When I first began reading The Man In The High Castle I couldn’t help but become frustrated with the short staccato way in which Mr. Tagomi talked. The sentences are succinct and terse, and do not flow. There are no emotions or added detail. I feel as if I am reading a brief report which gives only the facts, not reading a novel or listening to a dialogue. Now, however, I am realizing that the tone with which each character talks is intentional and important. There is a clear difference between the Juliana’s dialogue and Mr. Tagomi’s. Also, within Mr. Tagomi’s sections, there is a difference between the narrator’s sentences and the sentences which ‘originate’ in Mr. Tagomi’s mind.
Dick warns through one of his characters, “Tone is everything” (240), and now I’m beginning to understand why. In this example, tone is important because it declares place in a society that values this above all else. The tone with which a man talks, including the conciseness with which he says it, portrays his influence and standing among those around him. For me, though, it portrays something different. The lack of emotion portrays a sense of urgency and a world where people simply “go through the motions”. Tagomi’s thoughts are expressed without emotion or opinion. There is no inclusion of superfluous thought. This reminds me of the use of the I Ching. The I Ching removes responsibility from the user. The amount of value the characters place in the I Ching prevent them from having to take responsibility for their actions since they believe the I Ching holds all of the power. If a person has no control or responsibility over his own life, how can he truly live it? Instead, I believe that this person simply goes through the motions while never actually experiencing it.
I view this in stark contrast to Juliana’s life, whose dialogue contains emotions and details. Her thoughts are expressed completely and flow together in a more natural way than those of Mr. Tagomi. She also takes responsibility for her actions and does not consult the I Ching as often as other characters. Her actions are more powerful than those of the other characters and she is portrayed as a very strong and independent woman. Although she adores having Joe around, she overcomes him in both a physical and mental battle when her ‘moment of truth’ comes. At this moment she develops a more complete understanding of the world in which she has been living and learns her role in it.
A very well argued post! I like the distinction you have drawn b/w tones in this text, and the way in which these tones can be read across characters. I might also add that the halting English of Tagomi, for example, is a product of English not being his native language. It is PKD's way of "translating" idiosyncracies of speech across political and geographical lines. In this way, Childan has had to adapt to such intonation and style, which if you read Childan carefully you'll see him slip in and out of! So even the style in which PKD presents his characters through their spoken words must effect our understanding of their socio-political place in this alternative history. Combine this w/ your reading above!
ReplyDeleteI noticed a distinct tonal shift between characters too, and your post is a great way to think about it! When I read this, I began to think about Mr. Tagomi specifically. Like you said, his precise, staccato diction may be an indicator of his place within society, or as Professor Schwartz says, an indicator of the culture within the book, as his English is not completely polished. But I also noticed that you seemed dissatisfied with his lack of emotion. I think that it’s important to note that we’re analyzing this from our reality. We might expect our leaders to show emotion instead of being so stiff. But as we know from class, the actual reality of this book is slightly off center of our own. So perhaps another difference between the novel’s reality and our reality is the presence and tone of officials. This book was written to make us feel off balance through the subtle differences in “reality.” Judging from your discussion of Mr. Tagomi’s tone, it seems as if you do feel slightly off balance-his tone isn’t what you would expect. I would say then that Dick did an excellent job of accomplishing his goal in this case.
ReplyDeleteI like your post but disagree with one comment of yours. I actually addressed this in a response on the last post. You said that the I Ching removes responsibility from the user. I disagree with this because I believe that the people who use the I Ching do it more for reassurance than guidance. I believe that it is a text which people can extract what they want from it. There are times in the book that the I Ching's response is taken by the character to be something completely different than what I see it as. I think that we already know what we want, but we also want to reassure ourselves that what we are going to do is right and best for us.
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