Transcendent Kingdom

In this chapter Gifty starts working from home to be closer to her mother. She also discusses the nature of addiction and its connection to human ingenuity and curiosity. Gifty suggests that human beings are the only animal “that is willing to try something new, fun, pointless, dangerous, thrilling, stupid, even if we might die in the trying” (336). In other words, it is the desire to take risks, which also leads to addictive behavior, that distinguishes us as human.

Chapter 47 consists of a journal entry from Gifty. It is connected to the discussion of risk-taking behavior in the previous chapter. Gifty describes how, as a child, she had a competition with her friend, Ashley, to see who could hold their breath longest underwater. Gifty ends up holding her breath for so long that she passes out and nearly dies before being woken up by Ashley’s mother.

Gifty contrasts her own experiences, particularly the fact that she did not drink until the second year of college, with those of her brother, who was constantly having parties and drinking, noting, “I have always been slow to recklessness, afraid of danger and of death” (341).