Chapter 40 Summary & Analysis: “Chapter Thirty-Nine” — The Birds

Spoiler Notice
This page contains detailed plot points from Chapter 40 of My Friends by Fredrik Backman. If you have not yet read the chapter, proceed with caution.

Summary

Mid-July, the four friends — Joar, Ali, Ted, and the unnamed artist — enjoy a rare sunny day on the pier. They swim, eat stolen cookies and Coca‑Cola, and argue playfully about a TV millionaire. Ted explains the word “petrichor” (the smell of rain after dry weather) and is told he should become a teacher. The artist basks in the feeling of summer and friendship.

On their walk home, Joar steps in dog shit, leading to more horseplay. Then the artist spots a dead bird tangled in a net inside a bush. Ted, still grieving his father’s recent funeral, recites the minister’s words: “A time to be born and a time to die… a time to mourn, a time to dance.” They bury the bird. From the same bush they hear a peeping sound and find a second bird — alive, emaciated, and also caught in the net. The artist gently frees it using hands that “living things instinctively trust.” The bird does not fly away. The artist retrieves an old pill box from his backpack, and Joar declares he will take the bird home to his mother. The chapter closes with rain and wind sweeping away “their whole childhood.”

Key Events

The friends spend a carefree day at the pier, including swimming, snacks, and a lesson on petrichor.
Joar steps in dog shit, leading to a chaotic cleanup that ends when the artist spots a dead bird in a bush.
Ted, awkwardly drawing on his father’s funeral, recites a biblical passage over the dead bird’s grave.
The group discovers a living bird in the same net, and the artist uses his hands (and his pill box) to rescue it.
Joar insists on taking the bird home to be saved by his mother, over the silent misgivings of his friends.
Rain and wind intensify as the chapter ends, signaling the end of the summer idyll.

Character Development

Ted: Still reeling from his father’s death (a week earlier), he is shy about showing knowledge but willingly recites the funeral words. His grief is private; the other friends tease him to distract him from “drowning in the silence.”
The Artist: Revealed to have “those sorts of hands” that animals do not fear. He carries the old pill box (from the chapter about his sister’s pills) and now repurposes it to save a bird, suggesting a capacity for care despite a troubled past.
Joar: Protective and impulsive — he shields the bird’s box from rain, insists on taking it home, and bluntly dismisses vet expertise. His loyalty outweighs his lack of finesse.
Ali: Quick-witted and compassionate, but “no good at anything when stressed.” Her suggestion of mouth‑to‑mouth for a dead bird shows her chaos in crisis.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Memory and the Body: The opening line, “It’s funny what the body remembers, long after the brain has forgotten,” points to sensory triggers (smell of rain, squelch of dog shit) that unlock whole scenes of childhood.
Death and Grief: The dead bird becomes a stand‑in for Ted’s loss. Ted’s repetition of the funeral liturgy is a raw, clumsy attempt to process his father’s death amid his friends.
Childhood’s End: The rain and wind that “took their whole childhood and disappeared” frame this summer idyll as a last, fragile moment before the friends’ worlds change.
Rescue and Care: The living bird is saved by gentle hands and an object once associated with suicide (the pill box) — a subtle transformation of death‑dealing into life‑sustaining.

Why This Chapter Matters

This flashback chapter deepens the novel’s exploration of friendship as a refuge from grief. It shows the four protagonists at fourteen, before the events that fracture their adult lives. The discovery of the two birds — one dead, one barely alive — mirrors the group’s own fate: some losses are final, others require a fragile rescue. The chapter also reintroduces the pill box, a key symbol from earlier chapters, now used for a compassionate purpose. Ted’s recitation of the funeral prayer foreshadows his role as the keeper of words, while Joar’s decision to take the bird home sets up potential conflict with his mother and underscores his need to fix things, even when he cannot.

Study Questions & Answers

What does the dead bird episode reveal about Ted’s emotional state?
Ted’s father died a week earlier. By reciting the same words he heard at the funeral, he projects his own grief onto the dead bird. The recitation is also a way to share his pain with his friends without explaining it directly.
Why does the author mention that the artist has “those sorts of hands”?
The detail emphasizes the artist’s innate gentleness, in contrast to his troubled family background. It also suggests a link between his artistic future and his ability to handle fragile, living things with care.
How does the pill box’s reuse change its significance in the novel?
Earlier the pill box was associated with the artist’s sister’s suicide attempt. Now it cradles a living bird, symbolizing a shift from death toward life and hope. It shows how the same object can carry opposite meanings depending on context and intention.