As I revisit the novel, Man in the High Castle, to find quotes for the outline, I stumbled upon another potential line of foreshadow (someone mentioned another one earlier in the blog). When Frank Frink consults the oracle on becoming a jeweler he receives a convoluted response that involves both good fortune and doom. He reflects, “You can’t have good fortune and doom simultaneously. Or...can you?” (51).
This quote reminded me of our debate in the first few weeks of class on ignorant bliss vs. truth. At the very end of the novel, when Julianna discovers the truth of the Grasshopper Lies Heavy, she has a different opinion on the revelation than Hawthorne and his wife do. On the one hand, Julianna is thrilled to discover the truth and claims to be lucky because she finally knows her reality. The last paragraph of the novel portrays a romantic into-the-sunset ending for her, in which her life appears to be blissful and at balance. On the other hand, Hawthorne and his wife are distraught by the truth and refuse to admit it to themselves. Mrs. Abdensen goes so far as to comment about Juliana, “‘Do you know what you are? This girl is a daemon...She’s terribly, terribly disruptive,’” (258). The very same truth caused both bliss and pain. So again, the answer comes down to perception, which implies ambiguity.
I’m starting to think that Truth, Lies, and Literature is a meta-class that forces us to question our own reality and thoughts by reading novels so that we feel distant from ourselves. Thus far, what I have taken away is that we can only question without expectation for a definitive answer, because I’m starting to think that there are none. However, in questioning is where we learn our own answers.
Wünderbar! This is *exactly* what I hope this class will do... what I work to manipulate you into realizing. So just as your post adeptly points out the duality of interpretation (for instance) in PKD's novel, it also calls attention to the notion of this class as both meta-class and class proper: it is at once instructional (read: manipulative) and freeing. The irony of *being taught* to think critically for yourself!
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