What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of SF? - Rowan Moss

Man in the High Castle - Phillip K Dick


What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of SF? 

Man in the High Castle is a science fiction novel not quite like any other. In it Dick weaves a tale of violence, deceit and hope all against the back drop of a world in which the allies lost World War 2. 

Brown sees a few important central themes in Man in the High castle. One such theme is the Taoist synchronicity; "Dick posits the philosophy of Tao, which offers a means of examining the universe through the principals of interconnectedness". This is the idea that everything is connected by some spiritual bond, something that moves people at the same time for the same reasons, even though they may never have a direct connection. This can be seen through the structure of the plot, the multiple view points and the seemingly inconsequential actions that one character takes which have a large effect on others. For example, when Childan reports the fibbing Frank Frink to the authorities he does it out of pure instinct and barely thinks of it afterwards, but for Frank, who is a character whose view point we see, it nearly leads to his incarceration and untimely death. Another key theme that Brown identifies is the feeling of being trapped in a cruel world; "the claustrophobic sense of being imprisoned in a world seemingly without hope, accretes inexorably." Here Brown discusses the nature of the book as a whole. Through out the book there is an ever pervading sense of despair, despair of the conquered, despair of the discriminated like Frank, despair of the people who have to live in a world that was never meant to exist, such as Juliana and her revelation at the end. Dick presents a dream like world of evil, both in nature and context.

So how does Dick conform to generic features of SF? I think the most obvious generic feature is the idea of alternate realities, worlds within worlds. This is an idea that Dick was known to toy with and is indeed an idea that many SF writers have explored, examples can be found in William Gibson's idea of 'Cyberspace' and even the newer 'The Matrix' by the Wachowskis. It is an idea that we often find ourselves pondering in our daily lives, I think. So when Juliana comes to realize that her world is not real, something we as readers know to be true, we can't help but wonder if she simply believes it to be true or whether Dick is breaking the fourth wall. Dick also conforms to some other features of science fiction such as the invention of fabulously futuristic technology; the rocket ships that the Germans use to travel the globe in a few hours, the drained Mediterranean which has now been turned into a giant farm. All these things are used, like in much science fiction, to create a fascinating and engaging world for the writer to explore. 


References:

Dick, P.K. (2001; 1962). The Man in the High Castle. London: Penguin.            

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