Britt-Marie Was Here

“Faxin is Britt-Marie’s brand of window-cleaner. It’s even better than baking soda. She doesn’t feel like a fully fledged human being unless she has a more-or-less full bottle at the ready. No Faxin? Anything could happen in such a situation.”

Britt-Marie originally discovered Faxin in a newspaper ad that read, “FAXIN LETS YOU SEE THE WORLD” (36). This ad establishes Faxin as the physical representation of Britt-Marie’s worldview. The quote above emphasizes how important Faxin becomes to her—no other cleaner, and therefore perspective, can replace it. In this way, Britt-Marie both repeats her desire to exist and rejects other, more domineering viewpoints, like that of Kent. Ironically, it is not until Britt-Marie no longer needs Faxin that she is able to venture to Paris and actually “see the world.”

“[Britt-Marie says,] ‘I want a job because I actually don’t think it’s very edifying to disturb the neighbors with bad smells. I want someone to know I’m here.’”

Britt-Marie fears death because of childhood trauma. At the same time, she also fears dying alone and neglected, as much of her life was spent alone and neglected by her family and her husband. Therefore, Britt-Marie desires work not for the money, but for valued human connection.

“‘It takes an excellent imagination to pretend one doesn’t understand anything year in, year out, even though one washes all his shirts and one doesn’t use perfume,’ she whispers.”

Despite Kent’s claims that Britt-Marie lacks capability, humor, and imagination, Britt-Marie has all of those and more. Not only does she have the imagination to ignore Kent’s obvious affair, but she also has the resilience to continue on despite her failed marriage, remaining loyal to Kent even when Kent is not faithful to her. Her one insistence on washing his shirt every night is both her coping method (cleaning) and a display of her unhappiness at the situation.

“‘Absolutely not!’ Britt-Marie interrupts, walking towards the door as she hisses: ‘I’ll use baking soda!’

Because you can’t change Britt-Marie’s way of seeing the world. Because once Britt-Marie has taken a position on the world there’s no changing her.”

Britt-Marie is stubborn, as evidenced by her repeated visits at the unemployment office to find work. Similarly, she is protective of her worldview (and therefore Faxin) because so many people in her life have tried to mold it in their preferred image. Therefore, when Faxin isn’t available, she depends on baking soda, her other key cleaning agent, to shield herself from unwanted change.

“‘Town. Twelve miles that way, huh? These are, you know, the kids left behind. [...] Maybe financial crisis cleared out of the city, you know, but it likes Borg. It’s living here now, the bastard!’

Britt-Marie notes the clear distinction between how [Somebody] speaks of the ‘town’ twelve miles away and the city Britt-Marie comes from. There are two different levels of contempt.”

This quote most clearly introduces the theme of Social Class as Othering in the novel: There are levels of privilege, and Britt-Marie comes from the top. This is unattainable to the Borg residents, so instead, they vent their financial frustrations on their slightly more privileged neighbor, the town, which exerts greater noticeable influence on Borg. Britt-Marie, meanwhile, an outsider distanced from the conflict, views both the town and Borg as fairly similar and must adjust to the complex nuances of her new location.

“Not that Britt-Marie didn’t have any dreams of her own; it was just that [Kent’s] were bigger, and the one with the biggest dreams always wins in this world. She had learned that.”

A key factor in Britt-Marie’s development growing up was that she was the overlooked sidekick, even as a child. In her youth, Ingrid was the favored sister with big dreams of Paris; in her marriage, Kent has the bigger personality and entrepreneurial goals. Because of Ingrid, Britt-Marie became used to fading into the background; Kent compounds this, but without Ingrid’s empathy and encouragement to balance out his narcissistic traits and condescension.

“‘Everyone shops on credit in Borg.’ ‘I certainly don’t shop on credit! I can see maybe you don’t understand such a thing in Borg, but there are some of us that can pay our way!’ hisses Britt-Marie.’”

This is Britt-Marie’s second major interaction with social class in Borg. As she often does in unfamiliar social encounters, she falls back on mimicking Kent’s attitude, ignorant of the fact that doing so may exacerbate the situation. Although Britt-Maire is chastised and soon learns her lesson, her clear ignorance and mirrored disdain belies her claim that she has no prejudices.

“ [Britt-Marie] thinks about adding that she has always found it reasonable to assume that the human soul is found in the sodium bicarbonate. When it leaves the body, there’s nothing left.”

Sodium bicarbonate is another name for baking soda; this quote therefore extrapolates on why baking soda is so important to Britt-Marie. The loss of her sister impacted her greatly: The use of baking soda on her mattress and as a general cleaning agent could be viewed as Britt-Marie’s attempt to shield herself from the impurities of the world and the many ways she could suddenly perish. Alternatively, by surrounding herself with baking soda, she is arguably seeking ways to keep her sister close, especially when she has no one else to turn to in her unhappiness.

“It’s easier to stay optimistic if you never have to clear up the mess afterwards.”

Britt-Marie is always cleaning to cope with her own trauma and misery; however, she is just as often cleaning up after other people. After Ingrid’s death, Britt-Marie attempted to keep house and support her family, but was met only with her mother’s contempt and depression. Kent, meanwhile, also openly disparaged her, but though he was aware of her struggles, he hardly bothered to assist. His insistence that Britt-Marie “lighten up a little” therefore rankles even more, as he causes many of her problems.

“‘We have a team!’ roars Vega and stamps back towards Britt-Marie. ‘We’re here, aren’t we? We’re here! So we are a team! Even if they take our bloody pitch and our bloody club and our trainer has a bloody heart attack and goes and bloody dies on us we’re a team!’”

This quote speaks to the importance of soccer as a symbol of hope and rejuvenation. Although Vega is the only girl on her team, she rejects Britt-Marie’s suggestion to join an all-girls’ team in town, declaring her loyalty to the ragtag Borg youth team. Despite all the obstacles they face, from no pitch to no coach, they remain determined to play together; similarly, although Borg is in decline, there are still residents who are determined to stay and revive it.

“[Kent] never went onto the balcony, so the balcony belonged to Britt-Marie and no one else, which was something quite unique.”

Via the narrator, Britt-Marie reflects on the importance of balconies; in this way, its significance as a symbol of safe, private spaces is also introduced. Britt-Marie, often overshadowed by others, has very little that belongs solely to her. Her balcony is one such place and is thus highly valued for the solace it provides; in fact, it is the one aspect of her old life that she misses when she leaves Kent.

“‘Get over it, darling! It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught!’ [Kent] always used to say.”

Kent, whether out of necessity or greed, regularly committed tax fraud. This may have contributed to Britt-Marie’s later rejection of crime and fear of being perceived as a criminal. While this influence doesn’t justify her behavior and prejudice toward Borg citizens who commit petty crime out of desperate financial necessity, she does later grow from the experience and become more flexible in her thinking.

“‘Why are you so dreadfully amused by soccer, then?’ asks Britt-Marie. Pirate seems to find the question mystifying. ‘What do you mean? People like soccer just because they like soccer, that’s all.’”

This conversation with Pirate/Ben has layers. On one hand, it reinforces the symbolism of soccer as hope, because anyone can hope without limitation, just as anyone can play and enjoy soccer if they so choose. On the other hand, there is also an element of social class critique as well—Max plays hockey because Fredrik considers it a mark of social status; Max would prefer to play the more egalitarian soccer because he dislikes this class divide and connects more to Borg than he does to the wealthier town.

“Fredrik totters back to his BMW. His self-confidence seems to grow with every step he takes towards it, as if the car is giving him superpowers.”

Fredrik is very conscientious of his social class in that he seeks to be viewed as superior. In that way, he finds power in status objects, such as his BMW, especially when he is physically and/or verbally intimidated by those below him, like the Borg residents. While Max later reveals that he and Fredrik aren’t truly so different from Borg villagers, Fredrik prefers to hide this fact, depicting him as a knock-off Kent.

“We want you to know there’s another Borg than the one with a couple of old blokes sitting in a pizzeria boozing all day. There are the rest of us as well. Those of us who haven’t given up.”

As Britt-Marie settles into Borg and learns more about the people who live there, she begins to understand the nuances of the population. Rather than dismiss them as criminals and “losers” like Kent would have (and as she does upon her arrival), she begins to view them as people with struggles just like her. A major turning point for Britt-Marie was accompanying Ben to visit his father in prison; Ben’s mother is grateful that Britt-Marie doesn’t reject Ben for this and that she allows him to keep his place on the soccer team, and therefore his hope.

“One curious thing Kent can do is that he can feel so at ease in a place that Britt-Marie immediately feels like a stranger.”

Kent’s reappearance in Britt-Marie’s life triggers a backslide in her progress toward Self-Actualization and Independence. His behaviors, which remain constant, and his appearance, which has worsened, bring back Britt-Marie’s insecurities and guilt for leaving him. On the other hand, the contrast between her past and present selves also highlights how much she changed once she left him.

“But [Kent and Sven] are not listening to [Britt-Marie]. They continue rowing and gesticulating as if she were something you could just switch off with a remote control.”

Despite the budding love triangle between Sven, Kent, and Britt-Marie, her role in this relationship drama often pales compared to—or is used to mask—the starker tension between the men’s respective social classes. Kent prefers to dominate by showing off his superiority and putting down others; Sven, meanwhile, defends the integrity of his profession and his village but is emasculated and disempowered when faced with Kent’s bullying. In this way, their professions of love to Britt-Marie become less like genuine romance and more like male posturing.

“‘Vega’s afraid, even though she mainly seems angry. Omar is angry, though you’d probably think he was afraid.’ ‘And you [, Sami]?’ ‘I don’t have time to feel things, I have to take care of them.’”

Sami is most similar to Britt-Marie in terms of trauma, coping, and burdens. Having lost or rejected his parents, Sami must replace them to care for his siblings, much like Britt-Marie stepped up to care for her mother after Ingrid’s death; they therefore cannot afford to acknowledge their own painful emotions. Vega and Omar, however, mask their true emotions with others to cope with circumstances that have no good answers.

“‘You don’t have to support Liverpool from the day you’re born, Coach. You can learn to do it when you’re grown up.’

It’s a day for the soccer cup, and for farewells, and it’s the day Britt-Marie puts fuel in her own car. She would have been capable of climbing mountains or crossing oceans, if someone had asked her to.”

This quote highlights the positive effects of soccer and its symbolism of hope on a personal level. Hope provides motivation for success, even in the darkest of hours, as represented by Liverpool. Although Britt-Marie faces a return to her miserable marriage with Kent after the soccer cup, she has proven herself capable of insurmountable tasks. Even if she does return to Kent, she will not be as meek and useless as she once thought herself to be.

“Things have changed. They’re going to the soccer cup. They no longer want to [leave Borg], they want to see what happens next. It’s been awhile since anyone in Borg wanted to know what happens next.”

Hope has a widespread effect. Despite Borg’s financial decline, the fact that they’ve won the town soccer council’s grudging acknowledgment of the team galvanizes them to consider that they, like Britt-Marie, may have greater power than they originally thought. Going to the soccer cup not only means supporting their team of underdogs, but also witnessing hope in action—the success of their team could mean success for their town, at last.

“Leave it! [Max] talks like one of them but he plays soccer like one of us. You got it? Leave him alone.”

While Vega is like Britt-Marie in her rigid worldviews, Omar is more flexible. He is dazzled by Kent’s entrepreneurial “successes,” but also is the first to accept Max’s request to join the soccer team. Here, though Vega seeks to denounce Max for his father’s contempt of Borg despite their own financial straits, Omar ends the conflict by declaring that Max is one of Borg’s own, therefore implying that internal conflict is both pointless and destructive. Instead, they should remain united against a more formidable foe—the town council and the other teams playing in the soccer cup.

“‘I don’t feel pain anymore when I’m playing soccer,’ says Vega, her eyes fixed on the number on the back of the jersey soaking in the sink.”

Like cleaning for Britt-Marie, soccer is Vega’s coping mechanism. Her passion for the game derives in part from her fear of her reality and allows her to remain optimistic for the future. Sami’s death changes this, as she is forced to grow up and replace him to support Omar and keep their family together.

“Death is the ultimate state of powerlessness. Powerlessness is the ultimate despair.”

This quote sums up Britt-Marie’s fears—she was unable to save her sister, and the knowledge of this powerlessness holds her back from hope. Similarly, Britt-Marie, Vega and Omar, and the Borg residents were powerless to save Sami from his own choices, and this knowledge compounds the devastation of his death. Like the arrival of Kent in Borg, Sami’s loss is a fulcrum that may negate the positive influence of the soccer cup success.