention.
Themes
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Rita prepares to leave, but on her way out, she spots a book she recognizes on Wyndham-Matson’s shelf: The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. The book belongs to Wyndham-Matson’s wife, but Rita has also read it; it is banned in the Nazi United States and Europe, but it is legal in the PSA. She explains that it is an alternative history, one in which Roosevelt lived and was succeeded by a man named Rex Tugwell; Tugwell predicted the bombing of Pearl Harbor and was able to evacuate the U.S. fleet before it could be damaged.
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is important for many reasons: first, as a tremendously popular book, it is one of the few things that unites almost all of the novel’s characters. Second, as an art object, it allows the characters to access other perspectives. And finally, as yet one more alternative history—Rex Tugwell was never president, and Pearl Harbor was not evacuated in time—it further suggests that random chance has a heavy hand in historical events, and that these other outcomes could have easily happened.
Themes
Wyndham-Matson debates the accuracy of this speculative history, but Rita is firm. She explains that in the Grasshopper novel, the British and Russians halt the Germans at a town “we never heard of”: Stalingrad. Wyndham-Matson mocks the book, and he speaks wistfully about the German infrastructure and organization present on the east coast. Wyndham-Matson drives Rita home in his German-made car.
This passage further illustrates the gaps between historical fact and the novel’s alternative timeline. In the real world, the Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most important of World War II. The Nazis lost to the Russians, and their defeat in this battle was a major factor in them losing the entire war.
Themes
As Tagomi drinks tea with Baynes, he reflects on the “absurd[ity]” of the I Ching: “we ask it questions as if it were alive. It is alive.” Baynes is confused by this comment, and by Tagomi more generally. He asks about the mounted buffalo on Tagomi’s wall, and Tagomi offers to demonstrate the art of buffalo hunting, pulling out an antique rifle to make his point. Baynes, even more baffled now, protests that he has a headache and excuses himself.
In grappling with the mysterious ways of the I Ching, Tagomi is perhaps trying to determine whether random fate is more powerful than human agency. More subtly, the novel reveals that Tagomi owns an antique gun—which might be real or might be forged by Frank and Ed.
Themes
Before Baynes leaves, he informs Tagomi that there will be a third man—“an elderly retired businessman” named Mr. Yatabe—joining their conversation in the coming week. Baynes explains that because the old man is in a precarious financial situation, Tagomi should not report his visit to the Japanese government.
Since Tagomi has already surmised that Baynes is a spy, it is also probable that Mr. Yatabe is not quite what he seems (especially if Tagomi is supposed to keep his visit a secret).
Themes
Believing that Baynes is Swedish and not German, Tagomi confides his anti-Nazi sentiment. He believes the Nazis are “barbaric” and racist, and he particularly resents their theory that Jews are Asians: “the implication was never lost” on the Japanese, Tagomi explains. Baynes panics, fearing that Tagomi’s honestly will accidentally cause Baynes to reveal too much. As Baynes walks out the door, Tagomi’s Japanese assistant tries to speak to him in Swedish, which Baynes does not understand.
While the Japanese are on top of the racial hierarchy (the “place” system) in the PSA, they are not exempt from the Nazi’s violent white supremacy. Though the novel makes clear that Baynes is equally horrified by this racism, he cannot voice his disgust to Tagomi because the fear of Nazis is omnipresent. Meanwhile, Baynes doesn’t speak Swedish despite claiming to be a Swede—making it even more likely that he is not who he claims to be.
Themes
