The Man in the High Castle: Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Two Lighters

The two lighters are a symbol in the novel for the difficulty in distinguishing real from fake, and whether it matters. When Wyndam-Matson presents the two lighters to his girlfriend to prove that the Japanese’ preoccupation with historicity is nonsense, he’s at the same time trying to prove that his business of making forgeries isn’t problematic. For him, there is no difference between a forged antique and a real one, and value is determined only by how much someone is willing to pay for something. One lighter was in President Roosevelt’s pocket when he was assassinated, one was not. Wyndam-Matson says the historicity of FDR’s lighter can’t be seen, felt, or heard, so it is in effect, meaningless. Both lighters are real in the sense that they have a function, to light, and that’s it. These lighters help to present a very real point in the novel about how easy it is to deceive others, whether that’s with objects, art, or versions of history.

Edfrank Jewelry

Edfrank jewelry is a symbol of something new, the new frontier in the novel, being offered by people like the Kasouras, who are young, wealthy, and socially secure, but also Frank Frink, who is literally trying to forge a new life for himself out of the confines of his oppressive socio-economic situation. It is Paul Kasouras who can identify Edfrank’s jewelry as something truly authentic and new, something the world hasn’t seen before. He attributes it as having wu, a special quality where the forces of yin and yang are balanced in the object. To Paul, the object is a product of beauty. The choice of where this new frontier of American culture goes is, ironically, in the hands of Childan, who couldn’t even discern the object’s beauty when he first saw it because he was so preoccupied with the fact that there was no current market for it since the Japanese only want pieces of American history, not anything new.

Colt .44 Pistols

Tagomi’s Colt .44 revolver is a fake, since it came from Childan’s antique shop and likely was produced by Wyndam-Matson’s company, which specializes in producing forgeries of antiques. Tagomi bought the pistol as a piece of American history, something to be held in a case for viewing, not to be used. However, when the German SD authorities come to kill Baynes in Tagomi’s office, Tagomi uses the pistol to kill the men. The pistol may be a fake, but it shoots real bullets and produces real death. Earlier, the pistol appears as a point of argument between Ray Calvin and Wyndam-Matson: Calvin becomes upset that Wyndam-Matson is selling him poor-quality fake pistols that could easily be detected. The pistol becomes a symbol for the idea that fake things can deliver a very real result, perhaps even in the case of the novel itself, which is an artificial construction of reality that is fake, but able to deliver a real message.

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