The plot of THE PENULTIMATE TRUTH is based on the simple premise that things are not quite what they seem in the world. The majority of mankind is repressed and coerced by means both subtle and overt into believing that their condition is a natural and right one. They do not know the truth. Dick, in his typical paranoid way, extrapolates – and I use the word carefully – from this notion a world which explains the falsehood of life under a mendacious government rule. He explains, in effect, the political tactic of ‘the big lie’: tell the people often and loudly enough what you want them to believe and eventually they will believe it unquestioningly. And even though THE PENULTIMATE TRUTH is not a parable or an analogy, after reading the novel one cannot help but turn a jaundiced eye towards our own system of government.
TYB