The Man In The High Castle

The meeting between Paul and Childan is a pivotal moment in Childan's character. The racist, spiteful antiques store owner is placed in a position that is far beyond the boundaries of his cultural comprehension. He has spent so long mimicking the mannerisms and the protocols of Japanese culture that he is actually shocked when a Japanese person breaks from these expected patterns of behavior. When Paul acts in a way that is not dictated by protocol, Childan panics. He immediately believes that Paul is cheating him in some fashion, by breaking the unspoken rules of the community to slight the American. Childan's anxiety is partly fueled by racism. He does not truly understand that Japanese people can be unique individuals, capable of their own thoughts and feelings. In his mind, he believes that every Japanese person is a mindless adherent to a set of cultural rules that cannot be broken. At the same time, he is suddenly worried that he might ruin his reputation by insulting Paul. In this moment, Childan's cognitive dissonance is evident; he holds two competing thoughts in his head at the same time: He believes Japanese people are mindless drones whose entire lives are governed by a strict etiquette, but he also believes Japanese people are intelligent colonial overseers who trick their subjects into making mistakes to illustrate their own superiority. Paul's behavior forces Childan to look at himself. Paul offers him little guidance; through some gentle prompting, he compels Childan to defend the integrity of American culture. Childan—who has spent the entire novel pedaling cheap imitations of American culture with little regard for anything other than making money—is forced into a pathetic form of patriotism. For the first time, he is forced to operate outside the boundaries of protocol. Paul forces Childan to take the initiative in his life, kindling a kind of pride in the antiques dealer that has been missing for so long.

Operation Dandelion is the Nazi plan to launch a war against Japan that will likely result in the conquer of the Japanese people, billions of deaths, and the Nazis controlling almost the entire planet. The nature of the plan hints at the problems that the characters have noticed with fascist ideology: Nazism is totalizing and unending. The fascist ideology always requires an enemy, and the characters list the numerous countries, cultures, and ethnic groups that the Nazis have subjugated or exterminated. The innate brutality of fascism means that it cannot abide to coexist with Japan because—eventually—Japan will become the only remaining option when Nazi Germany requires an external enemy on which to focus its animosity. Even space exploration is not enough to fuel the fascist machine, as the emptiness of planets such as Mars and Venus do not provide the Nazis with a suitably targetable enemy. They are reduced to lashing out at men like Abendsen or arresting any remaining American Jews, lacking any formidable enemy against which they can position themselves. As such, Operation Dandelion is not a shocking development. Rather, it is the logical endpoint of an ideology that is fueled by a burning hatred of the other.

Tagomi, Baynes, and Tedeki meet in Tagomi's office, but their meeting is interrupted by armed German intelligence officers who want to prevent the information about Operation Dandelion from reaching the Japanese Home Islands. Tagomi uses an antique pistol purchased from Childan's store to kill the men as soon as they burst into the room. There is an inherent irony in the fact that the fake pistol is capable of very real consequences. The pistol might be fake, but the bloodshed is not, nor is the emotional trauma inflicted on Tagomi as a result of his actions. Further irony is demonstrated by the identity of the man who pulls the trigger. At the moment, the men in the room include a spy, two undercover intelligence operations, and a storied general. Yet the only person who pulls a trigger is the mild-mannered bureaucrat. The men who make careers out of violence are pushed to the side while an administrator keeps Japan's hopes of survival alive. Tagomi's trauma also reveals the nuances of his character. He was introduced to the audience from Childan's perspective; Childan framed Tagomi as a bothersome customer and a dull administrator in the colonial apparatus of the ruling power. However, Tagomi is one of the few characters who is explicitly in possession of a moral code. He is a Buddhist, and the idea of taking any life horrifies him. He will never forgive himself for murdering two men, even if doing so saves billions of lives. Tagomi's suffering illustrates that the sanctity of human life is not just a simple equation, in which saving one life justifies the end of another. Instead, actions and experiences are subjective and personal. Juliana will kill Joe without a second thought while Tagomi will be changed forever for his heroic action. Even in the context of an imperial bureaucrat who is demonstrably in possession of racist and fascist beliefs, a nuanced philosophy on life and death can be found.