Chapter summaries My Friends Fredrik Backman

My Friends Chapter Four: The Summer of the Painting – Summary and Analysis

Spoiler Notice

This section contains key plot details from Chapter Four of My Friends by Fredrik Backman. If you have not read the chapter, proceed with caution.

Summary of Chapter Four

The chapter is a flashback to a summer twenty-five years before the auction. The narrator describes a group of fourteen-year-old friends sitting on a hot fishing pier, laughing so hard at an impressive fart (credited to Louisa as “most excellent”) that they nearly fall into the sea. This moment, the narrator says, later becomes a world-famous painting titled The One of the Sea, signed by “C. Jat” with skulls beside the signature. The friends come from poor, abusive homes—they know the sound of a key in a lock when a father returns drunk and have been told their whole lives that they are worthless. Despite the violence they endure that summer, one of them, the artist, carries an immense beauty inside him that will eventually make him famous.

Joar, the artist’s fiercely loyal friend, finds an art competition in a newspaper his mother brought home from the nursing home where she works. He tries to convince the artist to enter, but the artist is paralyzed by self-doubt, scratching his skin nervously. The other friends pretend to misunderstand the instructions, teasing Joar until everyone—including the artist—laughs. Joar insists the artist must escape their town, declaring that the rest of them are “screwed” but the artist is destined to be a world-famous artist. The artist asks if they will all still be best friends when they are grown up. Joar answers calmly that he does not think they will all be alive.

Key Events

  • The friends’ moment of shared laughter on the pier becomes the subject of the painting The One of the Sea.
  • Joar discovers a young artists’ competition in a newspaper and urges the artist to enter.
  • The artist reveals his deep insecurity, scratching himself and saying he cannot paint for such competitions.
  • The friends tease Joar about not having a boat to paint, causing a chain reaction of laughter.
  • Joar insists the artist must leave the town because he is destined for greatness, while the rest are “screwed.”
  • The artist asks if their friendship will last into adulthood; Joar predicts that not all of them will survive.

Character Development

  • The Artist (C. Jat): We see his fragility and lack of confidence. Despite being born with extraordinary talent, he cannot see his own worth. His physical scratching signals anxiety, and his plea to forget the competition shows how deeply the world’s rejection has scarred him.
  • Joar: He is the group’s engine—blunt, angry, but deeply loving. His inability to express affection gently is a recurring limitation; instead of saying “I love you,” he roars. His prediction that not all of them will live foreshadows tragedy and underscores his protective, pragmatic view of their harsh reality.
  • Louisa: Only mentioned in passing, but her contribution to the legendary fart underscores her role in the group’s shared humor.
  • The unnamed friend (the “idiot”): By pretending not to understand Joar’s instructions, he shows the friends’ playful dynamic and their need to defuse tension.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Friendship as the mafia: The narrator compares teenage friendship to joining the mafia—you know too much to leave, and no adult could keep those secrets. This motif emphasizes the binding, near-criminal loyalty among the group.
  • Art as rebellion: The artist’s talent is described as “beauty inside him” that is “like an act of rebellion” in a “world full of sledgehammers.” His art becomes a declaration of war against a life that tried to crush him.
  • Skulls: The artist draws skulls in the air as the sun sets and later signs his paintings with them. This symbol recurs as a memento mori, linking beauty with mortality.
  • The Sea and the Pier: The ordinary setting of a pier becomes the site of a moment so joyful it is immortalized as art. The sea represents both freedom and the unknown, while the pier is a liminal space between childhood and adulthood.
  • Poverty and abuse: The friends’ home lives are sketched in specific, brutal details (the sound of a drunk father’s key, choosing between alcohol and toilet paper). Their environment is one of violence, which they survive only through each other.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter Four provides the emotional and factual backstory for the central object of the novel: the painting The One of the Sea. It humanizes the artist, showing his vulnerability and the deep support of Joar, whose prediction of early death hangs over the entire story. This chapter establishes that the friends’ bond was forged in suffering and laughter, and it plants the seed of tragedy that will shape the rest of the narrative. It also connects the adult characters of the present-day auction to their younger selves, giving the reader a reason to care deeply about what happened to each of them.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does the narrator compare teenage friendship to “joining the mafia”? The narrator explains that at fourteen you know every weak and fragile place in each other, and that knowledge is too dangerous to carry into adulthood. Like the mafia, you cannot leave the friendship because you know too many secrets; the loyalty becomes absolute. This comparison underscores the intensity and permanence of the bond formed in that summer.

2. What does Joar’s line “When we’re grown-up, I don’t think we’ll all be alive” reveal about his view of their lives? Joar’s statement shows his harsh awareness of their circumstances. He knows that growing up in poverty and violence often leads to early death. At the same time, it foreshadows that at least one of them will die young. The line also reveals Joar’s protective nature: he wants the artist to escape because he believes the artist has a future, whereas he does not expect himself or the others to survive.

3. How does the conversation about painting the sea illustrate the friends’ different ways of coping with fear? The artist is paralyzed by fear of failure and believes he cannot succeed in a competition for “fancy people with money.” Joar responds with aggressive encouragement, trying to force the artist to believe in himself. The other friend uses humor—pretending not to understand—to break the tension. Together, they manage to make the artist laugh, which is the only way he can momentarily forget his anxiety. This scene shows that each friend deals with the artist’s fear differently, but all ultimately help him move forward.

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