Critical Response
By: Julia Majewski
In the book, New Worlds for the Old by David Ketterer, his first sentence accurately sums up The Man in the High Castle. He states, "In parallel-worlds stories, the opening pages typically present the reader with an incomprehensible jumble that begins to make sense only when he has established the point at which the "fictional" reality shears off from the accepted "historical" reality" (Ketterer 242) Dick plays with the concept that the United States lost WWII, resulting in the Japanese joining the Reich in a joint leadership of the Americas. The reader, without any background information is thrown into this “new” reality told through the perspectives of more than 3 narrators. The reader must gain insight from the characters to know what is the reality, the “truth” of what has happened. Although this allows for the reader to gain context by experiencing the different classes of society, this results in a struggle for who is the main character and what is the purpose of the story.
From the perspectives of these characters, two main subjects emerge as the connection between each character: the book The Grasshopper Lies Heavy by the character Abendsen, and the constant reliance on the book I Ching. Each one contributes to the context of the society but it also sets up the purpose of the piece. In Bridges to Science Fiction by Carl Malmgren, he purposes that these two objects not only set up the link, but also serve as the premise of the novel. The idea that “reality is a subjective thing” permeates every aspect of the novel. In the end when it is revealed that the book I Ching wrote how the world would have been if the United States won WWII the reader is left to consider which parallel reality is the “truth”. The tiles predict and forsee all outcomes, so how can both realities exist at the same time? Malmgren states, “Dick seems acutely aware that "reality" can no longer be considered apart from the consciousness that "intends" it, that "reality" is no longer monolithic or objectively given” (Malmgren 120). Malmgren interprets that each one of us view each experience as reality but this is not so. Each person is part of a larger whole, a series of events that are intricately linked together. Each perspective and action contributes to the greater whole of reality. This is the element that makes the novel exceptional. Malmgren supports this idea by stating, "They wonder if their perceptions of reality correspond in part or in substance with the "true" current of events; they wonder if there is a "true" current of events. In The Man in the High Castle this uncertainty manifests itself throughout the text, particularly in the characters' penchant for relying upon the I Ching to discover as it were the "deep structure" of reality, the real and ineluctable current that informs an indeterminate and contingent reality" (Malmgren 121)
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The I Ching serves as the basis for what people recognize as reality, and thats why the characters are so dependent on it. They use it to guide thier actions and provide answers to their lives so that there is control and sense to their individual "reality".
Both Ketterer and Malmgren praise Dick for his novel, but at the end of his analysis, Ketterer brings up a valid point . He concludes, “However, the supposition that Abendsen was not personally able to arrive at these conclusions constitutes a strange weakness (dictated perhaps by the exigencies of dramatic plot construction) in an otherwise exceptionally fine novel" (Ketterer 249). When Juliana arrives at Abendsen's house, he marvels at the artful pin in her dress and questions whether it wards off spirits, or holds everything together? The irony of that statement is that with the appearance of Juliana the reality that is known and accepted is ripped apart. She is the catalyst that causes the truth to be determined and reality to be questioned. The linch pin between the parallel realities. Abendsen was the creator but lived without the knowledge about whether he was truly writing fiction or fact. He does not have the spirit or courage to break his promise to the Oracle and ask the reason behind its actions. Juliana can be viewed as the hope and youth that drives him into the light. She is the curiosity and questioning persuasion that compels him to finally seek truth. She is the generation that hopes for a better future, so that even if Abendsen does not, or will not accept the truth there are still those who will question the "reality" that they live in. |