Summer Reading: The Man in the High Castle

By Dan Birlew | Posted June 10, 2010 in Book Reviews | Comments Off

Philip K. Dick’s 1962 Hugo award-winning novel The Man in the High Castle tells the story of an ensemble cast of international characters living in an alternate reality where Germany and Japan won World War II, and large portions of the United States remain under separate Japanese and Nazi occupation. Though the fictional events in the book take place in the year it was released, the characters and events are as vibrant today as at any time. This remains one of my favorite novels to date. I re-read it every couple of months, wondering how I as a writer can possibly touch upon its greatness.

In off moments the various characters recount, through dialog snippets and random thoughts, the events that led to the United States losing World War II. Because these facts are brought up when appropriate to the characters’ situations, they are presented out of order and incomplete except for what I can gather. Many people in our society ask, “How would World War II have been different if Hitler had been assassinated at Munich?” The Man in the High Castle presents a world that asks the opposite question; what if Giuseppe Zangara’s factual attempted assassination of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933 was successful, leaving John Nance Garner to be President? According to Dick, he would be voted out of office in 1940 for John W. Bricker. Neither President would manage to bring the United States out of the Great Depression. This leaves the US unprepared to assist Britain and Russian against the Germans, and unable to defend against Japan in the Pacific. The Nazis conquer the USSR and exterminate most of its citizens while Japan wipes out the entire US naval fleet at Pearl Harbor. The combined Axis Powers then attack the US on opposite coasts, fighting inward until the Allied surrender in 1948. The United States are divided into three areas: the Japanese-occupied West Coast, renamed the Pacific States of America, the German-occupied United States extending from the East Coast to Louisiana and all the way up, and the Rocky Mountain States extending from Texas up to North Dakota, and west to Idaho and Arizona. Canada appears to remain a sovereign state of its own, as many characters reference fleeing there for safety.

These days, it would seem Dick’s book is asking a kind of well-worn alternate history question: What if we lost WWII? Back in 1962, the idea was striking enough to win Dick the Hugo award. What keeps this book interesting to today’s readers is Dick’s characterization. Each chapter of the book is written from the perspective of a different person:

Robert Childan is a San Franciscan dealer of “Americana,” or antiques of authentic American origin which are extremely popular collector’s items amongst the ruling Japanese elites in the Pacific States. He has adopted many Japanese mannerisms, in both his speech pattern and business etiquette. Yet it is gradually revealed that he internally harbors a racist dislike for all Asians, thinking slurs and epithets to himself, and makes certain business decisions out of self-loathing.
Frank Frink is an American Jew, also living in San Francisco, hiding in plain sight thanks to plastic surgery and changing his last name from Fink. He works for a man named Wyndam-Matson, who runs a company that produces fake American antiques. He loses his job after an outburst at work. Using the I Ching, he divines that he should go into business for himself.
Nobosuke Tagomi is the trade commissioner of San Francisco. He uses the I Ching to divine how to handle an important contact from Sweden inbound on a German rocket, a certain Mr. Baynes whom he has never met. From the hexagram, he determines that his client is not who he claims to be.
Juliana Frink, Frank’s estranged wife living in Colorado, emerges from the studio where she teaches Judo and notices a German rocket flying westward in the sky above. Though not stated, the reader can infer that Mr. Baynes is most likely on board this rocket. Juliana proceeds over to a truck stop where she meets Joe, an Italian war veteran with whom she begins having sex. Joe introduces Juliana to the book he is reading on his travels, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Juliana becomes interested enough in the book that she agrees to go on a road trip with Joe in her Studebaker to meet the author, Absenden, in person.

Other than Juliana’s former ties to Frank, these people appear to be living entirely separate, unconnected lives. However, if you re-read the descriptions above, you’ll notice that other than Juliana and Frank, these people are all connected in ways they are not entirely aware of. As the narrative develops, these connections take on a mystic quality that becomes alarming, as if though the reader can perceive some kind of invisible hands pushing these characters together for some unknown reason:

Tagomi buys a gift for Mr. Baynes from Robert Childan, an antique Mickey Mouse watch. Most of Childan’s antiques are supplied by Wyndam-Matson. As the watch is an item of jewelry, it was most likely recreated by Frank Frink before he was fired.
As Frank goes into business for himself making new American jewelry, he betrays Wyndam-Matson by going to Childan’s store and impersonating a white Japanese naval officer. He asks to see a Colt .44 revolver and tells Childan that it is a fake. Childan’s faith in his supply is shaken. Then Frank sends his partner into the store to sell Childan their jewelry, thinking the dealer will be desperate to buy something real.
However, Frank is unaware of Childan’s ignorant streak, which causes the dealer to be cavalier and condescending when presented with new American jewelry despite his recent troubles. Childan agrees to take some of the pieces only on consignment. His true intention is to steal one of the pieces and send it to the wife of his Japanese customer, Paul Kasouras, in the hopes of secretly wooing her.
Frank is identified as the perpetrator from Childan’s store, and is arrested. He is transferred over to the Germans, who quickly determine that he is a Jew in hiding.

Note that Tagomi, Frank, and Juliana all use the I Ching to divine the best course of action to take. The advice they receive from the oracle is sometimes so spot-on as to be uncanny; the book really appears to be guiding them to take certain actions. At one point, Tagomi and Frank each use the I Ching separately at the same time and receive the exact same result. Through these coincidences, Dick is indicating that there’s some larger divinity at work here, guiding these people toward a certain resolution.

Another book that is mentioned late in the story but quickly assumes importance is a novel that several of the characters are reading, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy by Hawthorne Absenden. The book has been banned by the Germans throughout their occupied territories. Through various characters’ description it is gradually revealed that the book presents an alternate history of World War II, where Roosevelt’s assassination failed and he pulled the United States out of the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s successor, Rexford Tugwell, continued Roosevelt’s anti-Nazi policies. He moved the fleet out of Pearl Harbor, avoiding catastrophe. This made Germany abandon the Axis, leaving Japan to be defeated by the US. Britain and the Soviets team up to repel the Germans from Stalingrad and then drive their tanks into Berlin. The war is won and all the Nazis are tried and executed for their crimes, including Adolf Hitler. But after the war, the US allies with China and repeals Jim Crow laws in the 1950′s while Britain becomes openly racist. The US and the UK engage in a Cold War for supremacy which the UK ultimately wins, leaving Britain as the ruling superpower of the world. The back cover of the book indicates that Absenden lives in a remote, fortified compound referred to as the titular “High Castle,” which some characters believe may be why the Germans haven’t arrested and executed him yet.

Thus through this book-within-the-book, several characters begin to contemplate whether Germany and Japan should have lost the war, and whether there is perhaps another reality where such was the true outcome.

At the start, none of the main characters are reading the book. The book is introduced to each of them by ancilliary characters who are reading it:

Wyndam-Matson’s wife has it on their bookshelf, and his mistress, Rita, has read it. She describes it to Wyndam-Matson, introducing it to the narrative.
Betty and Paul Kasouras describe the book to Robert Childan over dinner.
Joe Cinnadella, the Italian truck driver that Juliana meets, won’t shut up about it, and encourages her to read it.
Freiherr Hugo Reiss, Reichs Consul of San Francisco, secretly reads the book and is so incensed that he thinks of reporting to the higher ups that they should try to assassinate Absenden. But then he reconsiders for almost illogical reasons.

In sharing the book with other characters (as well as the reader), those who have read the book appear to be “enlightened,” and try to share that enlightenment with the main characters. The effect appears to be lost on Wyndam-Matson and Childan, who do not have the intelligence to accept its message. But Juliana becomes obsessed with the book, and eagerly accepts Joe’s invitation to drive out to Absenden’s residence to meet the author. That’s when the revelations start pouring out:

Paul Kasouras calls Childan to his office. Childan worries that Kasouras determined his intentions in sending the piece to his wife. However, Kasouras is only interested in discussing the jewelry piece. He indicates to Childan that the piece has divine properties, and insists that Childan should aggressively sell them to his Japanese customers with a sense of renewed American pride.
Mr. Baynes is actually Captain Rudolf Wegener of Reich Naval Counter-Intelligence. He meets in Mr. Tagomi’s office with General Tedeki from the Japanese Home Islands, formerly of the Imperial General Staff. Tagomi listens in horror as Wegener reveals to Tedeki that the Germans plan to destroy the Home Islands with nuclear weapons.
Hugo Reiss’s men burst in on the meeting. Tagomi pulls an antique Colt .44 purchased from Robert Childan and shoots the men. The meeting adjourns.
Upset at having killed someone, Tagomi attempts to sell the Colt .44 back to Childan. Knowing it’s a fake, Childan refuses to buy it back. However, he interests Tagomi in one of Frank’s jewelry pieces, indicating its divine qualities.
Seeking a spiritual answer, Tagomi sits in the park and stares at the jewelry piece. His meditation is interrupted by a police officer, at which point he notices a large freeway structure (the Embarcadero) that wasn’t around a few minutes ago. Entering a nearby cafe, he rudely tells the whites at the counter to give up their seats to him. They refuse and utter racial slurs. He flees back to the park and stares at the jewelry piece again. The freeway structure disappears. It seems that Tagomi entered an alternate dimension for a few minutes; proof that his reality is a false one.
Tagomi returns to his office building and confronts Hugo Reiss in person. Reiss tries to sweep the incident under the carpet and proceed with business as usual, handing Tagomi forms to sign. Though he’s never met Frank Frink, Tagomi refuses to turn him over to the Reich, instead scribbling orders on the document for Frink’s release. Tagomi is never aware that Frank created the jewelry piece that briefly took him to an alternate universe.
Juliana slowly realizes that Joe is actually a Swiss assassin traveling in disguise. He finally admits that he is using her appearance (dark hair and pale skin) to get close to Hawthorne Absenden since the author apparently favors girls of her type. Juliana steals a razor blade from the hotel cabinet and slashes Joe’s neck open, and leaves him to die. She continues traveling to Hawthorne Absenden’s residence to confront the author and learn the truth about The Grasshopper Lies Heavy.

The Man in the High Castle has a dividing affect among Dick’s frequent readers. First off, the book can barely be called Science Fiction; other than the fact that the Nazis are using rocket ships to travel around the world in record time and have colonized Mars, facts which are both mentioned only in the background, the novel reads more like literature than a genre piece. Also many critics regard the ending to be anti-climactic, in spite of the shootings in Tagomi’s office. I cannot fathom this opinion, since I find the ending scene between Juliana and Absenden to be the most revealing of the novel. I believe that the ending shows that even if Japan and Germany had won the war, and even if you figure out that your reality is a false one, life still goes on. Time doesn’t stop for the troubles of mankind. But you can always take comfort in knowledge that others cannot perceive.

I’ve long argued that The Man in the High Castle was a major influence on the television series Lost. The show mimics several devices from the novel, such as employing an international cast of characters who appear to be guided by unknown mystical forces to come together for an unknown purpose. Also, the way Dick narrates each chapter from the perspective of one of the characters, adopting even their speech patterns and world views, is highly reminiscent of the character-specific presentation of Lost’s episodes.

Perhaps the most astonishing achievement of the novel, other than winning the Hugo, is that Dick creates an intricate and detailed alternate history of World War II and the twentieth century within a mere 260 pages [Vintage edition]. The Man in the High Castle is a quick read, but also a thought-provoking novel with an ending that is sure to haunt you afterward.