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Todd Cecutti
ENGL 293
October 6, 2015
The Value of Cognitive Estrangement in Philip K. Dicks The Man in the High Castle
feels when a story utilizes settings or events that are different from empirical reality, but that are
hypothetically similar enough to be possible in the future. The Man in the High Castle, by Philip
K. Dick, absorbs readers into this cognitive estrangement, even taking it a step past its definition,
which regards a plausible future, and asks the reader to consider a plausible past. A fascination
with Nazism that still manages to find a place in the zeitgeist of American culture has kept Dicks
The Man in the High Castle relevant to decades of readers, offering the story of an alternate
history to one of the most deciding events in modern world history, WWII. Dicks use of setting
and historical context contributes to the cognitive estrangement of the reader in such a way that
they realize the parallels between the postcolonial America dominated by Nazi Germany and
Japan in The Man in the High Castle and the real post-war world dominated by the United States
of America.
A familiarity with not only Americas culture, but Americas geography contributes to the
cognitive estrangement of the reader and the realism of Dicks world. The elephant in the room
of The Man in the High Castle is surely the geography of the United States of America. The lack
of acknowledgement of specific geographic lines by Dick leaves the American reader lost in their
own land, despite the fact that everything about the abstracts of American life culture,
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politics, society, etc. are also unfamiliar. While the geography of Axis occupation of the
United States can be considered the most major player in the plot of The Man in the High Castle,
it is not defined in full. In fact, there is so little specification of exact boundaries, such as how
far into the center of the country the neutral states begin or end, that it must have been the
intention of the author to leave the reader wondering where they would fall in Axis-occupied
America. And under whose disparate influence would they exist Japans, Germanys, or
would they land in the neutral Rock Mountainy States? The readers experienced cognitive
estrangement in this respect is moved from their mind and projected onto their geographic
surroundings; it is through their own reality that they experience Dicks alternate reality, but in an
If Philip K. Dick was using America as a setting in order to hold up a mirror to the history
that the United States, as it is in reality, has left in its wake and the consequences that other
nations have experienced as a result, then the potential historical allegories in The Man in the
High Castle must be examined. For example, the nature of the Rocky Mountains, which
viewed as an allegory for the Berlin Wall, which was erected to be an impenetrable boundary in
post-war Germany, splitting the nation between two distinct and disagreeing powers, much like
Japan and Germany in the novel. It also served as the ultimate symbol of the Cold War of the
eastern world, though in the novel Joe mentions that the Nazis saved the world from
Communism (89). While the economic systems at play in the world of The Man in the High
Castle are not necessarily highlighted, it is clear that the Japanese, or western, way of life is more
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free and progressive than the rigid and fascist society of Nazi Germany in the eastern United
States. A historical perspective is valuable in further analysis of the novel and the cognitive
When The Man in the High Castle was published in 1962, the major superpowers of the
world were enveloped in the most crucial and formative era of the Cold War. In America, there
existed a universal paranoia of nuclear war, a fear that is manifested in the novel as Operation
Dandelion the German plan to eliminate Japan over world domination disagreements. The
axis powers in The Man in the High Castle were experiencing their own Cold War, paralleling
the reality of the time-period in which the story is set. It is as if Dick is suggesting that
regardless of the outcome of WWII, the threat of nuclear tension or conflict was inevitable; the
Cold War was fated to become a reality. Japans relatively liberal views and practices point
toward a peaceful future of postcolonial hybridity with the people of the west coast of the United
States, while Nazi-Germany in the east rules with an aggressive iron fist that accepts nothing less
than purity and compliance. These extremes mirror the global socio-political landscape of 1962.
In the novel, Germany has wiped out all of Africa, creating ghosts of dead tribes, while
experimenting and preparing for a nuclear war (10). If western democracy was, or is, an
experiment in politics and society, Americas extermination and subjugation of the Native
Americans can be viewed as a parallel to the Nazis extermination of the people of Africa in The
Man in the High Castle. Baynes (a.k.a. Rudolph Wegener, a.k.a. Conrad Goltz), in being a part
of the German military, offers the story some of the most philosophical and insightful thoughts as
to the nature of the Nazi desire for world control and, in turn, the nature of modern American
desire for control. While on a German rocket ship Baynes thinks to himself, They want to be
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the agents, not the victims, of history (42). This is a thought that applies universally not just to
governments, but to all people. It is reminiscent of the classic quote by Walter Benjamin, who
chose to commit suicide rather than become a victim of the Nazi regime in France, that says,
The self-reflective qualities of the novel set into motion an imaginative relationship
between the reader and the world of The Man in the High Castle. For example, in the final
chapter of the novel, Julianna Frink thinks to herself, He [Abendsen] told us about our own
world This, whats around us now (263). It is through her reflection that the reader realizes
that they themselves are experiencing the same feeling as Julianna, but with Philip K. Dick as the
epiphanic catalyst as opposed to the fictional Abendsen. It is in this same way that the reader
experiences the conclusion of The Man in the High Castle; its abstract nature causes a solipsistic
through the I Ching, which, as it is told in literary folklore, was used by Dick to guide the plot of
The Man in the High Castle. This adds a layer to the already thick self-reflection provided by the
I-Ching in the story; it was used by the colonized people of the Pacific States to guide their
thoughts and actions as well as by Abendsen to guide his writing of The Grasshopper Lies
Heavy, much like Dick. The reader cannot help but to find themselves caught in the layers of the
One of the more powerful and summative passages in The Man in the High Castle is
expressed in a thought by Robert Childan, whose philosophy on history and its effect on the
present is black and white; adapt or be left behind. The Moment changes. One must be ready to
change with it. Or otherwise be left high and dry. Adapt, he thinks to himself (155). The reader
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realizes that one may not be able to control their future in full, but what they can control is their
attitude toward it. This conclusion is an important one to be gleaned from the cognitive
estrangement experienced by reading The Man in the High Castle. The suggestion of parallels
that can be found in the setting and historical context of the novel between an America ruled by
the Axis powers and the America experienced in reality lead the reader to consider the infinite
possibilities of history and how the world could be, as well as the implications positive,
neutral, or negative of colonization. Though empiricism may rule the actions of humans and
their culture, The Man in the High Castle proves that cognitive estrangement is valuable in
Works Cited
Dick, Philip K. The Man in the High Castle. New York: Mariner, 2011. Print.