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
While Juliana does her grocery shopping, she comes across a magazine article announcing that by 1970, there will be a television station in New York. Juliana wonders why the Nazis have been able to travel to space before they have been able to create TV; she speculates it is because the Nazis have “no sense of humor.” Juliana’s mind drifts to the ailing Nazi chancellor, Bormann, and she wonders who will replace him when he dies.
The novel turns readers’ attentions to daily routines (like grocery shopping) that persist even after geopolitical chaos, which implies that these small activities are perhaps equally important as the broader historical events happening around the characters. This idea contrasts with the fact that TV hasn’t been invented yet, as this suggests that the Nazis prioritize geographic conquest over entertainment and home life. Meanwhile, the story flags that Bormann’s death is just around the corner.
Themes
Juliana returns home to find Joe Cinnadella, the truck driver, still spread out on her bed. He has clearly missed his truck, and Juliana wonders if he did so on purpose. She is puzzled by Joe; the night before, they had had sex many times, but he always seemed distracted.
Though Juliana has spent the night with Joe, he is just as mysterious as when they met at Charley’s. He is intensely focused, as became clear at the lovers’ first meeting, but his focus is on something other than Juliana.
Themes
As Joe gets up, Juliana tries to tell him a Bob Hope joke about the Germans, but Joe is uninterested. Juliana studies Joe’s naked body and realizes that he is old enough to have been in the war. Her suspicions are confirmed when she notices he has a tattoo commemorating the battle at Cairo. At Cairo, the Germans and the Italians jointly defeated the British. Juliana also discovers that Joe has an Iron Cross medal, and she surmises that he was an especially valiant fighter.
Once again, the intimate is completely inseparable from the political. It is in looking at Joe’s naked body that Juliana realizes he fought in the war on the opposite side. In this instance, then, sex—something intensely private and intimate—reveals military and ideological opposition.
Themes
Joe tells Juliana a brief life story: Joe was inspired to join the war on the Italian side by his older brothers, who were later killed by British commandoes. To this day, Joe has a genocidal hatred of the British: “I’d like to see them do to England what they did to Africa,” he tells Juliana.
Juliana was right to be fearful around Joe. Here, he claims to want all British people to suffer the same horrors (mass murder and cannibalism) that the Nazis inflicted on Africans, suggesting that he shares not only history but a general worldview with the Germans.
Themes
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Hoping to change the subject, Juliana starts to cook Joe breakfast. While she makes bacon, Joe pulls out his own copy of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. He begins to explain the plot to Juliana, dwelling on the fact that in the book, the Allies are able to win because Italy betrays Germany. Joe accuses the writer, Hawthorne Abendsen, of a “fantasy.” Juliana opens the book to a random passage, which posits that in this alternate history, the British have at last completed their goal of world takeover: “it had been fulfilled at last, that about the sun and the flag.”
As an Italian himself, Joe is obviously resentful of the fact that Abendsen makes Italian betrayal the focal point of Grasshopper’s plot. Moreover, Joe sees little use in art (whereas Juliana is immediately fascinated by it). In referencing the real-world British dream of a global empire, the novel suggests that the Allies have more in common with the Axis power than they would like to admit. Britain hoped to have so much territory that there would always be daylight in one of its colonies (to be “the empire on which the sun never sets”). The Nazis, in other words, were not the only people with dreams of world takeover.
Themes
The radio interrupts Juliana’s conversation with Joe, announcing the Bormann—the leader of the Nazis—has died. Both Joe and Juliana are shocked, and they immediately begin to discuss who will succeed Bormann as chancellor. Juliana expresses her horror at the Nazis, but Joe rants that “they are like us […] There isn’t anything they’ve done that we wouldn’t have done if we’d been in their places.” Joe boasts of his talent for building earthworks, and he argues that the Nazis are uniquely able to honor the “dignity of labor.”
Joe underscores the idea that the Nazis and their enemies are fundamentally similar—“they are like us.” Though Juliana resents this view and wants to distance herself from the Nazis as much as possible, she and Joe are both equally shaken by Bormann’s world-altering death.
Themes
Privately, Juliana recalls that the Nazi leaders famous for new infrastructure—who were also more tolerant of Jewish people—were dismissed once the east coast had been rebuilt. With Frank in mind, Juliana recalls the mass killing of Jewish people that the Nazis carried out in their new United States.
Joe (like Childan, Wyndham-Matson, and most Nazi sympathizers in the U.S.) praises the Germans for their infrastructure. But Juliana, who was married to a Jewish man, recalls the genocidal evil that underlies such projects.
Themes
Juliana remembers that the Grasshopper novel is banned in the U.S., and she asks Joe how he manages to read it. Joe explains that different things are illegal for different racial groups—Poles and Puerto Ricans are allowed fewer books than Anglo-Saxons, for example—and that Joe hid the book in his apartment. Joe contrasts his own daring with Abendsen’s quiet authorial life in Cheyenne, a part of the Rocky Mountain States. Though Abendsen was in the army, he now writes from the safety of his own very secure home, which he calls “The High Castle.”
Though the Nazis disparage art, they nevertheless understand its power—why else would they ban books? This passage is the moment where the title of the novel first comes into view: the titular “High Castle” signals Abendsen’s attempt to protect himself (to quite literally wall himself off) from the political circumstances around him.
Themes
Juliana laments the loss of free speech under the Axis powers, and to her surprise, Joe agrees with her. Juliana realizes how much Joe frightens her: “something terrible is happening […] Coming out of him.” Joe notices her fear and promises to never hurt her, but Juliana remains scared.
Joe becomes a more and more menacing figure—and again, his focus on something other than Juliana ominously foreshadows that “something terrible” is indeed going to happen.
Themes
In his office, Tagomi receives a report that Mr. Baynes is not a Swede—the young man who attended their first meeting is almost certain, based on Baynes’s poor knowledge of Swedish, that Baynes is German. Tagomi is not convinced, but either way, he reflects that he likes and admires Baynes.
The report Tagomi receives effectively confirms that Baynes is a spy. But despite Baynes’s deception, Tagomi is drawn to him. And since Tagomi is arguable the novel’s best judge of character, this hints that Baynes is probably a moral person (even if he’s lying about his identity). This begins to suggest that not all forms of deceit are malicious.
Themes
Mr. Ramsey informs Tagomi that Chancellor Bormann has died. Tagomi cancels everything on his schedule and heads over to the German embassy, where a dozen other foreign dignitaries wait to hear from the Nazis. A Japanese official announces that several different high-ranking Germans will now compete for Bormann’s place.
Bormann’s death was a massive disruption for civilians like Joe and Juliana, but it is even more consequential for bureaucrats like Tagomi. Moreover, the competition within the Nazi party for power in some ways mirrors the competition between the Nazis and the Japanese.
Themes
The first candidate is Hermann Goring, also known as the “Fat One.” Goring is founder of the Gestapo (the secret police), and he is “the most self-indulgent” of all the Nazis, styling himself as a kind of Roman emperor. But Goring is also very intelligent and powerful.
In real life, Goring was one of the most powerful Nazis—until he asked Hitler to take over the party, at which point Hitler ostracized him. At the Nuremburg trials (military tribunals held by the Allies), he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death.
Themes
The next candidate is J. Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda officer: “elegant. Educated. Highly capable.” Goebbels, “the sole intellectual” of the Nazi party, is disliked by many, even though he can be charming. He is said “never to rest.”
In real life, Hitler’s will dictated that Goebbels should take over the Nazi Party in the event of Hitler’s death. He ruled for only one day before committing suicide.
Themes
The Japanese official then describes R. Heydrich, a much younger man who is feared by many of his own colleagues. Heydrich came up through the paramilitary SS. Though he is a violent man, he is “not party to ideological disputes.” Instead, he views life and war as a series of games. He is something of a “question mark” to the Japanese government.
Often considered one of the most ruthless members of the Nazi Party, Heydrich was largely responsible for the mass execution of Jewish people. To anyone whose moral code opposes outright genocide (as the Japanese leadership seems to), allying with Heydrich would be almost unthinkable, which is why he’s a “question mark” for them.
Themes
Tagomi begins to feel ill as he hears about the fourth candidate, Baldur von Schirach. Von Schirach, a handsome “idealist,” is known for trying to mitigate some of the Nazis’ most vicious policies. It seems unlikely that Schirach will actually become the leader of the Nazi Party.
Known primarily for his stewardship of the Hitler Youth program, von Schirach was a relatively minor historical figure. The novel is accurate, however, in presenting von Schirach as a moderating force on the Nazis.
Themes
The final person in contention is Doctor Seyss-Inquart, the man “closest in temperament” to Hitler himself. Seyss-Inquart is thought to be largely responsible for the genocide in Africa, and he is possibly the “most hated man in Reich territory.”
In real life, Seyss-Inquart was famous for occupying the Netherlands and terrorizing Dutch people (especially those who were Jewish). He, too, was tried for high crimes at Nuremburg and sentenced to death.
Themes
Tagomi has a kind of panic attack, and he feels so dizzy and nauseous that he needs to run to the bathroom. An assistant comes to help him, and Tagomi feels embarrassed that his colleagues have seen him this way. As he exits the bathroom, Tagomi is struck by the idea that “there is evil! It’s actual like cement.”
Tagomi’s moral sense—so strong that it expresses itself physically—here comes into conflict with social norms. It is also interesting that Tagomi compares evil to “cement”; later, Childan will compare art to concrete, suggesting that art and evil are two of the world’s most powerful forces.
Themes
Gingerly, Tagomi makes his way back to his office, where he takes a meeting with another trade representative. From this man, Tagomi learns that the Japanese government believes Germany’s mass murder and enslavement have been an economic disaster—one only staved off by the Nazis’ scientifically advanced “miracle weapons.” Even then, the German rocket trips to Mars, while impressive, have not been good for the economy. The Japanese government believes that the Nazis, unwilling to face their fiscal plight at home, will continue to move toward “greater tour de force adventures, less predictability, less stability in general.”
Thus far, the rockets have seemed to be merely a fitting symbol for the Nazis’ obsession with territorial conquest. But here, this obsession is revealed to be a distraction from the Reich’s dangerous economic plight. Thus, even though the Nazis are technologically capable, they do not know how to actually use their inventions for good. The death of Bormann—and the prediction of “less stability”—raises the stakes of each character’s actions for the latter half of the novel.
Themes
Before he leaves, the other trade representative opines that the best candidates are probably von Schirach and Goebbels, and that Heydrich and Seyss-Inquart are among the worst. But the Japanese government fears and loathes all the possible new German leaders. Shaken by this knowledge, Tagomi half-heartedly writes a letter of condolence to the German ambassador, but he leaves it to his secretary to finish the draft.
Goebbels and Heydrich are the most important candidates to pay attention to, as they will come back later in the novel. Goebbels is more appealing to the Japanese, as he is intelligent and restrained, whereas Heydrich is the ultimate symbol of Nazi destruction. Together, the two men form a spectrum of sorts (though, as Tagomi acknowledges, not one of these candidates is a good option).
Themes
Tagomi gets a call from Baynes, who asks if Mr. Yatabe has arrived yet. When Tagomi replies that he has not, Baynes announces that Bormann’s death has changed things: now, he will not meet with Tagomi unless this Mr. Yatabe is present. Tagomi is shaken by Baynes’s seeming coldness, and he belatedly consults the I Ching. The oracle predicts “oppression” and “exhaustion.”
Baynes’s request to delay the meeting is yet another indicator that Bormann’s death has thrown the world into disarray. Also, while each of the powerful Nazis tries to exercise his own will, Tagomi merely consults the oracle and accepts its predictions. This suggests that both personal agency and random chance (or, perhaps, fate) have a role in life’s outcomes.
Themes
Across town, Frank is also consulting the I Ching. Frank is baffled by the oracle’s instructions to give “offerings and libations,” and he reflects that he only understands the I Ching’s message “later on, when it has happened.” Ed tells Frank to stop consulting the oracle and focus on setting up their business. Already, they have found a space, drawn up some designs, and decided on a name: Edfrank Custom Jewelers. Yet as they await Wyndham-Matson’s money, Frank thinks of the oracle and feels apprehension.
Despite the lack of a market for contemporary art, Frank and Ed are (literally) forging ahead. There are therefore acting with tremendous agency—but Frank still feels the need to consult the oracle. It is also fascinating to think that the oracle only makes sense in hindsight, as the same could be said to be true of history as a whole.
Themes
