Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Man Called Ove, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory and Grief
Rules and Order
Love, Family, and Community
Principles, Fairness, and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
As spring arrives, Parvaneh passes her driving test, Ove teaches Adrian to change tires, and Ove shows photos of Parvaneh's little boy to everyone he meets. Ove resists getting a cell phone with a camera, preferring physical photos instead. By fall, Lena moves in with Anders and Ove backs their moving van in for them. The next spring, Ove shows Sonja the invitation for Mirsad and Jimmy's wedding. Ove is the best man and Amel holds the party at his cafe. Mirsad moves into Jimmy's house and they adopt a little girl the next year. They visit Rune every day, and although he doesn't get better, he smiles every time Jimmy and Mirsad's daughter runs to him.
Over the next year, Ove's neighborhood community grows and thrives with more marriages and children. Ove still doesn't compromise his principles, however: he still insists he's the only one who can properly drive moving vans, and he passes on his car knowledge to Adrian. We see that Amel did indeed come around to accepting Mirsad's sexual orientation and now gets the opportunity to demonstrate his love by offering his space for the reception.
Themes
Within a few years, Ove's neighborhood turns into a city district as they build more houses. One day Patrick shows up on Ove's doorstep with two men who need help restoring their houses. Ove helps the two men and then most of the other neighbors with house repairs. Ove takes Nasanin to her first day of school, and she teaches Ove how to insert emojis into his text messages. He makes her swear to not tell Patrick that he got a cell phone. Ove builds a splash pond for Nasanin’s little brother in his backyard.
The neighborhood, and Ove, continue to change and grow: Ove decides to truly live in the present by adapting to the technology of the times and getting a cell phone. This passage also notably doesn't mention Sonja at all, which suggests that regardless of Ove's cell phone usage, he's finally allowing her to exist as a memory.
Themes
Nearly four years after Parvaneh and Patrick moved in, Parvaneh wakes up at 8:15 one morning and sees that the snow hasn't been shoveled outside Ove's house. She runs across the street and into Ove's bedroom, where the cat is lying with its head in Ove's hand. Parvaneh sits on the bed with the cat until the ambulance comes to take Ove's body away. She tells Ove to give her love to Sonja and takes the big envelope labeled "to Parvaneh" from Ove's bedside.
The cat remains faithful to Ove to the very end. Parvaneh's request shows how much Sonja has become a part of everyone's lives since developing a true sense of community with Ove. Ove finally gets what he spent so much of the novel wanting, but he also gets the satisfaction of having lived four years surrounded by loving friends before joining his beloved wife.
Themes
The envelope contains Ove's bank information, instruction manuals, insurance documents, and a letter for Parvaneh. The letter says that Adrian gets the Saab and explains who to contact for Ove's money, which came from Sonja's father. Ove tells Parvaneh to give each of her children and Jimmy's daughter each a million kroner when they turn eighteen and to do what she wants with the rest. He ends by telling her to not let the new neighbors drive in the residential area and tells her she's not a complete idiot, adding a smiley face.
In his final words, Ove pays his own familial relationships forward by giving money to the children and to Parvaneh. In doing so, he encourages Parvaneh to use his memory to do good things in the present and the future, rather than dwelling on his memory as he dwelled on Sonja's. He insists that his principles and his rules be upheld, and pays her another glowing compliment (by Ove's standards).
Themes
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Ove also leaves instructions for a simple funeral with "no people." More than 300 people attend. They all hold candles with "Sonja's Fund" engraved on them. Parvaneh used the rest of Ove's money to start a charity for orphaned children. Patrick elbows Parvaneh and says that Ove would've hated the funeral. Parvaneh laughs.
Again, what Parvaneh does with Ove's money suggests that memories are best used for good and to make the world a better place. Funeral attendance would indicate that Ove most certainly succeeded in building a community for himself after Sonja's death.
Themes
Later that evening, Parvaneh shows Ove's house to a young couple. The woman is pregnant and seems to love the house, but the man is less sure. He asks to see the garage, and Parvaneh asks what car he drives. The man looks her in the eye and says he drives a Saab.
The man's car indicates that he's a lot like Ove, which makes him automatically a good guy. As this couple very much resembles young Ove and Sonja, it suggests that they will have the future in this house that Ove and Sonja dreamed of.
Themes
