Family

Family is an important theme in the novel “The Housekeeper and the Professor” by Yoko Ogawa. Family, thematically, involves the love, compassion, loyalty, encouragement, and support of and between individuals who may or may not be blood-related, but who act in accord with the traditional family unit. Family proves to be tremendously influential in the novel, not only to the Housekeeper and Root, but to the Professor as well.

When the novel begins, the only family that the Housekeeper has is her son, whom she loves dearly. Root, in turn, loves his mother dearly. The Housekeeper’s entire life is devoted to work for her son so that her son may have a better life than what she had growing up. The Professor, meanwhile, has only nominal family through his sister-in-law who keeps him at arm’s length, but nearby. She provides for him financially, but...