Plastic, the material used in most German mass production, represents falsity and it is frequently associated with deception. For example, the fake Colt .44s are “reproduction[s] cast from a plastic mold,” and when Rudolf Wegener sneaks into the U.S. under an alias, he pretends to be a plastics salesman. It makes sense that plastic would be associated with dishonesty; plastic is cheap and malleable, prized for its ability to shapeshift.
But it is also important to note that plastic, especially in Nazi hands, symbolizes speed and impermanence. The Nazis’ Lufthansa rockets are made largely of plastic, and they are capable of transporting passengers across the globe in under an hour. In a more negative sense, several of the characters believe that plastic is “trashy,” easily made and so easily discarded. When Childan is faced with the possibility of mass producing the Edfrank jewelry in plastic, he finds that he is unwilling to do so; he wants the jewelry to last, to “stretch[] out endless,” which can never happen with plastic. Thus even as the Reich embraces plastic as the solution to all its problems, the novel’s suggestion that plastic is deceptive and discardable perhaps hints that the end of Nazi reign is imminent.
Plastic Quotes in The Man in the High Castle
Life is short, [Childan] thought. Art, or something not life, is long, stretching out endless, like concrete worm. Flat, white, unsmoothed by any passage over or across it. Here I stand. But no longer.
Plastic Symbol Timeline in The Man in the High Castle
