paper 2 - a man called ove Flashcards
Role of memory in a man called ove
- memory shaped Ove’s character, motivations and emotional journey
- memory is a tool used to explored grief, love and the enduring impact of the past on the present
Role of memory of different characters (relationships) in a man called ove
Sonja
- Ove’s source of resilience/a barrier to moving forward
Source of resilience - loves memories give him purpose
- memories of Sonja remind him to keep to house maintained and clean
- “Ove cleaned the house every Saturday because that’s what she would have wanted”
Barrier to moving forward - Memories of the accident haunt Ove
- Memories of Sonja make Ove want to kill himself
“She was the color in his black-and-white world”
Father (Childhood)
- his memories of his childhood with father help shape his moral compass
- his father taught him loyalty, rutine, honesty and hard work
- Ove continues to use these lessons learned from dad
- Father’s early death made Ove feel abandoned
Ove lost trust in relationships built - as each one he had lost
Loss within a man called ove
Loss of family
- Mother and father
- Child
- Sonja’s absence drives Ove’s isolation
“He went to her grave everyday, talking to her as if she might answer”
Loss of personal identity
- after his retirement - he feels useless in a world of modern technology
- “these days, it was like there was nothing left to fight for, just memories of what used to be”
Isolation in a man called ove - how does he isolate and how does it effect him and how does he overcome it
- Ove isolates himself from the rest of his community (socially and emotionally)
“Ove was not a man who went out of his way to make friends. That was just how it was”
Effects:
- Loss of purpose
without sonja, love feels purposeless - suicide attempts highlights the depth of his dispair
- emotional lock
isolation prevents love from processing his grief or allowing himself to heal
“every morning, he wound his watch and drank his coffee. The same coffee. In the same cup”
Overcoming it:
- kindness of his neighbours
- responsibilities to care for others (cat, neighbours cars and heaters etc.)
role of humanity and human connection in a man called ove
- transformation through connection (the power of love and connection)
“together, they had shown the white shirts that people were not just numbers on a form”
key moments:
- Ove teacher Parvaneh to drive
- Helping his neighbour fix a car
- Standing up against the white shirts to save Rune
about societal oppression and power dynamics in a man called Ove
white shirts
- “the men in white shirts always made the rules, and men like love followed them, even when they made no sense”
key events:
- fight to save his neighbourhood
- treatment after car crash that paralyzed Sonja (state refuses to take responsibility)
- denial of insurance claims after house fire
- sonjas struggle with educational system
- forced eviction of rune
“but everywhere, sooner or later, he was stopped by men in white shirts and strict, smug expressions on their faces. And one couldn’t fight with them. Not only did they have the state on their side, they were the state”
role of flashbacks in a man called ove
- explain his behaviour
helps us understand:
- his fathers influence on his work ethic and moral compass
- love story with sonja
- injustices that shaped his disdain for modern systems
Symbolism within a man called ove
white shirts
- represents the inhumanity of bureaucracy
cat
- cat survived harsh conditions - parallelism of Ove’s own resilience
- helps ease Ove’s loneliness
- Ove begins to accept the cat
saab
- oves loyalty
- ove’s connection to his father
- adherence to tradition and craftsmanship
Irony within a man called ove (what types)
situational irony (outcome of situation is different from what is expected)
- Ove’s attempts at suicide
- Ove portrayed as a grumpy man - which his actions contradict
“for a man so prepared to die, Ove was remarkably bad at it.”
verbal irony (what is said is opposite of actual meaning)
- Ove complains about others but helps them
“Idiots! You’re all idiots! But I suppose I’ll fix it anyway”
- Ove criticizes modern technology - his own outdated methods and mindset create more problems than it fixes
dramatic irony (the audience knows something that the characters do not)
- Ove perceives himself as bitter and useless
- he is vital to the community
- communities dependence on Ove
Setting within a man called ove - what is its significance?
reflects ove’s emotional journey
House
- symbol of stability and morality
- an anchor to Ove’s past
- Shrine to Sonja - struggle to let go of her memory
- resistance to modernization
“he refused to install any of that newfangled nonsense. Things had worked perfectly well the way that they were.”
- a place of solitude and isolation
(provides safety but also traps Ove in his grief)
- a space for transformation
(as Ove opens up - it goes from a place of grief and isolation to a place of connection)
Cafe
- place of connection
Change of neighbourhood
- modernization of neighbourhood - tensions between preserving tradition and embracing progress
- from resistance to acceptance
quotes for loss in a man called ove
- He went to her grave every day, talking to her as if she might answer
- These days, it was like there was nothing left to fight for, just memories of what used to be.
quotes about isolation in a man called ove
- ove was not a man who went out of his way to make friends. That was just how it was.
quotes human connection a man called ove
- together, they had shown the white shirts that people were not just numbers on a form.
