How High We Go in the Dark

A comedian of East Asian descent, Skip is hired as a caretaker at a euthanasia park. He helps families say goodbye in the face of intense adversity, bringing joy to the heartbreaking decision to end a child’s life. Skip begins in a position of hopeless moroseness, mourning the death of his brother and feeling pressured to make his parents proud. Dorrie and Fitch, however, change his worldview and give him something to hope for. He carries the burden of his charges with him even though he outwardly portrays that he doesn’t care. He finds meaning in his life and can form real connections with the people around him. Skip discovers love even in the depths of mourning, understanding his role in helping people grieve and move on. Skip’s journey highlights The Power of Human Perseverance because even when surrounded by loss he can grow and find meaning.

The young Japanese man Jun immigrated to the US with his parents as a child. Among the first adults infected with the virus, he enters a deep coma, where he joins consciousness with others who are similarly afflicted. In this comatose dreamscape, Jun finds his voice. He notes that his shyness and desire to fit in kept him quiet until he felt more confident of the English language, trying to hide his accent. In the darkness and surrounded by strangers, he stands up to them twice: first to encourage them to make a human pyramid to escape, and the second time to compel others to save a baby. Jun’s bravery in the face of adversity shows that he’s devoted to humanity and does what he can to prove that devotion. He shows that everyone can make a positive impact on the world, and no matter how small that impact seems, it has far-reaching implications. Jun’s advocation for the baby results in Rina’s story being possible, reinforcing that one can never anticipate how their actions will change the world.

Fitch’s father and Dorrie’s ex-husband, David is the head scientist in a laboratory that raises pigs with human organs, which are subsequently harvested to provide organ transplants to those suffering from the plague. He lives his life in a constant state of grief and regret for Fitch’s death; he falls asleep watching videos of his late son and keeps his case file beside his desk. He buries himself in his work, and not until Snortorious gains sentience does he fully begins to process his emotions. The pig’s childlike behavior and rapid intellectual growth give David a chance to reexperience fatherhood. He gives Snortorious choices that he was never able to give Fitch, culminating in the pig’s choosing death so that he can save lives. David can be present for Snortorious’s death in a way that he wasn’t present for Fitch’s, giving him the opportunity to say goodbye. David can thus move through his mourning and into a place of healing, showing his ability to adapt and grow. He redeems himself for his earlier choices to leave Fitch and Dorrie in pursuit of a cure.

Dennis manages two floors of an elegy hotel. His only real friend is Val, a fellow floor manager. The narrative sets Dennis up as an unlikable character because of his indecisiveness. He’s repeatedly unable to make decisions about his life, especially his family. His stagnation ultimately results in his mother dying without him present, stripping him of a chance to say goodbye and have closure. Although Dennis performs acts of kindness, he’s repeatedly aloof and dismissive. This attitude extends to his work, where he frequently irritates Val due to his lack of seriousness about their work. Dennis proves a flat character, not growing or changing during the book. He reappears later in the text as Val prepares to leave Earth in a colonization effort and again when training Dan on how to work with the bereaved. In both scenarios, he’s still indecisive and dismissive, revealing that he hasn’t grown as a person.

The first nameless narrator of the book, the robo-dog repairman is struggling to care for his son and perform his work because of consistently decreasing available resources. He and his son, Aki, are often at odds with one another. In many ways, the robo-dog repairman represents a refusal to see the inevitable, intense denial during times of grief and hardship. Logically, he knows that his time as a repairman is over, just as he logically realized that his wife was dying. However, his desire for a better future overwhelms the logic, leaving him clinging to remnants of the past as he continues to mourn. In this way, he’s like Dennis, the narrator of the story that proceeds his. However, the robo-dog repairman proves himself capable of change; his son points out his stagnation and his dying craft. This leads him to pursue other opportunities, showing himself capable of development and change. Although the story ends with the two mourning their lost loved ones, it also ends on a note of hope for a future capable of change.

The novel’s first female narrator, Aubrey researches bodily decomposition with a special focus on how the plague impacts the body, searching for a cure. She has an increasingly distant relationship with her husband, Tatsu, and falls in love with a terminally ill plague patient named Laird. Much of Audrey’s perspective focuses on inevitability. She’s unable to stop herself from falling in love with Laird, even knowing that he’s dying; she’s similarly unable to revive her feelings for Tatsu, having experienced too much time and distance from the early days of their love. She acknowledges that their relationship will end as a result but puts off their final confrontation to engage in an act of love and mourning while taking care of Laird’s remains. She ultimately perseveres despite her pain and, in doing so, represents the broader human effort to survive in the Artic plague era. She joins the multitudes who have lost a loved one to the plague but have continued on in the name of humanity, becoming a symbol of resilience.

A scientist working to develop space travel to empower the colonization of new planets, Bryan is the brother of Dennis, the elegy hotel manager. In the years between the two stories, Bryan lost his wife and daughter, remarried, and grew a singularity in his head that he and his second wife, Theresa, are studying for its capacity to provide propulsion for space crafts. Bryan exemplifies the difficulty of “moving on” and trying to continue to live a fulfilling life in the face of prevalent grief. He has found new love and new hope in humanity’s future but often feels guilty for the good things he has because of what he lost. Further complicating Bryan’s situation is his increasing presence in the public sphere, leading to increased speculation from his coworkers, government officials, and civilians. Bryan’s story shows that sometimes, no clear good options are available. Choices become increasingly difficult when considering his desire to keep his son safe, which conflicts with his broader use for helping humanity. Ultimately, he chooses to stay on Earth while sending his son to help the colonization effort, realizing that he’ll never see his son again but helping ensure his survival. Bryan and Dennis serve to contrast each other in the realm of decision-making: Dennis finds choices difficult and shuts down, while Bryan strives to make the difficult choices that best benefit everyone.

Cliff’s widow, Clara’s adoptive mother, and Yumi’s grandmother, Miki is an established artist who has distinguished herself because of her work with plague victims and topics surrounding the Artic plague. She’s the USS Yamato’s designated artist, although at times she speculates that she was chosen for the voyage only because of her connection to Cliff. The journey puts strain on Miki as she spends her years of consciousness mourning Cliff and Clara, trying to understand the state of the world, and worrying that she made the wrong decision for Yumi. She learns to process her emotions through writing and sharpens her processing through art. She works with Dorrie to immortalize the dead and have hope in the future, making art that connects the members of the crew. Miki is the first character to achieve acceptance in the novel. Her final letter to Yumi acknowledges the pain of the last decade while upholding hope for the future, knowing that their difficult decisions will be worth it in the end. Miki shows the power of art as catharsis and the necessity of time to heal old wounds, two experiences that many of the other characters don’t have. Miki shares strong parallels with the world builder, for at the novel’s close they both wind up as aliens, clinging to hope for a brighter future.

Dan is a lawyer who recently woke up from an Artic plague-induced coma. He returned to health to discover that his wife and daughter had both died, leaving him alone in his home. His email is a plea to his neighbors, inviting them to a barbeque as he abandons his old, introverted ways and tries to adjust to his new life. Dan represents progress and positive change in the face of hardship. He acknowledges how the world is difficult to live in, highlighting the distorted survival tactics that he picked up to endure a tragic circumstance. However, his idea of a party and his commitment to his neighbors become a symbolic act of overcoming. He doesn’t mince words about his old ways and the negative impact they had on his life but commits himself to doing better and adjusting to a “new normal.” He proves that bravery comes in many forms, and his invitation is the first step in recreating a community that was disrupted by calamity. Dan is the first character to actively work toward this type of broad reconciliation, exemplifying how communities are built, not given.

A young man in his thirties living in Japan and struggling to find his place in the world, Akira didn’t directly experience the plague, but the disease disrupted his life by interrupting his education and socialization. He’s without a job or a home, spending his nights in a virtual reality café. Akira’s mourning is less centered on an individual and more focused on a broader absence. He mourns the future he could have had, the relationships he could have fostered, and the career he could have maintained. He mourns potential, and his expression of grief is disrupted only when he sees the opportunity for community through Yoshiko. His grief briefly turns to hope as he tries to understand her, only to once again be put into a state of mourning when she ends her life and that of her daughter because she doesn’t have the real-world support she needs. Her loss gives Akira the motivation to reach out to his mother, seeking guidance and protection from the world he tried to navigate alone for so long. He becomes another symbol of the importance of community, just as he comes to represent the importance of asking for help. He shows his true strength when he finally contacts his mother, as he’s brave enough to lean on others when he needs to instead of remaining in his loneliness as he has for years.

The most enigmatic of the novel’s narrators, the sculptor reveals little about himself, instead focusing his narrative on Mabel and her passing. The only information the narrative provides is about his job, his love for Mabel, and his doubt about whether that love is as valid as it would have been if they’d more time. His growth comes in his ability to question. His doubt and self-reflection display his capacity for self-realization, as he comes to understand that he may not exist in the space he thought he did. Through the sculptor, the narrative exposes new funerary practices and the change in how people mourn following the plague as well as the emphasis on death culture. In many ways, the sculptor serves to establish adjustment to the new world through funerary-specific acts. He provides an understanding that death ceremonies have become an art form, replacing the previous world’s need for the fast disposal of human remains.

A Japanese woman, Rina moved to the US but has returned home to Japan for her grandmother’s memorial. Newly married and pregnant, she struggles to navigate the needs of her family while also establishing healthy, appropriate boundaries. Rina has a somewhat strained relationship with her mother, stemming from a childhood in which she didn’t feel like she was “enough.” Now that she’s an adult and has tried to make her home in another part of the world, she has context through which to understand the decisions of her loved ones. Rina understands that she’s loved, but not everyone expresses love the same way. Her growth as she revisits her home culminates as she visits her ancestors’ urn and acknowledges that the future will be brighter for her ability to connect. She understands that she’ll be able to give her unborn child two communities to support them, providing a sense of belonging that she lacked. Rina’s story is a clear indicator of The Importance of Building a Community, as well as underscores The Difficulty of Choice.