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Chapter 1
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
From his office near the top of the Nippon Times Building, Nobusuke Tagomi looks out on the Golden Gate Bridge and frets about his upcoming meeting with a mysterious man named Mr. Baynes. Baynes is arriving by rocket, a new German mode of high-speed travel. Tagomi has never been on a rocket, so he must avoid looking impressed around Baynes. Moreover, though Baynes is Swedish—and Sweden is politically neutral—Tagomi vows to avoid talking about politics with him, even though the Nazi leader (Herr Bormann) is rumored to be quite ill.
In addition to introducing two crucial plot elements—Tagomi’s meeting with Baynes and the Nazi’s leader failing health—this scene hints at the symbolic importance of rockets. While the Germans have pioneered rocket technology, traveling to Mars and jetting across the globe in record time, the Japanese lag behind. Tagomi’s insecurity about this gap suggests that despite claiming to be friendly with each other, relations between Germany and Japan are actually quite tense.
Themes
Tagomi calls in his secretary, Miss Ephreikian. He tells her that he has consulted the I Ching about his upcoming meeting with Childan. At two o’clock, Childan is going to present Tagomi with some options for a gift for Baynes, and Tagomi feels none of the choices will suffice. The I Ching has confirmed this suspicion.
Tagomi’s anxiety about his gift to Mr. Baynes reveals that Tagomi puts a lot of weight on (and is anxious about) this strange meeting. It is also important to note that, like Frank, Tagomi regularly consults the I Ching.
Themes
Tagomi asks Miss Ephreikian to call in his assistant, a young American named Mr. Ramsey. Tagomi explains that, given most Europeans’ racist view of “so-called Oriental culture,” it makes sense to present Mr. Baynes with an American-made gift, not a Japanese-made one. However, Tagomi does not trust his own judgment of American memorabilia, so he wants Mr. Ramsey to come meet Childan with him. Tagomi notices that Mr. Ramsey, who is white, has been self-tanning in an attempt to darken his skin.
This important passage demonstrates the clashing racial hierarchies of the post-war world. On the one hand, Tagomi fears Baynes, like many white people, will lean on harmful “Oriental” stereotypes (“Oriental” is a synonym for “Asian” that’s now considered outdated and derogatory). At the same time, Mr. Ramsey has darkened his skin in an attempt to increase his standing in the PSA, where white people are automatically inferior. The novel thus demonstrates how each of the two dominant groups creates policy and culture around its own specific prejudices.
Themes
Tagomi informs Miss Ephreikian and Mr. Ramsey that Mr. Baynes is here to sell the Japanese some new plastics technology—which is important, because the Germans are far ahead of the Japanese when it comes to plastics. Privately, Tagomi wonders why the information about his meeting with Mr. Baynes was sent to him in a kind of poetic code. The Japanese government uses this lyrical code specifically to evade the Germans, because the Nazis can crack any kind of literal code. Tagomi concludes that Baynes is a spy.
Plastic, another important symbol, is often used in the novel to symbolize deception—so it is fitting that Baynes, likely a spy, calls himself a plastics salesman. It is also worth noting that the Japanese use poetic code to trick the Nazis. While the Nazis are technologically advanced, they are unable to think in literary or artistic terms; many of the novel’s Japanese settlers, by contrast, are deeply passionate about art.
Themes
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Childan hails a pedicab from a Chinese man (whom he describes in racist language, as a “chink”). After a stressful day of sorting through objects for Tagomi, Childan is on his way to present the options. Childan feels that he has done a good job, but he worries that he will not know the correct code of conduct with all the different people he meets in Tagomi’s office building.
Though Childan resents his own low status, he is perfectly comfortable with the fact that –under the strict caste system of the PSA—Chinese people have less power than white people. He has clearly internalized this racism, as he uses a racial slur to refer to the pedicab driver. Not for the last time, Childan behaves hypocritically; though he is anxious about navigating his own role in the racial hierarchy, he acts disrespectfully to all people he views as beneath him.
Themes
Childan wonders if he will see a slave—all Black people are enslaved in this society. Childan then worries that it will be bad form to carry his own bags; he decides that he will wait for a slave to help him with his bags, because he fears that if he does not, he will “never have any sort of place again.” In his mind, Childan blames Black and Chinese people for his unease, thinking “they scorn me and humiliate me every day.”
Childan’s hypocrisy continues as he makes his way through Tagomi’s building. It is especially interesting that, in venting his frustration at the “place” system, Childan blames the people who are more affected by racial discrimination than he is—Black and Chinese people. Perhaps the novel is demonstrating how such racist stereotypes can be internalized, pitting Childan not against his oppressors but against those who are even more oppressed than he is.
Themes
After the Nazis won World War II, they killed all of the Gypsies and Jews, and pushed the Slavs much further east. Childan admires the Nazis for filling the Mediterranean Sea with soil and turning it into farmland—and though Childan feels the Nazis have gone too far in Africa, he seems to approve of the general idea of ethnic cleansing. Childan muses that when the Germans do “a task, they [do] it right.” Childan thinks that the Germans are better conquerors than the Japanese, and he sees this as proof of white racial superiority.
As Childan combs over the laundry list of Nazi atrocities, his white supremacy comes to the fore. Though in his first exchange with the Kasouras, Childan seemed deferential to (and a bit awed by) the Japanese elite, now he reveals his deeper belief in white superiority. His attitude suggests that even people who are discriminated against may also hold discriminatory beliefs own their own.
Themes
As he tries to imagine Mr. Tagomi’s client, Childan recalls how he got his start in such a lucrative antiques business. Years ago, when Childan had owned only a small, dingy shop, a wealthy Japanese major had wandered in asking about “Horrors of War” cards. Though the cards had been popular and cheap—and so were not formal antiques—the major had appreciated Childan’s ability to give context to such memorabilia; Childan had played with the cards as a boy and could thus speak about them with personal experience. Sensing that there was a market for Americana among the Japanese elite, Childan began to build his shop.
Childan’s shop is popular for its selection of high-quality materials—but here, it becomes clear that in addition to selling antiques, Childan is also marketing his own life experience. In other words, the store is so popular because Japanese visitors also get to talk to an “authentic” American; Childan is a kind of human tourist attraction. The Japanese colonists’ desire for authenticity can be read as a satire of American tourists’ own claims to “authentic” experiences when traveling abroad.
Themes
Childan worries that Mr. Tagomi’s client might not be Japanese—which would be an issue, because Childan has selected objects specifically for Japanese tastes. Privately, Childan goes over the stereotypical categories he uses to distinguish between Japanese people, because he has “difficulty telling them apart.” Seeing a Black man, Childan hands him his bags and then goes up the elevator to meet with Mr. Tagomi. Childan notices that he is one of the only white people in the elevator.
Here, again, Childan’s racism rears its head: he is relieved to find a slave, and he complains about how difficult it is to distinguish between people of other races (insinuating that they are all the same to him and therefore not worth recognizing as individuals). Even as he laments his low status, Childan takes pride in being one of the more powerful white men in this society—so while he resents the racial hierarchy, he also buys into it.
Themes
