The Man in the High Castle: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

At the Reich’s Consul in San Francisco, ambassador Reiss is greeted with an unwelcome visitor: police chief vom Meere. Vom Meere informs Reiss that they have found Rudolph Wegener, the “Abwehr fellow”; his real name is Baynes, and he is posing as a Swedish industrialist. Vom Meere has also learned that Baynes is supposed to have an important meeting with a Japanese official, and Berlin wants the police to intercept this meeting.

Reiss worries that trying to capture Wegener before or during this meeting will upset the Japanese higher-ups. However, vom Meere tells Reiss that he already has a Kommando squad ready to capture Wegener; vom Meere is not worried about the Japanese, because he believes they are too polite to do anything. Vom Meere mocks the Japanese practice of bowing to guests.

Reiss gets a phone call from an unknown source; it turns out to be Goebbels himself, calling to emphasize the necessity of capturing Wegener. Without any other option, Reiss gives vom Meere an authorization for Wegener’s capture. Vom Meere tells Reiss that when the Japanese call to complain about this German interference, Reiss should lie and say that Wegener was really “a homosexual or a forger.” Reiss agrees, but he is frustrated that vom Meere went over his head and he is shaken by having spoken to Goebbels himself.

Reiss thinks about ways that he could sabotage vom Meere. He considers telling the Japanese what flight Wegener will be departing on; he also considers trying to make the Japanese angry at the police force by convincing them that “the Reich is amused by them, doesn’t take little yellow men seriously.” Before Reiss can determine how to regain power, he gets a phone call from a schoolteacher hoping to get some “scenic posters of Austria for their class.”

At 11 o’clock, Childan heads over to Paul Kasoura’s office, which is just as well-decorated as the Kasouras’ home. Paul greets Childan with a trace of aloofness, though Childan is not sure if this is real or in his head. Since Betty has not yet called to thank Childan for his gift (the Edfrank pin), Childan assumes Betty did not like the gift, and he apologizes to Paul.

Paul surprises Childan, informing him that he never gave the pin to Betty at all—instead, he showed it to many of his colleagues. Initially, the colleagues all laughed at the piece; Paul reveals that his initial reaction to the piece was also laughter. However, after studying the piece for several days, Paul began to develop “a certain emotional fondness” for it.

Paul tells Childan that the piece has a special kind of spiritual balance. Though it does not have wabi, the Japanese word for good taste, it does have wu, a Chinese word for the tranquility associated with holy things. In fact, to Paul the piece has value “in opposition to historicity.” He tells Childan that wu is often found in “such trash as an old stick, or a rusty beer can by the side of the road.”

Paul celebrates the Edfrank jewelry as “authentically a new thing on the face of the world.” He explains to Childan that his colleagues, after some discussion, agreed that the strange jewelry possessed wu. Paul concludes that, having persuaded his colleagues of this fact, he is “exhausted”; he returns the pin to Childan, who is baffled.

Surprisingly, Paul tells Childan that he must “meditate” and figure out what to do with this radically novel jewelry. Paul believes that these pieces can have a massive impact on Childan’s life and the world. Childan resents this advice, “and the worst of it was that Paul certainly spoke with authority, right out of dead center of Japanese culture and tradition.” Childan once again begins to think racist thoughts about Japanese inferiority.

Before Childan can leave, Paul tells him one last thing: one of Paul’s colleagues, an importer/exporter who works mostly in South America, is interested in the jewelry. Specifically, he hopes to mass-produce these pieces, “either in base metal or plastic”; he would then sell the pieces as good-luck charms for “relatively poor people” in Latin America and Asia. Childan understands that there would be a great deal of money for him in this transaction—and that Paul, having shown the jewelry to his superior, no longer has any agency in the situation.

Childan asks Paul for advice. Paul explains that while he himself cannot get pleasure from anything mass-produced—he wants “something rare […] something truly authentic”—the same is not true for the uneducated masses. Childan wonders if Paul is implying that there are fakes even among the valuable antiques Childan carries in his shop.

After going back and forth, Childan tells Paul that he will meet with the importer. But to Childan’s surprise, Paul does not seem pleased by this decision. Before Childan leaves, Paul asks if the American artisans who made these pieces—by hand, with the “labor of their personal bodies”—will accept such a fate for them. Childan thinks the artisans can be persuaded, but something in Paul’s tone makes him hesitate.

Childan has an epiphany: the whole thing has been “a cruel dismissal of American efforts,” Paul’s tactful way of proving that American art is “worthless.” Childan reflects that this is how the Japanese rule—“not crudely but with subtlety, ingenuity, timeless cunning.” Childan feels a great deal of shame for himself and for all Americans; he sees himself through Japanese eyes, as a helpless “barbarian.”

His voice cracking, Childan tells Paul that he is “humiliated” by the whole ordeal. Childan explains that he is proud of this work and does not want to see it made into “trashy good-luck charms.” Though he cannot tell how Paul is reacting to all of this, Childan demands an apology. After a long silence, Paul apologizes for his “arrogant imposition.” Childan feels calmer, and as he leaves Paul’s office, he reflects that life is short but “art, or something not life, is long.”