Opinions and What ifs

Some ideas that arose to me while finishing Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle were that all that matters is your own opinion and that life is too short to worry about what ifs. In regard to opinions the worth of an object is lies within each individual person. The new “swirls” that Childan showed to Mr.Tagomi had much worth to him because they were newly American made but Mr.Tagomi struggled to see any worth in such an item. Also the whole idea of the oracle/ I Ching, as we saw in class, is opinion based. The words are left greatly to interpretation, but regardless people use them in their daily lives and it acts as a sense of comfort or reassurance for people.

What ifs come up very often in this novel. What if something is real? What if someone might kill me? What if I live in a fictional world? Hawthorne Aberson says, “I’m not sure of anything”(p.257). He is not sure if The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is the true reality or even if the next person his wife lets into his house will try and kill him. Still he refuses to carry a gun and the only thing he lets bother him is the fact people are drinking his liquor. And for Juliana finally finding out the truth in a way tormented her. She chased the what ifs so far that she found an answer and the second it was not what she was looking for it left her completely lost. Aberson kept his opinion that other things are more important in life then answers and, at least on the outside, seems happy. All in all some questions are better left unanswered and even if you get a certain answer your opinion on the matter still means more.