The Man in the High Castle

Blog 10
Week of 11/4/19

           This week's topic is on the Fiction of Ideas. In order to explore this topic, I read the novel, The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick. The idea that is examined by the author is about what life would be like if the Allies would not have won the war in World War Two. This creates an alternate perspective where the victors, Germany and Japan, share control over the United States. The story switches between multiple point of views to give the readers insight on this new world. I found it intriguing how Dick chose characters that are not the heroic type we usually see in books. The main characters are just regular people who are trying to survive new hardships they never thought they would ever face. 

            The novel also had some weird but interesting concepts, such as the I Ching - a type of oracle. This is a device that can be viewed as a high tech magic eight ball, where one would ask the eight ball a question and it gives you a cryptic answer for you to decipher. At first I did not realize the I Ching was a real thing. The Japanese and the Americans use this on a daily basis where they seem to take this oracle quite seriously. I found this quite intriguing due to the stereotyping that goes on with fortune telling. When it comes to fortune telling in today's society,  it is frowned upon or is seen as not reliable information. 

              The one take away from the book is the domino effect one event has and the consequences it leaves behind. Even years after the publication of the book, I find that this story still has significance today. It has the effect to get people thinking about the concerns in today's society and how things are not always as they seem. The saying goes that history can repeat itself if we are not careful. The promises Hitler gave to the German people about making their country great again, made them turn a blind eye to the atrocities during the war. Promises like this are slowly happening again today in the political realm. If we are not careful or start making changes I am afraid we might be repeating history in certain ways to what occurred during this war era. Luckily, the war's outcome for the United States was not what is portrayed in Dick's novel.