The Man in the High Castle Strength and Skill Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

After two weeks of nearly constant work, Edfrank Custom Jewelry had produced its first finished batch. There the pieces lay, on two boards covered with black velvet, all of which went into a square wicker basket of Japanese origin. And Ed McCarthy and Frank Frink had made business cards. They had used an artgum eraser carved out to form their name; they printed in red from this, and then completed the cards with a children's toy rotary printing set. The effect—they had used a high-quality Christmas-card colored heavy paper—was striking. (9.1)

Confession time: most of our hands-on crafting experience comes from silk-screening funny pictures onto t-shirts. So we don't always know what Ed and Frank are up to. But Dick puts a lot of words into describing the work and skill they use in making their business, from jewelry to business cards. So we may not always know what the book is talking about, but it does sound very impressive. Though Childan later calls their business card "odd-looking" (9.157). Ouch.

Quote #5

Maybe he's insane, she thought. Ironic... I may actually do what I've pretended many times to have done: use my judo in self-defense. To save my—virginity? My life, she thought. But more likely he is just some poor low-class wop laboring slob with delusions of glory; he wants to go on a grand spree, spend all his money, live it up—and then go back to his monotonous existence. (9.95)

We can't exactly blame Juliana for not recognizing that Joe Cinnadella is not really an Italian truck driver, but a Swiss Nazi assassin. But again, we can't help noticing that we get two things very close together: Juliana's skill (judo) and her flaw (trusting Cinnadella). What's especially funny is that she trusts Joe while noting that she's been faking all this time about how she used her judo. (For an example of that faking, check out 3.12-22.)

Quote #6

It had been made very clear to him by his superiors that he was not to contact the Abwehr under any circumstances. He was simply to wait until he had managed to make connections with the Japanese military representative; he was to confer with the Japanese, and then he was to return to Berlin. But no one had foreseen that Bormann would die at this particular moment. Therefore— The orders had to be superseded. By more practical advice. His own, in this case, since there was no one else to consult. (10.23-4)

Wegener-Baynes probably has lots of skills—probably? We don't get to see him do a lot in the book. His major job is to wait until Tedeki gets there—and he can't even do that. This is another example of how Dick takes a "spy against the Nazis" plot and makes it not so exciting or romantic. This spy plot isn't a Bond film and Baynes isn't Bond.