52 pages • 1 hour read
Fredrik BackmanUs Against You
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Hockey
Hockey is the symbol that both brings an entire town together and propels violence. Backman’s narrator assures the reader several times that even though everything is about hockey, at the same time nothing is about hockey. Hockey is the sport in which the players and the fans can project all their worries and manifest all their desires. Hockey provides the opportunity for a low-income, struggling town to win and therefore earn respect. Hockey is the solid ground for people whose lives are in perpetual conflict; it is a shared interest that brings different people together, and therefore makes lonely people feel included. The townspeople in Beartown love hockey because of how it feels to have a game to watch, a team to root for, and a space for community.
Banging Noises
The narrative is often punctuated with a rhythmic, italicized “bang bang bang.” The “bang” represents a noise, and it is a motif because it happens often and is symbolic of the inner and outer realities of the people in Beartown. The bang is a consistent motif, but it symbolizes something different depending on the context. Sometimes, the bang represents a thumping heartbeat that characters experience when they’re dealing with trauma or their own nerves. The bang represents gunshots, and at other times it mimics the noise a fist makes when it’s pounding into another person or against a wall. The “bang” is always a jarring sound effect, representative of conflict.
Bears
Beartown is a fitting name, symbolic of the character and spirit of the town. Bears are intelligent animals; they form hierarchies, evolve in structured family relationships, are generous with each other, and resourceful. Bears are tough, loyal to their young ones and vicious against anyone who threatens their family. The inhabitants of Beartown have many flaws, but they are similar to bears in their commitment to family, generosity, and unified community structures. When Benji faces a bear in the woods when he seeks to kill himself, the situation inspires him to keep living, and his hockey team (called, of course, the Bears) also keeps Benji engaged in his life.
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By Fredrik Backman
