The Celebrants

Naomi’s meditation on the equation for gravity alludes to other references to spirituality and the idea of an afterlife throughout the novel. While Marielle expresses that she wishes that she believed, none of the characters express strong belief in a particular religion, though references to various expressions of spirituality occur throughout and characters confront their belief or disbelief in an afterlife as they confront their own or others’ mortality. Part 4 is an important section for the development of ideas about religion and the afterlife because it focuses on unexpected death: Naomi’s parents in the plane crash and the possibility of a skydiving accident.

Rowley contrasts sudden death with that of terminal illness and illustrates the differences between being able to prepare for death in advance or not. In the novel, unexpected death is closely related to ideas of responsibility or lack of control. When Naomi meets her friends on the ground, she wonders: “Was she really almost responsible for one of her friends dying? Did she hold some responsibility for what happened to her parents? Was she responsible for anything at all?” (172). This relates to the overall premise of the novel, as having things left unsaid contributes to Naomi’s grief over the loss of her parents. The lesson that Jordan says that he learned during the skydiving incident was that people don’t actually have the control they think they do: “People die all the time, many tragically and before their time. Some people fall from the sky. But in those moments I found comfort in knowing I wasn’t in charge” (175). In contrast to their youthful belief in their own invincibility during college, this sentiment reflects the character development of the group as a result of Alec’s and Naomi’s parents’ death and Jordan’s near-death experience. Rowley emphasizes the contrast between sudden and expected death because the skydiving incident happens to Jordan; he must grapple with his lack of control over mortality throughout the progression of his terminal illness in the “Jordans” interludes.

While Naomi didn’t have a close relationship with her parents, she finds herself adrift after their unexpected death. The reference to 9/11 when she thinks of them links to the thread of air disasters throughout the chapter and functions as another reference to unexpected and sudden death. Her parents’ death represents the loss of Naomi’s hope for the relationship: “As long as they were out there, traveling the globe, they might one day fly home to her. Instead, they flew off into the ultimate sunset, leaving their only child’s hopes dashed in the wreckage” (183). While Naomi has had a difficult relationship with her parents for years and is characterized as a cynical individual, she holds onto some hope until the clear finality of their death.

Similar to Marielle’s trajectory as a character, Naomi’s funeral serves as a reclamation of her identity. She says goodbye to the version of herself who “was never enough” for her parents and decides to “celebrate a new Naomi” (183). Naomi’s funeral, and her choice to deliver her own eulogy, furthers the novel’s thematic idea that Funerals Are for the Living. While all the living funerals enhance this theme in that the recipient hears the positive things that their friends think about them, Naomi’s auto-eulogy is an act of self-love that involves a heightened version of this agency.