63 pages • 2 hours read
Yoko OgawaThe Housekeeper and the Professor
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
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BetaChapters 10-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
The day of the party arrives. The Professor points to the note on his jacket, proud that he “recalls” that it’s the day of the party, and the three of them set to preparing for it. The Professor surprises the narrator by skillfully ironing a tablecloth.
Before the party, the narrator discovers that the bakery forgot to include candles with the cake. Root volunteers to go and runs off before the narrator can object. As time passes, the Professor becomes increasingly worried about Root; the narrator calms the Professor’s nerves, but finally, agrees to go after Root. She finds Root looking for an open bakery, since the original bakery was closed. By the time they return, the table and cake are ruined—the Professor tried to get the cake ready, but it fell from the box, crushing one side. The narrator quickly cleans it and cuts three slices, hoping the Professor will forget about it and move on. Once everything is ready, the Professor notices Root as if for the first time and begins asking him his introductory questions.
Chapter 11 Summary
At the party, the three listen to the Tigers play Yakult. The Professor gives Root a genuine-leather, Little League-certified baseball glove, which thrills Root; the narrator finds out later that the Professor had sent the widow out for the glove. Likewise, the Professor loves the Enatsu card, stricken speechless by the gift. The narrator and Root try to ignore the fact that the Professor forgot them after such a short period of time, and they simply enjoy the rest of the evening as best they can.
At home, the narrator and Root continue to listen to the game, although Root falls asleep. The Tigers almost win, but after 15 innings, the game ends in a tie. The narrator looks back on this game as the turning point of the season—the Tigers end the season just shy of the pennant and go into a long slump.
Two days after the party, the widow moves the Professor into a long-term care facility, something she’s been planning for some time. The narrator is concerned that it is because of the party, but the widow knew it would be their last night with him, so she was fine with the extended goodbye. The narrator offers to continue caring for the Professor, but the widow declines, explaining that they have fine caretakers at the hospital, and that moreover, while the Professor won’t remember the narrator, he’ll always remember his sister-in-law.
Still, the narrator and Root visit the Professor about once a month. They pack sandwiches and have lunch with him; when it’s warm, he and Root play catch on the lawn. The widow is often there, as well; sometimes she uses the chance to go do some shopping, while other times she stays and talks with them. The visits continue until the Professor’s death. No matter how big Root gets, in the Professor’s eyes he remains a child in need of protection. The notes on his jacket eventually fall off, and are no longer replaced; however, the widow makes a necklace out of the Enatsu card, and he wears that instead.
Root plays baseball through college until an injury ends his career and continues to talk mathematics with the Professor. When he’s 22, shortly before the Professor passes away, Root passes his exams to become a middle school teacher of mathematics. When he proudly announces this, the Professor, despite his frailty, embraces Root with joy.
Chapters 10-11 Analysis
The celebration showcases many of the novel’s motifs, like the Professor’s love of the Tigers, his protective feelings toward Root, and his ability to spot the evening star. In a striking change, however, we learn that the widow has purposefully allowed them to have their celebration so that they could unwittingly say goodbye to him—in her usual enigmatic style, she didn’t tell them this, but it’s still a sharp change from her earlier suspicious and unfriendly behavior. The widow is no longer jealous of the narrator’s role in the Professor’s life—as the widow points out, the Professor will always remember her, though he cannot remember either Root or the narrator.
Still, though, we see the impact of the Professor on the narrator and Root, as well as their impact on him. In an important symbol of his love for them, his many notes are replaced by the Enatsu card—he may not remember where the card came from, but that card becomes the most important thing for him to remember. Moreover, it’s significant that the widow turns the card into a necklace for him, further solidifying her newfound respect for Root and the narrator.
