Quality of Life and Quantity of Life Are Often at Odds with Each Other in Old Age

Much of what Bo suffers from throughout the novel is an unwillingness to give up his quality of life in order to extend the number of days of his life. His loved ones are more concerned with his safety than his overall well-being, and this provides much of the interpersonal conflict throughout the novel.

Bo’s aging process has been slow, and his disagreement with his wife over adopting Sixten demonstrates how he had always been more concerned with fully living life over giving in to the realities of age. She worried that they were too old to adopt a dog, but he no longer saw reason to live in a world where he could not have a dog. She relented, and they adopted the dog.

Sixten provides most of...