40 pages • 1-hour read
And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer
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Character Analysis
Content Warning: This section of the guide depicts illness, mental illness, and death.
Grandpa
Grandpa is the central figure of And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, as both the protagonist and an unreliable narrator. His progressive memory loss shapes the plot, structure, language, and imagined spaces within the text. As Grandpa’s cognitive abilities deteriorate, readers experience the world through his fragmenting perception, making him a dynamic character whose internal changes drive the narrative. Rather than being a passive figure defined solely by his illness, Grandpa is characterized by curiosity, humor, intellectual intensity, and deep emotional attachment, all of which persist as his identity fragments.
One of Grandpa’s defining traits is his devotion to logic and mathematics, which he treats as a stabilizing force in an otherwise uncertain universe. This highlights the theme of Memory Loss as the Erasure of Identity. He repeatedly asserts that “mathematics will always lead you home” (20), framing numbers as a form of order that transcends memory. This belief reflects his lifelong reliance on rationality and abstraction, yet it also reveals his vulnerability, as mathematics fails as a coping mechanism when his mind grows unreliable. His use of imagined spaces—the shrinking square, the archives, the road home—are metaphors through which he attempts to impose structure on cognitive decline, but like mathematics, these too eventually give way to a confused reality. Before they do, these metaphors allow Grandpa to communicate his experiences that defy direct explanation.
As Grandpa’s decline accelerates, his role shifts from teacher to dependent, but he still feels emotionally responsible. He worries less about his own death than about “leaving” Noah before he dies (10). Even at his most disoriented, Grandpa tries to connect with his son and grandson, asking about Ted’s guitar or reaching for familiar jokes. In the novella’s final scenes, Grandpa is still alive, but his identity is reconstructed for him through Noah’s testimony and the presence of family.
Noah
Noah, Grandpa’s grandson, is the novella’s deuteragonist. He functions as a stabilizing presence and an emotional intermediary in And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer. Though he is a young child for much of the novella, Noah demonstrates an emotional intelligence and adaptability that allow him to respond to Grandpa’s cognitive decline with empathy rather than fear. Noah is a round, dynamic character who gradually assumes greater emotional responsibility in the narrative. His role evolves from being Grandpa’s playful companion to becoming his caretaker, positioning him as a bridge between generations and anchoring the narrative’s exploration of Love as an Anchor Against Cognitive Decline.
Noah is described as an imaginative child whose “head reaches all the way to space” (1). This makes him particularly receptive to Grandpa’s metaphorical explanations of memory loss. Unlike adults who seek clarity or solutions, Noah accepts the imagined spaces, shrinking squares, and fading stars Grandpa conjures to explain his memory loss. Noah’s comfort with mathematics further reinforces this quality, allowing him to engage with ideas of vastness and disappearance in a way Grandpa can relate to. Noah also absorbs emotional tension between Grandpa and Ted without fully understanding its origins, allowing him to function as a mediator whose love for both of them diffuses their conflict.
Noah’s role reaches its culmination when he reconstructs Grandpa’s identity aloud in the hospital tent. Rather than asking Grandpa to remember, Noah remembers for him, listing small, humorous moments that only have meaning to Grandpa and those who care about him. By the end of the text, Noah is no longer simply the recipient of Grandpa’s guidance; he becomes the bearer of that guidance forward.
Grandma
Grandma is a secondary character who exists in Grandpa’s mind. Though she is deceased before the narrative begins, her presence persists through Grandpa’s memories and the imagined spaces he inhabits. Grandma is a dynamic character not because she changes, but because the reader’s understanding of her deepens over time. She is a grounding force that embodies Grandpa’s continuity of identity and the theme of Love as an Anchor Against Cognitive Decline.
While Grandpa is drawn to mathematics, space, and intellectual urgency, Grandma gravitates toward the everyday and the tangible. She teases him for being in too much of a hurry and encourages him to focus on ordinary actions and shared routines. This is exemplified by her saying that “Those who hasten to live are in a hurry to miss” (29). Grandma’s grounding influence is also evident in her relationship with Noah, whom she teaches practical skills such as reading, baking, and pouring coffee. These lessons emphasize the novella’s focus on small, sustaining acts of love as tools that can help people through life’s most difficult stages.
Narratively, Grandma also mediates between Grandpa and Ted, articulating truths that Grandpa struggles to confront directly. She reveals Ted’s anger as grief and helplessness, and she reinforces the narrative’s message that Noah is the bridge between father and son. Grandma’s approach to spiritual belief further underscores her as pragmatic and nurturing. Rather than insisting on certainty, she treats faith as a space for hope and argument, joking that she looks forward to continuing her disagreements with Grandpa in Heaven. Through Grandma, Backman presents love as something that steadies, challenges, and endures, reinforcing the idea that while memory may fade, the influence of those we love remains deeply embedded in how we care for others.
Ted
Ted is a round, static, secondary character, who occupies a small but emotionally charged role in And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer. Ted is a foil to both Grandpa and Noah. As Grandpa’s adult son and Noah’s father, Ted represents the generation caught between loss and responsibility, bearing the emotional consequences of the past while managing the demands of the present. He is less emotionally open than Noah because he has struggled with his father’s less redeeming, more demanding traits during his childhood and adulthood. Therefore, he is more conflicted than Noah when facing his father’s cognitive decline.
One of Ted’s defining traits is his unresolved resentment toward Grandpa, rooted in his father’s emotional absence. Ted recalls that Grandpa “never had time” to teach him the things he later teaches Noah, a realization that resurfaces painfully as Grandpa’s memory deteriorates (22). This resentment is compounded by helplessness; he understands Grandpa’s condition more clearly than Noah does, yet this awareness offers no comfort or relief. His anger is directed outward rather than toward Grandpa specifically, “a never-ending rage, being angry at the universe” (71). Ted’s emotional turmoil contrasts with Noah’s openness and Grandpa’s imaginative vulnerability, positioning Ted as a realist who struggles to articulate grief.
Ted’s actions consistently reveal his care for Grandpa beneath his frustration. He navigates hospital corridors with Noah, explains Grandpa’s condition gently, and emphasizes the importance of patience and companionship. His instruction that they must be “careful” with Grandpa’s brain reflects a desire to shield both Noah and Grandpa from the difficult times ahead. Ted also becomes an emotional anchor for Noah, stopping to hug him, affirming his intelligence, and reassuring him through humor. These gestures demonstrate that Ted’s love is enacted through responsibility and protection rather than direct verbal expression.
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