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Chapter 12
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
Having arrived in Denver, Juliana and Joe visit a series of modern, upscale shops. Juliana buys a blue Italian dress that costs $200; she also buys some new bras and a coat. While she looks for jewelry, Joe goes to get his hair cut. When he returns, Juliana can hardly recognize him—he has dyed his hair blonde. All he will say about it is that he is “tired of being a wop.”
The elaborate nature of this shopping spree suggests that it is more important than Joe initially made it seem. Joe also creates a fake persona for himself, believing that because he is blonde he is no longer Italian (again, he refers to himself using an ethnic slur). Though he shares many of the Nazis’ most hateful biases, he paradoxically also believes that identity can be altered with just a bottle of hair dye.
Themes
Juliana helps Joe pick out new socks, shirts, suits, and a new billfold. He pays for all of it with his German money. When Juliana considers what other items she wants to buy, Joe gets suddenly angry and insists that they eat dinner right away. Juliana presses Joe to find a hotel before they go out to eat.
Joe and Juliana are changing everything about their physical appearances—but their relationship dynamic remains the same. Joe is still mysterious, angry, and volatile, and Juliana is still fearful.
Themes
While they look for a hotel, Juliana tries to imagine a weekend filled with nightclubs and nice meals. She congratulates herself on how beautiful they both look: they have been “created out of nothing, out of money or, rather, out of money.” Juliana and Joe find a fancy hotel in downtown Denver, and she admires the soft carpet and the many shops. With Joe’s money, Juliana purchases a copy of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy.
Juliana’s reflection that they have been “created out of nothing” is fascinating—just as Baynes got rid of his Jewishness and Frank changed his name, Juliana and Joe are shrugging off their class status and making themselves anew. Self-creation in the novel is yet one more thing that blurs the line between forgery and invention.
Themes
When they get to the hotel room, Joe announces that they will be leaving Denver and visiting Abendsen later that night—to Juliana’s dismay. Juliana does not understand the rush, and she insists that they stay in Denver as Joe had promised they would. Joe tells her they will see the sights in Denver later, but Juliana does not believe him, and she begins to feel even more afraid.
Though Juliana loves Grasshopper, she is also enjoying this luxurious trip (which thus far has been one of the scenes in the novel most removed from politics). Joe’s insistence on the Abendsen plan then suggests a frightening ulterior motive, perhaps explaining his near-permanent state of distraction.
Themes
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Joe begs Juliana to put on the blue dress, and when she refuses, Joe threatens to kill her; she replies by saying that she could probably use her Judo to maim him. As Joe tries to de-escalate the situation, a valet knocks on the door to take Joe’s shirts for ironing. Juliana wonders how Joe knew that new white shirts must always be ironed. She begins to realize that Joe did not dye his hair blond just now; he has always been blond, and the dark hair was merely a wig.
Fascinatingly, Joe’s new look is not a false identity—his old Italian persona was the true invention. This passage also reflects the importance of small, mundane details in revealing larger ideas: Juliana pinpoints Joe’s deception because he knows about something as everyday as ironing.
Themes
Juliana realizes that Joe is not an Italian; he is a Swiss man in the Nazi intelligence agency, merely posing as an Italian to get her to come with him. Juliana learns that the heavy pen is actually a radio transmitter. More importantly, she realizes that Joe’s plan all along has been to get a woman who looks like her (“a dark, libidinous girl”) to seduce Abendsen so that Joe can then murder him. Juliana tells Joe that her ex-husband Frank is a Jew, but he does not seem to care.
Questions of racial prejudice and hierarchy (Joe has spent the whole novel lamenting his low racial status, when in fact he was a member of the dominant racial group) now intersect with the novel’s focus on truth and reality. And while Joe has a mission, he does not seem particularly concerned with the racial ideology he defends. He is happy to sleep with a “dark” woman like Juliana, and he has no qualms about the fact that he has allied himself to a Jewish man’s ex-wife.
Themes
Juliana starts to have a panic attack, and she begs Joe to let her go to the bathroom. She gets in the shower fully clothed as she looks for a razor blade. In a daze, Juliana moves to the toilet. A few minutes later, Joe—baffled and upset by the situation—comes in to dry Juliana off and pleads with her to get her haircut. Joe gives her two yellow pills for anxiety, but Juliana does not want to take them.
Rather than the orderly prose that makes up most of the novel, Juliana’s breakdown is written in a kind of stream-of-consciousness confusion. Just as Juliana cannot figure out what to do, the reader cannot figure out how to make sense of the page in front of them.
Themes
Juliana’s thoughts grow increasingly incoherent, and she behaves more and more erratically. Joe realizes he cannot take her to the Abendsens’ house in this state. Juliana grabs another razor and heads for the hallway; Joe tries to stop her, but she slashes him with the razor. Juliana does not seem to realize what she has done. Still completely naked, she walks out of the hotel room—and meets the hairdresser in the hallway. Seeing her nakedness, the hairdresser sends Juliana back to her room.
Whereas Tagomi and Baynes both articulated their moral confusion, here, the book places the reader in the middle of Juliana’s chaos. Faced with two difficult moral choices (commit murder or let Abendsen be assassinated), Juliana’s thinking goes off the rails. Even when she does murder Joe, then, it is not the result of a conscious decision but rather a part of her descent into incoherence.
Themes
Juliana returns to her room, where Joe is slowly bleeding out. Still seemingly unaware that she has murdered Joe, Juliana giggles and gets herself dressed. Joe asks Juliana to get him medical help, and she tells him to do it himself; when he explains that he cannot, she says she will ask the front desk. As she leaves the room, she picks up all her new parcels and tells Joe not to look for her in Canon City, because she is going to use his money to leave forever.
Juliana still does not seem to comprehend what is going on. But even in her hazy state, she remembers to take her new parcels; the idea of self-invention (dressing differently and moving to a new place) persists above everything else.
Themes
Juliana tips the valet and retrieves her car; she marvels at how easy the entire thing has been. As she drives away, she realizes she never told anyone to send help for Joe. She beings to cry and laments that she forgot to consult the oracle before embarking on this trip.
Juliana’s focus on her own future has ensured that Joe will not make it out alive. But rather than assuming agency or responsibility, she laments that she did not learn the oracle’s prediction of her trip.
Themes
In an attempt to feel better, Juliana consults the I Ching from her car. The oracle tells her to take a trip and “consult with the prince”; she infers that this means she should visit Abendsen and tell him about Joe’s (now thwarted) plan. She drives north on the autobahn—a German highway—as fast as she can go.
This is probably the oracle’s clearest prophecy, which is interesting given Juliana’s confusion about her own actions and decisions. It is also ironic that even as Juliana has now actively resisted the Nazis, she applauds German infrastructure.
Themes
Juliana places a call from a phone booth, and she gets through to Abendsen’s wife. Mrs. Abendsen tells Juliana that it is too late right now for a visit, but she encourages her to come the next day—though she tells Juliana that her husband might be too busy to chat. Juliana agrees, but she is distracted by thoughts of how hungry and thirsty she is.
Abendsen’s wife has not yet been mentioned, and the fact that Abendsen has family—and that he is so easily accessible by phone—already begins to chip away at the image of him as the titular “man in the High Castle.” Juliana’s focus on her bodily discomfort suggests the gap between the historical import of her actions and the daily needs of all human beings.
Themes
Juliana explains her urgency to Mrs. Abendsen by reading her the oracle’s prophecy. This gets through to Mrs. Abendsen, who asks for Juliana’s name and promises her that they will visit each with other the next day. Juliana hangs up and buys herself a sandwich and a coke. Then, she falls asleep at the nearest hotel.
History, prophecy, and everyday routine all combine in this passage. It is particularly worth noting how seriously Mrs. Abendsen takes the I Ching; before the oracle was mentioned, she did not want to make time for Juliana, but now Juliana is a priority.
Themes
