The Man in the High Castle Chapters 13 & 14 Summary & Analysis

Chapters 13 & 14

Summary: Chapter 13

Juliana goes on the shopping spree Joe promised her when they reach Denver. She buys an entire wardrobe—a blue dress, shoes, nylons, and other items, including a nice brooch. Joe comes back with a new haircut. Juliana is puzzled when she sees that Joe’s head is nearly shaved, and his hair is blond. She realizes blond is his natural color and he dyes his hair to look black.

Back at the hotel, Juliana playfully asks how long they’ll be in town. Joe says just for the night. They’ll have dinner and then head up to Abendsen’s. Juliana grows upset and confused, wondering why they are in such a rush. She realizes Joe isn’t who he seems to be. When Juliana protests Joe’s suggestion, he threatens to kill her. When Juliana continues to press, knowing there’s more she doesn’t understand, he admits he is a Nazi assassin sent to kill Abendsen, and he’s taken her along since Abendsen likes dark women like her. Juliana goes to the bathroom, where she has a panic attack and contemplates suicide. She takes a razor blade and plunges it into Joe’s throat instead. She flees the hotel, leaving Joe to bleed out.
Juliana arrives at a motel. She consults the I Ching, which tells her that she needs to meet with the prince, whom she interprets to mean Abendsen. Juliana becomes convinced she must warn Abendsen before more Nazis find him. She calls his house, and Mrs. Abendsen answers, saying Juliana can visit the next day.

Summary: Chapter 14

Tagomi is in despair after murdering the two SD agents. He tries to bring the antique pistol back to Childan’s shop, but Childan refuses to take the pistol back. He offers Tagomi a piece of Frink’s jewelry instead. Tagomi chooses a piece in the shape of a small triangle and leaves the store, heading to a local park to collect himself.

Tagomi intently meditates on the piece, believing it might help him. Like Paul, he feels the jewelry’s wu, a melding of soft, passive yin and fiery, aggressive yang qualities, uniting in perfect equilibrium. Tagomi begins to sense that the paradoxical nature of the piece is offering him a way out of his mental quandary. Just then, a police officer interrupts Tagomi. Tagomi notices that the world around him looks different: There are cars instead of pedicabs, a massive highway is nearby, and no one is showing the Japanese any deference. Tagomi realizes he’s been transported to a parallel reality.

Tagomi holds the piece a bit longer and returns to his previous reality. He heads back to his office, where he finds Reiss. Reiss half-heartedly apologizes for the matter with the SD agents and asks them to put it behind them. Tagomi’s secretary hands him some routine paperwork to sign while Reiss is there, which includes an extradition order for Frink. Tagomi, out of defiance, refuses to sign it. Back at the prison, Frink, much to his surprise is released. He packs his things and heads back to his jewelry shop.

Analysis: Chapters 13 & 14

In Chapters 13 and 14, several plotlines are resolved. Baynes has completed his mission and alerted the Japanese of the German plans to destroy the Japanese islands by nuclear attack. Frank Frink is also able to continue his jewelry business when he is inadvertently set free by Tagomi. These characters achieve their missions.

Tagomi accomplishes his meeting with Baynes, but also saves Baynes’ life, steers Japan from destruction, and helps open up a new doorway to American art through Frink. Juliana saves herself and Abendsen from danger by killing Joe in the bathroom of the hotel. These characters set out with plans that ended up leading somewhere much different. When considered in the context of the theme of fate and free will, the novel shows how fate often charts its own course despite an individual’s free will and intentions. These scenarios also show the nature of cause and effect weaving itself in and out of the lives of humans, knitting them together. Each person’s actions undeniably have an effect, apparent or not, directly or indirectly, on others’ lives.

When Tagomi kills the two German SD men, he has a moment of mental collapse. This isn’t Tagomi’s first mental collapse. Earlier he experiences a mental breakdown when he listens to the Reich’s potential successors to power and for the first time can see the true evil of the Germans. General Tedeki explains to Baynes that Tagomi is a devout Japanese Buddhist and can’t resolve the paradox of taking the lives of the two SD men, to save Baynes’ one life. His balanced, logical mind can’t make sense of such a reality. Yet Baynes’ mind can. Baynes feels the matter is justified by what happens later. These two men might be killed, but millions of Japanese will be saved. It’s not a matter of two lives for one, it’s a matter of a horrible, uncomfortable present for a less horrible future. This shows the stark difference between the Japanese and German senses of cosmology. For one, ethical concerns are the most important, yet for the other, time and its effects are most important.

At this moment, it is time, ultimately, that Tagomi truly masters. Time, or rather timelessness, is what allows Tagomi a way out of his mental quandary. While he holds Frink’s jewelry, he’s able to sense the piece’s wu, and through its equilibrium, he is transported to another reality. Tagomi understands the profundity of this experience. He knows he’s in another reality, and he has a choice to return to his own should he desire. For all the hellish consequences back home, Tagomi chooses to go back. His experience traveling between realities shows him that time is fluid, and reality can only be seen by those who can handle it. Actuality, or reality, is something that is not able to be seen by everybody, and when it is, it can be overwhelming.