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Joe Cinnadella
Hawthorne Abendsen, the best-selling author of the speculative novel The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, is the “man in the high castle” of the book’s title. For years after he wrote his controversial book, he lived in a “high castle,” armed and secured against would-be Nazi assassins. However, by the time Juliana arrives at his house, Abendsen and his family have moved to a quiet, normal, suburban home. Having resigned himself to the fact that Nazis could attack him anywhere, Abendsen has instead prioritized a fulfilling day-to-day life over an existence spent in anxious watchfulness. He therefore illustrates the novel’s call to “find the small:” the ordinary, everyday joys and heartbreaks of life. Abendsen can also be seen as an alternative version of Dick himself—both men write speculative fiction about an alternate outcome of World War II, and both use the ancient Chinese I Ching to do so. Interestingly, Juliana believes that Abendsen’s book is in some way fundamentally true, in that it reveals something about their own world. Abendsen resents this fact, perhaps because in admitting the role of the I Ching in his own writing process, he is also admitting the role of chance and coincidence in creating any given reality.
Hawthorne Abendsen Quotes in The Man in the High Castle
The The Man in the High Castle quotes below are all either spoken by Hawthorne Abendsen or refer to Hawthorne Abendsen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 8
Quotes
What upset him was this. The death of Adolf Hitler, the defeat and destruction of Hitler, the Partei, and Germany itself, as depicted in Abendsen’s book . . . it all was somehow grander, more in the old spirit than the actual world. The world of German hegemony.
How could that be? Reiss asked himself. Is it just this man’s writing ability?
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Chapter 15
Quotes
[Abendsen] told us about our own world, [Juliana] thought as she unlocked the door to her motel room. This, what’s around us now. In the room, she again switched on the radio. He wants us to see it for what it is. And I do, and more so each moment.
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Truth, [Juliana] thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find. I’m lucky.
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Hawthorne Abendsen Quotes in The Man in the High Castle
The The Man in the High Castle quotes below are all either spoken by Hawthorne Abendsen or refer to Hawthorne Abendsen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 8
Quotes
What upset him was this. The death of Adolf Hitler, the defeat and destruction of Hitler, the Partei, and Germany itself, as depicted in Abendsen’s book . . . it all was somehow grander, more in the old spirit than the actual world. The world of German hegemony.
How could that be? Reiss asked himself. Is it just this man’s writing ability?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15
Quotes
[Abendsen] told us about our own world, [Juliana] thought as she unlocked the door to her motel room. This, what’s around us now. In the room, she again switched on the radio. He wants us to see it for what it is. And I do, and more so each moment.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Truth, [Juliana] thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find. I’m lucky.
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