Essay Questions

What do the mice symbolize in the Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi?

The mice symbolize Gifty’s brother, Nana, who succumbed to heroin overdose. Gifty is using mice in her scientific experiments to understand the impact of a heroin overdose and addiction on human beings. Therefore, the mice are an important symbol that helps Gifty answer several questions surrounding her brother's death.

Do self-discovery and individuality emerge as among the main themes in the novel?

Gifty struggles to discover who she is, and the author walks readers through her journey of self-discovery. When Gifty takes care of her ailing mother, she loses faith in God because she fails to understand why God should leave a dedicated Christian to suffer. Gifty wants to be different from her mother, a staunch Christian, because she does not see the value of being a faith fanatic if God does not heal you when sick. However, with time Gifty changes her perception of religion and acknowledges the presence of God. Similarly, Gifty discovers that she is different from her mother, and their religious views do not need to align with each other. Therefore, Gifty abandons her teen rebellion and becomes an adult who fully understands what she wants to achieve in life.

Is there a conflict between science and the church?

Gifty was brought up in a Pentecostal church, but when her brother died of heroin addiction, she decided to do scientific research about addiction. Having attended the church throughout her life, she expected to find a correlation between science and religion because what she needed was answers surrounding the death of her brother. However, Gifty discovered a major conflict between the church and science because, according to the church, science is misleading. The church believes that whoever follows science is lost and will never see the kingdom of heaven. While in college, Gifty's fellow science students are atheists because they believe religion is biased.