How High We Go in the Dark

How High We Go in the Dark skips forward several years and presents two very different experiences of illness, both viewed through the adult gaze. Skip is entrenched in the guilt and grief of loving the terminally ill, while Jun experiences the adult version of the plague and is placed in an induced coma. Skip’s witnessing of the disease’s horrors and graphic depictions of its harm, paired with Jun’s first-hand observation of the adult version of the plague, provide different views of the harm it creates. The descriptions have parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic, with conversations mirroring those that took place during the real-world outbreak.

The parallel experiences between COVID and the Artic plague, as it’s dubbed, immediately inform the theme How We Handle Grief. Skip’s grief is for the lives of the children he cares for, including Fitch. His grief for these children, who are stripped of their future, connects to a broader grief for the world and its uncertain destiny. Skip does his part to ease the suffering of the families he sees and is ultimately transformed by his role as a caretaker. Jun, meanwhile, has the unique experience of sentience even when his body is in a comatose state. Jun’s grieving is for himself and his now-unclear future, which he presumes is no longer accessible. In addition, he grieves for his parents, having the opportunity for empathy when he visits their memories and sees their sacrifices in clearer detail. His grief is complicated by the understanding that he’s part of a wider community and that his passing affects the futures of others.

The interconnectedness of the novel’s chapters becomes clear in Chapter 3, “Through the Garden of Memory.” Skip cries over the memory of Fitch’s death, mourning him anew. Skip and Jun also come across an ancient memory of a woman tending to a sick child that matches the description of Annie. The pieces of the novel start to fit together as they tell a story spanning significant portions of time, showing how people are interconnected. This type of narrative invites consideration of one’s own place in the world and interconnectivity in it, which is already shown to span millennia.

Both Jun and Skip try to solve problems they see in their respective circumstances, dedicating themselves to a cause bigger than themselves. Skip tries to help dying children pass away with grace and joy, a process that ultimately exposes him to the love and heartbreak of Fitch’s passing. Implicitly, Skip’s efforts here cause him to become infected as the virus is transmitted from one of his charges to him, meaning that he has fully dedicated his life to empowering families and granting them final, peaceful days. For Jun, the stakes are equally as high, because while Skip devotes his time to ending lives, Jun decides to save one. He sways the crowd to lift the baby up to where gravity has less hold, even though he’s uncertain what’ll become of them. In this, Jun hopes to rescue the baby from this version of the virus, choosing the child over his own desire to return to his family. He and the other people put their hope in the infant in a moment that is symbolic of putting their hope in the future: They give a member of the next generation the opportunity to live, showing that even during their own grief, they’re capable of a broader faith. This is the first emergence of both The Power of Human Perseverance and The Importance of Hope themes, though they mingle with the difficulties faced by those in the midst of true tragedy.