Censorship leads to Violence

 

Censorship and forcing people to use language in a way that they want them to is a central part of how fascist governments get and maintain power. Often, these governments will censor things in the name of protecting children as a cover for their more sinister goals. In The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick shows the fascist German government that was victorious in the second World War to ensure that they maintain their power over the people in the conquered lands. In the real world, the allies defeated the fascists during the Second World War, in this novel the opposite is true and in the alternate history, a man has authored a novel about the alternate history that is the one we know. The fascist government must do everything they can to suppress this book because if people were to read it, they would see the horrors the Nazis perpetuated and continued to perpetuate. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is a fictional alternate history in this universe that shows the world as most people reading The Man in the High Castle know it, and it is very important for the fascist’s control for it to be seen as dangerous. Censorship and then violence are used to accomplish this.

            Julian Frink, who is a Jew, ends up meeting Joe who seems at first to be a truck driver, but ends up being from the German government on a mission to destroy the author of the alternate history book sees the dangers of allowing him to be able to succeed in his mission. Joe acts like a normal person and even has a copy of the book that he shows to Juliana because she wants to see her reaction to it. Joe says to Juliana, “I want to read to you. Suppose they had won. What would it be like? We don’t have to worry; this man has done all the thinking for us.” (Dick 85) Even while attempting to have a shared reading experience with another person, it is clear that Joe is working towards fascist censorship of the book. An important part of reading anything is thinking about what it means to the person reading it. Joe wants Juliana not to think at all about what the book could mean to her, and only think about exactly what this book could mean to the German government and its control on their territories.

            Juliana is concerned by this because she has a book called The I Ching which requires her to think about the meaning of the words that it contains and how they may affect her life. Juliana cannot imagine what it would be like to not be able to be allowed to have her own thoughts on something she read because that book requires it. Fascists do not want their citizenry to think for themselves and will use the banning of books to ensure that ideas they do not want in the public are not brought into the public. This will lead to people being forced to think the way the fascists do about a piece of literature since they are unable to read it themselves. The book, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, is banned throughout the United States, which is under German control because the Germans do not wish for people to see how the U.S. could have won the war. It is stated that, “he would have been very active in continuing the Roosevelt anti-Nazi policies.  So, Germany would been afraid to come to Japan’s help in 1941.” (69) This shows that Germany and the Nazi party would have shown weakness in 1941, something that a totalitarian regime cannot do if it wishes to continue subjugating everyone to their rule. Ensuring that people are unable to read about potential Nazi weaknesses after the war ensures that no one would question their authority because they are seen as all powerful.

            Banning the book in German territories is not stopping people from reading it because it is still permitted in the territory that they do not control. Because of this, the Nazis need to do something more radical in order to get people to see that the author is dangerous. The plan is for Joe to kill Abendsen, the author of The Grasshopper. Juliana says, “You must be an SD man… Posing as a WOP truck driver.” She goes on to say, “You’re supposed to come up here to kill Abdensen?” (220) With this, she realizes that Joe has been trying to tell her of the dangers of the book and that she is the only person that can stop him from killing the author. The Nazis cannot kill the author using people who will be recognized as members of their official government, but by using someone who is undercover they are able to spin the killing of the author’s death as proof of the dangers of his book. Had Joe been successful in his assassination attempt, it is likely that the Nazis would have been able to convince other governments to ban the book, which would increase their power.

            When people are in power, they will do anything they can to keep it. In The Man in the High Castle, the Reich tries to maintain their power through censorship, but realizes that violence against their enemies is going to be the thing that keeps them in power. The death of Abdensen would have led to people thinking that censorship was good because thinking anything other than the prescribed thoughts of the regime would end up with them being killed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Dick, Philip K. The Man in the High Castle First Mariner Books. 2011