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.
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The Housekeeper
The titular Housekeeper is the first-person narrator and ostensible protagonist of the novel; like the rest of the characters, she remains unnamed throughout. She was raised by her own single mother, a woman who worked long hours at a banquet hall, which required her to spend a lot of time caring for herself at home from a very young age. While in high school, she became pregnant by a boy who refused responsibility for the child, and her mother disowned her in response; as a result, as soon as Root was born, she went to work as a housekeeper.
The narrator describes herself as practical-minded and somewhat cold—when Root is born, she does not feel warmth toward him, but a sense of obligation and responsibility that make her a dedicated mother. Therefore, although she works hard to make ends meet, Root spends a lot of time without her, and he doesn’t have the same kinds of childhood experiences that his friends do (e.g., collecting baseball cards). At the same time, she doesn’t think much about her own passions or experiences—she is only concerned with raising Root as best she can.
However, her employment with the Professor changes this. Practically speaking, his insistence that Root join them—against the agency’s policies—means that the narrator spends much more time with Root than she had before. The Professor’s love for children and protectiveness of Root instill in the narrator a similar affection, making her more conscious of Root’s emotional needs as the novel progresses. Likewise, the Professor’s love of mathematics proves to be infectious, leading her to explore numbers and research mathematics even when he isn’t around.
The Professor
The Professor is an older man with a neurological condition which prevents him from remembering anything from more than 80 minutes prior. He is a brilliant man who was a professor of mathematics specializing in number theory; however, in 1975, he got into a car crash that led to his current condition. He is now under the care of his sister-in-law; he lives in a small cottage on a corner of her property and spends his days solving advanced mathematical puzzles for prize money from academic journals.
When we are first introduced to the Professor, we are led to believe he must be difficult to work with, as he has gone through a large number of housekeepers with the agency; the narrator’s initial encounters with him reinforce this, as he is working on a puzzle and spends the first few days entirely lost in thought. Once he solves the puzzle, though, his demeanor changes, and he becomes friendlier with the narrator, even if still somewhat oafish and slovenly.
However, the real change comes when he discovers that the narrator has a young son. The Professor insists that Root stay with them after school instead of being alone at home, and all of his bad manners immediately disappear around Root. The Professor looks forward to helping Root with his math homework, demonstrating an enormous amount of patience and respect for even the simplest problems, surprising the narrator.
The Professor’s love and care for Root makes the narrator greatly admire him, and it even works to bring her and Root closer. Likewise, the Professor’s love for numbers awakens an interest in mathematics in both her and Root. Despite the Professor forgetting who they are each morning, the three become very close, and remain so until the Professor’s death, long after the narrator stops working for him.
Root
Root is the 10-year-old son of the narrator. He is a respectful boy who spends a lot of time on his own, making him more mature and responsible than others his age. When the narrator goes to work for the Professor, Root maintains this maturity and has a level of insight about the Professor that often astonishes the narrator.
Root grows very close with the Professor very quickly, bonding with him in part over their mutual love of the Hanshin Tigers. Root even becomes protective of the Professor in the same way the Professor is protective of him. For example, when the narrator is worried about leaving the Professor alone with Root, Root is furious with her for not trusting the Professor. Likewise, when she buys tickets to a Tigers game, Root is the one to point out all the potential obstacles, such as the Professor’s hatred of crowds and the fact that he won’t know any of the players, which may remind him about his memory issues.
Root remains close with the Professor until his death—he and the narrator continue to visit him once a month. The Professor’s love of mathematics impacts him deeply, as he becomes a teacher of mathematics himself.
The Widow
The Professor’s sister-in-law, also referred to as the widow, was the wife of the Professor’s much-older brother. The Professor’s brother took over their parents’ textile factory, expanding their business and becoming wealthy; after their parents’ death, the brother funded the Professor’s education. After the brother’s death, his widow replaced the factory with apartment buildings in order to live off the rent.
At the start of the novel, the widow is standoffish and curt towards the narrator, and seems distant and cold to the Professor. As the novel progresses, though, it becomes clear that the widow has a particular affection for the Professor—the narrator finds a photograph of them when they were young, hidden away with his dissertation and a note. The narrator also discovers that the widow was in the car with him at the time of the accident. However, the full nature of their relationship is never revealed.
Through most of the novel, the widow is a hidden, ominous force: the narrator meets with her briefly when she first gets the assignment, but she is told not to disturb her for any reason. When the narrator oversteps her bounds—first by taking the Professor to a baseball game, then by spending the night when he develops a fever—the widow calls the agency and has the narrator removed as his housekeeper. When Root shows up unexpectedly, though, it becomes clear that the widow had been suspicious of the relationship, believing that the narrator has mercenary motives towards the Professor. The Professor’s response—a note with Euler’s formula—signals something to the widow that makes her immediately recognize their friendship.
