How High We Go in the Dark

The penultimate section of the novel showcases and assesses the culture surrounding funerary practices as the author explores the ways we handle our dead. These topics have been explored for most of the text, but now that society has stabilized through the introduction of a plague cure, people can explore how they take care of the dead without the pressure of an influx of bodies. The funeral skyscrapers described in earlier chapters continue to be prevalent, but the process of saying goodbye becomes more sophisticated. Mabel chooses to have her tattoos preserved and her flesh converted into an ice sculpture, while Rina’s grandmother joins a community of others in a mutual urn. Both of these funerary practices involve becoming a part of something bigger than an individual. Mabel becomes a part of nature—specifically, the ocean near Siberia. Rina’s grandmother, a staple of her Japanese community, maintains her connectivity to her loved ones by joining her remains with theirs. These choices show the cyclical nature of history, as such funerary practices were more common and acceptable in pre-industrial times.

Both chapters feature the theme of The Difficulty of Choice—but within vastly different contexts. Mabel’s choices are surrounded by the inevitability of her death. The plague led to her terminal cancer, giving her just enough time to make her final arrangements. She must choose what happens to her remains and the details that become part of her final sculpture, essentially dictating how people are able to say goodbye to her—and even controlling the farewells themselves, evident when she limits the sculptor’s ability to say goodbye. She notes that “sometimes people and places serve a purpose for a finite amount of time to help you think and grow and love and then you move on” (248). This statement establishes that she doesn’t want the sculptor to linger over her farewell; she has already made her decision to become one with nature and won’t be swayed in her choice to mourn more than she already has. In Chapter 13, “Grave Friends,” Rina is the one grappling with choices. When she returns home, she encounters a sense of belonging that was previously absent, but she also has obligations and loves in the US. She faces decisions about rejoining a community she once shunned, healing the rifts within her family, and integrating her soon-to-be child into the society that will take care of them most. Rina’s experience shows that while choices may be difficult, they also provide options. She ends the story not sure of the best thing to do but secure in the knowledge that her family will support her as she navigates the next stage in her life. Rina’s story emphasizes the importance of active decision-making and the pursuit of growth.

The Importance of Building Community emerges as a central theme through the presence of mourners and the process of mourning. Mabel’s ceremony shows that she has created and sustained community through the people who arrive to celebrate her life. Monks, tattoo artists, and even members of her childhood neighborhood all gather to bid her farewell in a highly emotional, communal moment. They share their emotions as they support one of their own, building on the foundation Mabel provided. Rina views community from an outsider’s perspective for much of Chapter 13, “Grave Friends,” grappling with her own emotions toward her family’s choices and behaviors. She feels as if she’s not part of a community because of her childhood conflicts with her mother and her own abandonment of her neighborhood in favor of the US. Two factors shift her mindset to see herself as a viable member of a community. First, she’s repeatedly asked whether she misses her home, opening her up to the idea of belonging. Having the opportunity to objectively think about what allows her to belong in a place is then bolstered by Rina’s father insisting that she’s loved. These two confirmations of a deep desire to belong culminate in the story’s foreshadowed future, in which she and her child can build communities in two different countries. In addition, this shows that community is not restricted by geography and is only dampened by one’s perspective.