As Bright As Heaven

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, death, and child death.

“I no longer fear Death, though I know that I should. I’m strangely at peace with what I used to think of as my enemy. Living seems more the taskmaster of the two, doesn’t it? Life is wonderful and beautiful but oh, how hard it can be.”

This introduces the novel’s theme of Resilience as Necessary to Survival, suggesting that what wears people down is not death itself but the ongoing difficulty of living in the face of loss. Pauline’s reflection as she stands at the graveside of her son introduces the book’s themes about survival and resilience. This internal monologue introduces Pauline’s perspective, which runs counter to the conventional in that she considers that death is not the enemy and that life itself is the challenge.

“Someone must be able to gaze on the breadth of what makes us mortal, yes? Someone has to.”

This quote illustrates the theme of Care as a Human Imperative, as Pauline insists that someone must bear witness to the human condition, even in its most painful moments. Pauline’s interest in working in the embalming room is partly a wish to confront death, but she also understands that the preparation is a form of care. She introduces the perspective that death is a natural part of life, a hard lesson she has learned from losing a child. Her children all, in some capacity, inherit this belief.