Place

In class today, we spent a lot of time discussing how we, as students and as humans, respond to authority usually by accepting its demands. The Man in the High Castle echoes this pattern of human nature in two separate but intertwined streams of narrative. First, there is the heavy emphasis on ‘place,’ one’s role or caste in a hierarchical society. It creates a lot of stress for people like Childan, whose livelihood depends on his ability to read social situations and respond according to the rules of his ‘place’ without stepping out of the narrow confines of his caste. Second, there is the question of authenticity that is explored in Frank Fink’s replica guns. The relationship between real and fake is somewhat tenuous and largely dependent on unseen authority, as is demonstrated in the episode with Wyndam-Matson and FDR’s lighter. We are told that one is fake, but the only way of proving that is by comparing it to something that is real, that has ‘historicity.’ And the only way to determine which is real, in this case, is by virtue of a piece of paper from an absent authority. The paper is supposed to be proof of authenticity, but accepting this also means accepting the influence of an outside force. Both instances have the element of comparison: Childan’s role in society is held in place by its comparison with other roles, those of higher or lower ‘place,’ and by accepting this system, Childan keeps the hierarchy functioning. In the case of Frank Fink and his guns, authenticity is determined by comparison and this necessitates a categorization of things into “real” and “fake.” This  categorization dependent largely on people who claim authority over such things. Yet this notion of accepting the demands of place, the demands of category, is slowly falling apart. Childan takes a moral stand against Mr. Kasoura’s implication that contemporary American art is worthless and therefore steps out of the rigid bounds of his caste. Frank Fink begins to create contemporary art, and in doing so breaks free of the trap of historicity and ‘authentic’ versus ‘replica.’ Authority determines many things, but value, whether it be the value of art or of life, is not one of them.