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Chapter 39
Themes
and Colors
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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