Throughout Man in the High Castle we see the struggle of authenticity and really begin to wonder what it actually means. Or better yet, why it matters. For an item to be authentic it has to be the real deal, that the facts are straight. But what if there is an emotional attachment to an item it can be just as authentic, even if it does not have a piece of paper with it that supposedly verifies it.
When I was little, I was sick a lot and my brother wanted to go to the dollar store really bad and I could not stay home alone. So, he convinced me to go by telling me to take my prized possession, Mr. Bear (my naming creativity when I was younger to this day amazes me), along for the trip because he would make me feel better. When I got home, he was missing. We thought I left Mr. Bear in the car, we soon found out that I actually left him in the store. My mother dutifully drove back, only to find out that the woman who owned the store sold him.
That year for Christmas Mr. Bear was under the tree. I was three or four at the time, so it was some real Christmas magic. I thought Santa had brought Mr. Bear back to me and, unsurprisingly, was absolutely delighted. The magic was lost when I realized the truth about Santa, but only for a moment. Maybe this was not the same Mr. Bear that I had lost all those years ago, but he had been there longer, so the authenticity did not phase me. I loved the bear, still do, and he is Mr. Bear, there is no identity crisis there. So he’s not the authentic Mr. Bear, but he became the authentic one with the emotional attachment.
One can understand why authenticity matters, however. It is much like the truth in story telling we discussed in The Things They Carried. We do not like to be lied to, if a story is told like it is true, it better be true. But what is considered true depends on the person, and I think likewise authenticity has to take emotional attachment into account and varies person to person.
Yep, Mr. Bear is at college now, chilling with a bust of JFK.
Another theme that the story of Mr. Bear entails is the idea of ignorance being bliss. Although it might be easier to live in a world where the truth is obscured, the existence in itself is false and never capable of bringing unadulterated happiness. Although ignornace may bring happiness, it will never bring a greater level of understanding.
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