A Man Called Ove Literary Elements

A novel

The action takes place in a townhouse, Sweden, where the main character Ove lives.

The narrator of the novel is a third person. Moreover, the novel has many dialogues and monologues between the characters, which reveal the main events of the book.

The mood is dramatic because of the sorrow story about Ove’s life. The old man experienced such difficult situations that this story makes the reader cry. The mood is also humoristic, because there are a lot of funny situations and irony in life of the characters.

The main protagonist is Ove. The main antagonist is Ove’s character and inner world that prevent him to maintain relations with people.

The major conflict in the novel is the death of his Father, Wife and unborn son.

The climax happens when Ove becomes kinder. He notices that neighbors begin to love him for his kindness and respect.

Already at the beginning of the book, Fredrick Backman predicts Sonja’s death (Ove’s wife). Therefore, when in the next chapters the author talks about Ove’s life with Sonja, the reader will not be lost in conjectures where Sonja is.

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The novel alludes to Spain, Sweden, France and Iran.

See the imagery section

It is very paradoxical that Ove’s neighbors continue to communicate with him, knowing that Ove is a rude and grouchy person, who yells at everyone. In fact, you will not want to communicate with a person, who is constantly dissatisfied with you.

There is a parallelism of Ove’s anger and kindness. Throughout the book, Ove changes beyond recognition. From the beginning, he is angry. However, later Ove becomes a kind man.

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The cat, whom Ove finds near his house, personifies friendship and devotion. The cat is always together with Ove and remains with him for the rest of his life.