The Housekeeper and the Professor

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“A New Setting for The Housekeeper and the Professor”

In this activity, students will recontextualize the book to a new setting and consider how the new setting affects the plot and characters.

Ogawa’s novel can be viewed as a loose fictional retelling of the story of mathematician Paul Erdős. The author sets this retelling in late-20th century Japan; as with any setting, the characters are shaped in part by culture, location, time period, and other setting elements. For this Activity, consider a different setting for the story (time and/or place) and analyze how this new setting would change particular details of the plot and characters.

• First, research the life of mathematician Paul Erdős. Reflect on the ways in which the novel makes connections to his story.
• Then, decide on your new setting. You may want to research the time and place and note realistic and/or historical details that would likely impact the plot or characters.
• Finally, write a brief summary that explains the ways in which the plot and characters would be different due to the changed setting. Use the phrases below to guide your thinking:

o The interest in a sport

o The importance of caregiving and access to caregivers

o The potential for isolation of various groups

o The love of mathematics and/or another subject pertinent to the setting

o The bonds of a found family

o The stigma connected to working single mothers

After sharing your summary, compare your adaptation to your classmates in a brief journal response. How might the various setting choices impact the story’s overall tone and conflict? What character considerations would an author likely take into account with certain settings?

Teaching Suggestion: Students should feel free to explore potential writer choices with this Activity, keeping in mind the main elements of the story (i.e., a professor awakening a love of learning in a caregiver and child). Students might, however, change some of the story’s details such as the discipline of studies. This Activity connects with the novel’s themes of Philosophies of Education and The Nature of Memory.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Consider the role of memory in the novel.

• What overall lesson or message does the novel convey regarding The Nature of Memory? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss 3 plot points or character actions in support of your topic sentence. For example, what arguments does the novel make about the importance and centrality of memory based on the Professor’s struggles or the Housekeeper’s decisions?
• In your concluding sentences, evaluate the efficacy of the author’s style and tone in communicating this overall lesson or message.

2. Reflect on the father figures and mother figures in the novel.

• Which character or characters most clearly fulfill(s) the role of a parental figure? (topic sentence)
• Identify 1-2 examples from the text in support of your topic sentence and discuss how the chosen character or characters fulfill(s) the role more effectively than others in the novel.
• In your concluding sentences, briefly summarize what the novel is saying about the importance of fathers and mothers.

3. A crucial moment comes when the Professor defends Root—and by extension, the narrator—by writing Euler’s formula on a slip of paper. Briefly research this mathematical concept.

• What is this formula’s symbolic significance in the novel? (topic sentence)
• Offer at least 3 points of support for your topic sentence based on text details. For example, why does the Professor write it? Why does it affect the widow as much as it does?
• In your concluding sentences, briefly explain how the formula’s significance helps to develop the theme of The Poetry of Mathematics.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider some of the difficulties that the Housekeeper faces as a single mother in late-20th century Japan. In what other ways does the novel address social class or gender as limiting barriers in Japanese society at the time? How do social class or gender considerations reflect on the way that the Housekeeper is treated? Does it reflect on the way she treats people? Why or why not? Discuss your ideas and rationale in a brief essay of 3 or 5 paragraphs, citing text details to support your argument.

2. The Professor’s love for mathematics stems from a particular, sublime beauty he sees in the field. In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, analyze the ways in which the novel connects poetry and beauty with mathematics, considering such elements as plot, characterization, theme, tone, pacing, and writing style. What does the story suggest about the boundaries between these areas?

3. The Professor firmly believes that math illuminates truths about the universe. Why does he believe this? What does the novel suggest about the nature of truth? How does this truth extend beyond the field of mathematics? In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, discuss the motif of truth in the novel and evaluate the efficacy of associating the concept of truth most closely with the Professor’s character.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following descriptions best represents the type of conversations among the Professor, the housekeeper, and her son?

A) Didactic

B) Pedantic

C) Archaic

D) Epic

2. Which of the following statements can be said about the prior nine housekeepers?

A) They did not show empathy to the Professor’s eccentricities.

B) They are more academic than he is.

C) They show a greater love for children and animals.

D) They were focused on amassing the Professor’s fortune.

3. In describing the Professor’s study, the Housekeeper notes:

“And yet, the room was filled by a kind of stillness. Not simply an absence of noise, but an accumulation of layers of silence, untouched by fallen hair or mold, silence that the Professor left behind as he wandered through the numbers, silence like a clear lake hidden in the depths of the forest” (Chapter 1).

Which of the following combinations of literary terms are used in this quote?

A) Allusion and metaphor

B) Anaphora and simile

C) Metaphor and personification

D) Paradox and simile

4. Which of the following phrases best describes why the Housekeeper originally started her profession?

A) A natural evolution from her duties as a child

B) A departure from her family’s expectations

C) A desire to support elderly patients

D) A hatred of formal education and university

5. Which of the following phrases is the most important to the Professor for his students when they are learning?

A) To know that the Professor is always right

B) To feel ashamed if they do not know the answer

C) To only ask questions that are of value to the lecture

D) To explore both the known and the unknown in mathematics

6. As he completes his homework, Root considers the following question: “It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s the same forward and backward: ‘A nut for a jar of tuna’—what’s that supposed to mean? Nobody would trade a jar of tuna for a nut” (Chapter 5). Based on the above quote, what literary term is Root learning about in his class?

A) Parable

B) Paradox

C) Palindrome

D) Personification

7. The Housekeeper remarks to herself that, “[t]he Professor’s body had been consumed by the devil of mathematics” (Chapter 6). Which of the following combinations of literary terms does the Housekeeper use in this quote?

A) Allusion and metaphor

B) Anaphora and simile

C) Metaphor and personification

D) Paradox and simile

8. In reference to her brief replacement, the Housekeeper notes:

“The housekeeper who had pinch-hit for me had been methodical, and while I had been afraid to disturb the Professor’s work and had barely touched the books in his study, she had picked them all up and stuffed them into the bookshelves, stacking any that didn’t fit in the spaces above the armoire and under the sofa” (Chapter 7).

What is the clearest purpose of the metaphor in this quote?

A) To draw a distinction between her work approach to the replacement

B) To compare her replacement to a baseball position

C) To highlight the problems of the new housekeeper’s work method

D) To recall the importance of organization for the Professor’s mental state

9. What event is paralleled with the Housekeeper’s story throughout the majority of the novel?

A) The baseball season

B) The prime minister’s election

C) The university admission process

D) The sister-in-law’s recovery

10. Which of the following statements is most true about the Professor’s personality?

A) He only cares about winning.

B) He is primarily concerned with the challenge of solving a problem.

C) He is focused on making money in order to provide for Root.

D) He despises competition in any form.

11. Which of the following words best describes the relationship between the Professor and Root?

A) Tenuous

B) Strained

C) Compassionate

D) Unreciprocated

12. Which of the following phrases is a continual obstacle for the Housekeeper throughout the novel?

A) Finding a husband

B) Working as a single mother

C) Motivating Root to do well in school

D) Securing childcare

13. Based on the Professor’s characterization, which of the following statements would the Professor most likely agree with?

A) Children should be seen and not heard.

B) Being right is more important than learning.

C) Winning is above all intellectual pursuits.

D) Every question serves a purpose.

14. Which of the following words best describes the Housekeeper’s personality?

A) Melodramatic

B) Apathetic

C) Paranoid

D) Empathetic

15. What does the ending of the novel imply about the relationship between the Professor and Root?

A) Root does not care about the Professor.

B) Root was deeply affected by his experience with the Professor.

C) Root enjoyed playing baseball more than the Professor.

D) Root always despised the nickname given to him by the Professor.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does the narration style help readers learn about the main characters? How does the narration contribute to the novel’s tone or mood?

2. Which characters are static in the novel? Which characters grow? Offers several points of text evidence.