Fairy Tales
Backman elucidates, "Miamas is Elsa and Granny's secret kingdom. It is one of the six kingdoms in the Land-of-Almost-Awake. Granny came up with it when Elsa was small and Mum and Dad had just divorced and Elsa was afraid of sleeping because she'd read on the Internet about children who died on their sleep." Granny is a talented storyteller who entertains Elsa and alleviates her fear of dying while asleep through enthralling fairy tales. Moreover, the fairy tales distract her from the gloominess activated by her parents' divorce.
Death
Backman narrates, “Granny and Elsa are playing Monopoly. Granny doesn’t say anything about cancer, For Elsa’s sake. And Elsa doesn’t say anything about death, for Granny’s sake. Because Granny doesn’t like talking about death, especially not her own. So when Elsa’s mum and the doctors leave the room to talk in low, serious voices in the corridor, Elsa tries not to look worried." The dread of death is evident, although Granny and Elsa are Avoidant. They are cognizant that it will eventually transpire though. The deliberate avoidance of the death subject minimizes the displeasure which Granny would ensure as a result of reflecting about her forthcoming expiry.
