My Friends Chapter 37 Summary & Analysis

Twenty-five years ago, Ted attends his dad’s funeral. Joar is in typical form, picking a fight with the minister. Later, Joar escalates the fight, asking the minister if God was the one who killed Ted’s dad because everything is God’s plan. Ted is so surprised that he can only laugh. Joar was such a welcome relief that day that he might have saved Ted’s life.

Although it’s Ted’s dad’s funeral, Joar is the one who is acting out. Joar’s behavior shows how deeply he cares about his friends and perhaps also hints at how Joar himself is afraid of death and isn’t sure how to deal with the situation.

Active Themes

While leaving the church, the artist accidentally drops a sketch he made of the building, and the minister is astonished, saying that he thinks the artist will one day be able to sell his work for millions. The artist tells the minister to keep the drawing. When Joar hears about this, he rushes in and snatches the drawing away from the minister. By this point, all the minister can do is laugh too.

The minister thinks he is giving the artist a compliment, but the minister sees art in monetary terms, while the artist doesn’t. The artist’s decision to let the minister have the painting shows how little he cares about the material rewards of making art. Nevertheless, when Joar reclaims the picture, he does so not for materialistic reasons but because he admires the artist’s work, and even the minister comes to respect this.

Active Themes

Leaving the funeral, Joar kicks every trash bag he sees out of habit and learns that one of the bags is full of bottles that can be recycled for a deposit. Ted gets the idea of going around to steal recycling that people leave out in order to raise money for the artist. On one of these runs, Ted nearly gets caught by a dog, which traumatizes him and makes him a little afraid of dogs for the rest of his life. Now, 25 years later, Ted hears a dog barking.

Active Themes

My Friends: Chapter 37 Summary & Analysis