Grief in Fredrik Backman’s Novel A Man Called Ove (2012)

Abstract

This thesis analyzed the main idea, which is grief, that contained within the novel. The theory used by the author in this thesis is Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s theory of grief, which is “5 Stages of Grief”. To obtain the necessary data, the author uses qualitative research methods, by using content analysis method by focusing on data from texts, sentences, statements or events in the novel. The data source is the novel A Man Called Ove, which is obtained by quoting parts of the story that provide an overview of the theme in the novel. The findings of this thesis are grief is the basic idea of the novel and it’s used as a representation of the theme in the novel. The researcher found four stages that Ove’s had dealt with, which is Denial, Anger, Depression, and Acceptance. Also, the researcher found as to how grief is a representation of the theme in the novel, in a form of thematic statement, which is that “grief is a transition to something new” from Ove’s progress throughout the story beginning to end, from how Ove’s life of a grumpy man causes by grief, to a man who is more opened-up, and grow to accepting his grief, and changes into a better man for his surroundings.