Week 8

How does Dick’s essay (1995; 1964) illuminate his use of Nazism as a motif in High Castle?

The essay illuminates Dick’s use of Nazism as a motif in The Man in The High Castle by showing how fear that is “subrational; it is psychological, not logical” (Dick, 1995, p. 113) can surface, allowing people to act in ways they would not normally act. As Dick (1995) states, “we do not actually know why, in the deepest sense, they – i.e., the Nazis – did it” (p. 112). Nazism as a motif seems to fall in line with what Brown (2001) calls Dick’s deep interest in such themes as “good and evil, and the abuse of power” (p. vii).

Interestingly, I think the novel shows this irrational fear as turning the Nazis into aggressive conquerors. Or as Baynes states, “they want to be the agents, not the victims, of history” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 3, para. 121). In the novel, the Nazis not only want to conquer more of the earth, but have already conquered the moon and Mars. Throughout the novel the reader is ever reminded of the destructive capabilities of the Nazis, for example, the killing of Africans, “the Nazi experiment there” (Dick, 1982; 1962, Chapter 1, para. 57) and their Aryan superiority (for example, to enslave others, such as the slaves who lived at the San Francisco port). However, “to fight against what one abhors without realizing it lies within is to destroy all” (Warrick as cited in McKee, 2004, p. 36).

This ability to destroy all, this fear which Dick (1995) maintains drove the Nazis and which he considered to be unfathomable, because it wells up “from depths of the self unknown to the self” (p. 113), is presented by Dick in The Man in The High Castle in the most unexpected manner – that of humour. This occurs when the Nazi Freiherr Hugo Reiss contemplates the joke made by Herr Hope: “Mars populated by Jews. We would see them there, too. Even with their two heads apiece, standing one foot high” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 8, para. 96). Another tactic Dick utilizes to present the extreme measures instigated by the Nazis because of this underlying fear, is to compare the victors Japan and Germany. For example, through the fry cook who states, “No Japs killed Jews, in the war or after. No Japs built ovens” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 3, para. 54). Another example is when Tagomi remembers his time in Shanghai where there were Jews incarcerated by the authorities. The Nazis applied for these Jews to be killed. As Tagomi states, “I recall my superiors’ answer. . . . They rejected the request as barbaric” (Dick, 1982: 1962, chapter 5, para. 131).

Another way the essay illuminates Dick’s use of Nazism as a motif is to reflect on the possibility that non-Nazis are similar to Nazis. Dick (1995) cites Warner who he considered “so correctly said, ‘we might identify with the war guilt of the Germans because they’re so similar to us. . . .” (p. 112).

I think an example of the possibility of this similarity is touched upon in the novel when Baynes is talking with the German Lotze on board a rocket ship. When Lotze suggests they are “countrymen” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 3, para. 114) and that Baynes is acceptable to the German because “racially, you’re quite close” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 3, para. 116), this sets Baynes into a spiral of thought as to whether or not he possessed the same “psychotic streak” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 3, para. 117) he believed the Nazis possessed. His line of thinking attempts to understand the Nazis and what they did, while at the same time puts distance between himself and those he considered to be mad.

But perhaps this similarity of Nazis and non-Nazis is shown more profoundly through the unlikely character of Juliana Frink who kills Joe Cinnadella. Just as Cinnadella is prepared to kill Hawthorne Abendsen to protect his ideological beliefs, so Juliana kills Cinnadella “a Gestapo assassin” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 13, para. 99) to protect hers, by keeping the author of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy alive. However, it is through Cinnadella that Dick (1982; 1962) puts the case that non-Nazis were just as capable of acts of brutality. “`They talk about the things the Nazis did to the Jews,’ Joe said. ‘The British have done worse. In the Battle of London.’” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 6, para. 54), and he goes on to state his case as to the injuries inflicted on the Germans.

In his article, Dick (1995) states that he was with a Nazi friend and about to enter a building when he mentioned that a person with a Jewish name lived in the building. Dick describes his friend’s reaction which he attributes to an underlying irrational fear towards Jews. I don’t place the same interpretation on his Nazi friend’s behaviour. Remember, this occurred after the war. I think that Dick’s Nazi friend was more likely scared for his own safety and life which may have been taken by a Jew in retribution for what the Nazis had done to the Jews during the war.

According to McKee, what relationship did Dick’s ideas have to (a) Christianity (b) religion and philosophy in general?

Dick’s ideas where drawn from a number of religions and philosophical concepts. Although Dick has labelled his work at times as being Gnostic, his broad array of theories cannot be so easily captured under this one label (McKee, 2004). “As with all of his self designations, they were always temporary, changing as he developed new theories” (McKee, 2004, p. 29).

a) Christianity

Dick stated that he was an Anglo-Catholic (Dick, 1995), and although his religious concepts have been considered heretical at times, McKee (2004) states that he accepted the Christian God and Christ. Even so, his ideas about the Bible being the source of all truth departed from established Christian beliefs (for example, that of St Augustine) in that Dick considered truth (or logos) could be “found scattered throughout the entire history of human language” (McKee, p. 40). However, his views on logos grew nearer to the Christian concept as time passed (McKee).

Dick also had a special interest in St John and St Paul, in particular in the Scriptural passage 1 Corrinthins 13:2, one that re-occurs frequently in his work (McKee, 2004). A future incorporating technology incorporates problems in ethics, but Dick considered the answer could be found in St Paul’s view of love “and much of his science fiction may be read as futurological interpretations of that ideal” (McKee, p. 37).

b) Religion and philosophy in general

Dick also drew ideas from religions other than Christianity, and from philosophy. Examples include Buddhism, Taoism, Hindu Vendanta, pre-Socratic and Platonic philosophy, the Nag Hammadi and the I Ching (McKee, 2004). Dick believed that truth (logos) could be obtained from many different religions or philosophical concepts (McKee). His ideas were constantly changing and according to DiTomasso (as cited by McKee, 2004) theses ideas could alter “even within the context of a single novel” (p. 30).

Taoism, the I Ching and Christianity are incorporated in The Man in The High Castle. As McKee (2004) states, “the novel is deeply rooted in religion and philosophy (p. 26).

Examples include:

• When Tagomi contemplates: “this is not a good day. I should have consulted the oracle, discovered what Moment it is. I have drifted far from the Tao; that is obvious” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 6, para. 238).

• When Childan has dinner with Paul and Betty and he contemplates: “the proportion. Balance. They are so close to the Tao, these two young Japanese” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 7, para. 23). Childan goes on to consider Tao in a more in-depth manner.

This was the part of the book I enjoyed the most, when Childan goes to dinner at the young Japanese couple's accommodation. I thought it was exceptional the way Dick (1982; 1962) presents the different cultures and Childan’s change in attitude towards his hosts. I enjoyed reading Dick's sf rather than viewing the film 'Scanner Darkly'. However, it took me a short time to get used to Dick's style of writing. For example, fractured sentences and the way Dick (1982; 1962) seems to speak to the reader rather than staying in 'story' mode - for example, in Chapter One, paragraph 70, when Frink considers "Will I ever see Juliana again?" and Dick writes in paragraph 71 "That was his wife." . Rather than, for example, 'She was his wife', or 'Juliana who was his wife'. Also, it was interesting to see how Dick incorporated the Nazi element, as this could have easily gone to extremes.

• When Tagomi is forced to kill assassins, General Tedeki thinks Tagomi will regain the ‘balance’ once more through the oracle while Baynes wonders if Tagomi knows of the Doctrine of Original Sin – referring to the Christian religion.

I think this reference to the Original Sin and Baynes’s contemplation of it is not only meant for the reader to align with Tagomi’s killing of the assassins and their murderous intent, but can also be read with reference to the killings performed by the Nazis.

• Examples to references to the Christian Bible include: “When I was a child I thought as a child. But now I have put away childish things” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter 14, para. 87) which is an adaption of I Corinthians 13:11; and “What profit it a man if he gain the whole world but in this enterprise lose his soul?” (Dick, 1982; 1962, chapter1, para. 63) which is Luke 9:25.

References

Brown, E. (2001). Introduction. In Dick, P.K., The Man in the High Castle (p. v-vii and x-xii). London: Penguin.

Dick, P.K. (1995). Nazism and the High Castle. In Sutin, L. (ed.). The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick (pp. 112-117). New York: Vintage.

Dick, P.K. (1982; 1962). The Man in The High Castle. New York, NY: Berkley Publishing. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from Auckland Technical Institute of Technology Popular Genres Blackboard Online site: https://autonline.aut.ac.nz/webapps/portal/
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McKee, G. (2004). A scanner darkly: Dick as a Christian theologian. In Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter: the science-fictional religion of Philip K. Dick. NY: U Press of America.