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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Baseball and Statistics
The Professor and Root bond over their love of baseball, in particular the Hanshin Tigers. This comes with some difficulties—because the Professor’s memory stops in 1975, he still believes that his favorite pitcher, Enatsu, still plays for the Tigers. This means that Root has to find creative ways to talk about the Tigers so as not to remind the Professor that it’s no longer 1975. Still, this shared interest allows them to give each other meaningful experiences. Because the Professor only knows baseball through statistics, they get to bring the game to life for him. Conversely, the Professor helps Root understand the beauty of the numbers behind the game.
Baseball becomes a symbol of the Professor’s health. In 1992, the year the novel takes place, the Tigers have a good run and nearly win the pennant, and they begin to improve as Root and the narrator develop their relationship with the Professor. The high point of this relationship and their time together is the game they attend at the beginning of June, which the Tigers win, and in which their pitcher almost throws a no-hitter. A little while later, as the narrator, Root, and the Professor celebrate his prize win and Root’s birthday—the last night the narrator and Root spend with the Professor—the Tigers tie Yakult the night and start their slump. Just as they do not win the pennant, the Professor’s faculties decline so much that he must move into a long-term care facility.
The Purity of Children
The Professor’s belief in the purity of children both drives the plot and the narrator’s affection for him. His love of children leads him to place their protection above all else. He puts this belief into practice with Root, showing surprising strength in carrying Root to the clinic after his knife accident, and leaping in front of him at the baseball game to protect him from a foul ball. Where this belief comes from is never explained, but it helps to show that the Professor is capable of deep kindness. However, it also shows how removed he is from modern life—when he comes to the aid of a small girl at the park, the girl’s mother is wary of him. To the Professor, it’s irrelevant that the girl is not related to him—she is a child and in need of protection, no matter the social conventions.
Notes on the Professor’s Jackets
To cope with his memory loss, the Professor keeps notes reminding him of things on his suit jackets. This habit initially distracts the narrator, and it makes the Professor something of a spectacle on the few occasions that they leave his house. The notes are a literal manifestation of his memories—they represent the most important things that he needs to remember from day to day, and the fact that he has finite space means that he has to determine each day what is most important for him to remember. As a result, earning a place on the jacket is meaningful. It is when the notes are no longer needed that we know the Professor has declined precipitously.
The Cookie Tin
The cookie tin of baseball cards serves as a kind of counterpoint to the notes on the Professor’s jacket. Early in the novel, the narrator finds the tin and opens it, finding perfectly preserved baseball cards, evidence of a never forgotten passion for the sport. However, when she comes back across the tin later, she discovers the Professor’s dissertation, along with evidence of his close relationship with the widow. At that point, she realizes that the cookie tin is a memory tomb—unlike his notes, which record things he must remember, the tin holds things he had to sacrifice.
The Enatsu Baseball Card
The discovery of the cookie tin eventually leads the narrator and Root to try to find an Enatsu baseball card the Professor doesn’t already own to give him as a gift. This difficult search leads to two outcomes: Root and the narrator bond in their quest, and Root finds a sustainable childhood hobby when he becomes enamored with baseball cards. They eventually find an Enatsu card that the Professor loves. After he no longer needs the notes on his jacket, the widow turns the card into a necklace, and that becomes the only other thing he wears each day. The card, then, becomes the most important thing for him to keep and remember, as well as a symbol of the widow’s newfound respect for the narrator and Root, as she ensures he is able to remember them through the card.
