61 pages • 2-hour read
When the Cranes Fly South
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.
Sixten
Sixten is an important figure in Bo’s life and a key symbol in the narrative, representing The Need to Preserve Agency in Old Age. Bo says plainly what the dog represents when others question the wisdom of keeping him, erupting in anger at the latest suggestion that he should be taken away by demanding to know “what the hell the point of life [i]s if [he] [i]s too old for a dog” (14). For a man who has always had dogs, to relinquish one is not merely to give up a pleasure but to acknowledge that certain forms of care are now beyond him.
Sixten also becomes the symbolic terrain on which father and son negotiate their unspoken injuries. Bo recognizes the linkage in the very idiom he uses to defend himself, stating that he does not believe that he will be able “to fix a single bloody thing if [Hans] takes Sixten away” (10). The sentence braids a practical claim—that dogs need walking, feeding, and grooming—with an emotional one—that nothing can be set right without the animal. It also invokes many discussions that Bo had with his own father, in which he failed to assert his authority in a way that Hans is now doing to him. Sixten sits at the pivot point of these histories, even if the dog has no idea of his symbolic role in the argument between father and son.
Hans’s decision to ensure that Sixten is present at Bo’s bedside at the end is therefore highly significant, signaling the reconciliation and understanding between father and son as “Sixten jumps up into his usual spot beside [Bo’s] left leg” (241). Only after the dog has settled into place does the larger pattern appear, the window opens, and the cranes gather. Hans bringing Sixten back is a moment of catharsis and a gesture of goodwill and love that means a great deal to Bo in his final moments. The war between Bo and Hans is over. The dog who once represented Bo’s independence now represents his forgiveness.
The Carers’ Logbook
The carers’ logbook is another important symbol of Bo’s struggle for agency as he grows frailer. It is a small book, but it carries an institutional authority that rivals Bo’s narration. Early on, it intrudes explicitly, as when Bo describes Ingrid voicing her disagreement and then “scribbling away in the carers’ logbook” (9). The verb matters, at least from Bo’s perspective. “Scribbling” sounds casual, even careless, but the record thus produced carries a level of authority that shapes Bo’s life. The comments in the book govern who comes, what is done, and what is owed. Sometimes, this official commentary works in Bo’s favor, such as when Ingrid understates his problems to ensure his freedoms. Sometimes, however, the entries only demonstrate how little power Bo has over his life, while also showing the reader that Bo may not be the most reliable arbiter of his own competence.
There is, in effect, a dual narrative that reminds the reader that Bo’s narration is a purely subjective version of events, an issue that is made all the more pressing by Bo’s failing faculties. He opens it “to see who left” his lunch and learns that a temp named Marie did so, corroborating the fact that “all these new faces rarely stick in [his] mind” (35), thereby subtly revealing that Bo’s memory is no longer as sharp as it used to be. The logbook entries thus hint at a different, parallel narrative of Bo’s life that is more objective and less infused with Bo’s desperate desire for agency. The logbook become a symbol of his bottled-up emotions, his subjective experience, and his struggles to interact with the world around him.
Nature
Nature forms an important motif in the novel, speaking to The Comforting Cycles of the Natural World and reflecting the importance of rural life to Bo. As described from Bo’s perspective, the scenes of the house are scenes of wood, water, and cold. Since Bo’s point of view is so central to the narrative, the fact that he centers the naturalness of the house is an important insight into his character and his sense of identity. Bo’s sentences are related to physical particulars. A fire is not simply lit, for example, but “the flames nibble tentatively at the birch bark and quickly grow into a raging blaze” (11). The phrasing carries a lifetime’s competence in handling fuel, draft, and heat, a process that begins in the forest and ends in the house. Such competence anchors the self when other capacities ebb. Similarly, when Bo wants to assert his independence, he goes outdoors to walk Sixten, enjoying the familiar sights he has known as his life and using the landscapes as triggers for his memories.
In the closing pages, the pattern gathers everything in a sequence of images that have the force of blessing. First, Bo’s hand feels his dog’s weight and warmth; then, as his sight dims, he hears the seasonal migration that titles the book: “the cranes gathering to fly south” (241). Even as life slips away from Bo, he is surrounded by nature in a way that still shapes his existence. Bo gives himself over to this natural cycle of migration and change; nature becomes a symbol of this acceptance in his final moments.
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