The Man in the High Castle - Book Report/Review Example

The story deals with an alternate reality and the article provided states that the author is not clear enough to draw a crystal clear distinction between science fiction and the then present reality. The story basically highlights on the main character Mr. Tagomi and the separated couple Juliana Frank and her husband Frank Frink who is a craftsman. Philip K. Dick is seldom criticized for his lack of character development in the article. The other characters involve in the novel are Robert Childan, Abendsen, and Juliana and so on.

In this paper we will discuss one point of disagreement which is highlighted in the novel. Time in this novel is based on synchronicity which is represented as the sum total of all aspects at that particular moment of time (Dickian Time in The Man in the High Castle 3). There are instances where the author himself is jeopardized with the timeline defined by him. He has not paid much attention to it. So in this paper the discussion will be around this disagreement along with evidences from Dick’s novel and the endeavor will be to prove that it was an intentional policy of the author in order to make the perception of the reader clearer.

Throughout the book except some minor deviations from the reality, generally a linear path of time is followed as can be seen from the instances from the book. Childan is seen opening the shop on Friday morning and then again he is seen at the afternoon at one thirty. Frank Frink is also seen in morning thinking of a possible quarrel with his boss and later on he is seen confronting his boss later. Juliana has been found in the evening meeting and tacking a young truck driver in her home and again she is seen in the morning after.

Julaiana, Frank, and Mr. Tagomi are all unrelated however they are seemed to have a deep obsession for the The Grasshoppers lies heavy by Abendsen where the actual reality is that the Allies have won in the World War II presented as a fictional story in the book itself. The characters are in the favour of cultural autonomy of the Americans. They follow the book I Ching at important points of their life and all the three characters Tagomi, Frank, and Julian consult the the I Ching not in order not to predict the future but rather to know the significance of the present times.

To do so they built a hexagram, either by manipulating yarrow stalks, or by throwing coins. Actually it signified the importance of the present times rather than the future. It is evident from Franks’ thinking that, I Ching is an ‘Oracle’ (Dick, 52), and it is used to discover “the tenor of the Moment” (Dick, 14). The story goes on with a linear time line but gets deviated at some instances. The instance can be sought of the meeting of Childan to Tagomi’s office. There was supposed to be an appointment with each other at two o'clock (Dick 6).

Childan begin the journey to Tagomi's office at 1:40 p.m for the inspection of the materials in his store. The meeting was never encountered between the two. At lunch time Robert Childan used to go to lunch in a nearby coffee shop and did not spend more than half an hour and that day he only spent twenty minutes that day. On his return he stated that, “Two hours showing. Much too long. Almost four hours in all; too late to reopen the store . . . but–he unlocked the store door, propped it open, went to hang up his coat in the rear" (Dick 55).

But soon after his return he saw a customer who was probably a dark man (Dick 56) waiting in the