Symbols & Motifs
Food
When Gifty picks up her mother at the start of the novel, she notices how much weight she has lost, noting, “I hardly recognized her, this woman who had always found skinny people offensive, as though a kind of laziness or failure of character kept them from appreciating the pure joy that is a good meal” (10). In this way, Transcendent Kingdom sets up the ability to enjoy food as a barometer of mental health and emotional progress. Later on, when Gifty’s mother cooks for her, Gifty says, “that food was better than anything I had eaten in months […] better still for having been the one sign of life from a woman who had done nothing but sleep since her arrival” (155).
The desire to cook and eat properly is a fundamental symptom of recovery and well-being here. It can also help promote both of these things. More than that, it is a means of bonding and communication. Gifty recalls how much joy she got from watching her ex-boyfriend Raymond cook, and she establishes a friendship with a colleague, Katherine, through the baked goods the latter brings to her office. Likewise, she brings Han a cupcake to celebrate the acceptance of one of his papers for publication.
