Hello, I welcome you to my presentation about the novel “The Man in the Hight Castle” written by Philip K. Dick in 1962.
Philip K. Dick was an American science-fiction author, but this book is also considered as an alternate history scenario.
Alternate history
So first I want to explain how this alternate world looks like according to the book.
In “The Man in the High Castle” WW2 was not by the Allies France, Britain, Russia and the United States but by the so-called Axis powers Germany, Japan and Italy in 1947.
As we know, Germany got divided after WW2. Dick adapted this concept to the United States. On the Western side the Pacific States of America under Japanese control are established, the East Cost is controlled by the Nazis. In between,
…show more content…
It is an oracle which the characters use for important decisions. This oracle really exists and is called the “world’s oldest oracle”. Its origin is in China and I-Ching means “Classic of Changes”. It is a collection of Chinese wisdom to every conceivable event. It is always a hexagram with six lines. Broken lines are yin, which means female, dark, earthly or passive, unbroken lines are yang, which stands for male, light, heavenly and active. Every hexagram has a meaning which can be applied to the current state of a person, but it cannot predict the future.
The Grasshopper Lies
…show more content…
It’s read by many characters. It’s a fictional book, only used in Dick’s novel. The title comes from the Bible verse “The grasshopper shall be burden”. The book is like an alternate history scenario inside Dick’s alternate history scenario. In this fictional book not the Axis won the war, but the Allies. Even tough, it differs from real history. As we know only with the help of the United States the Allies won the war. And after the war the United States became the world biggest superpower. But according to “The Grasshopper Lies Heavy” the United Kingdom fought also against the United States and remained the Global Empire also after WW2. A cold war between the UK and the US