54 pages • 1 hour read
Helen OyeyemiMr. Fox
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Hide, Seek”
A family in Asyût has a new baby boy. The child is weak, so they put him up for adoption. A tall woman in black comes for the boy because she says he is a “seeker,” and she needs a seeker.
In Osogbo, near a love shrine, a girl is born. She matures quickly and is beautiful but seems vacant. This bothers her father, and he physically abuses her. People beg him to stop. Eventually, he stops, and the girl apologizes to him.
The boy grows to be arrogant. He is scared of his home, in which the upstairs is blocked off. His new mother collects artistic renditions of female body parts, hoping to compile them into a completed piece that resembles a woman. Together, she and the boy travel, and she relies on him to seek out new pieces of art. He found a photograph of a little girl to serve as the face. They took the photograph from her house, where she and her family were murdered. She said they still needed a heart for their collection.
The girl has an open heart that is too heavy. She tries to give it away, but it always comes back. She first tries to lose weight, but that does not lighten her, so she takes out her heart and hides it behind moss on the wall of the love shrine. The boy’s mother took him to the love shrine, where people say you can hear a heart beating at night.
The girl moves lightly and independently through the world. She wonders about her heart, but she doesn’t go back for it. However, one day, she awakes feeling like she is in love, but she suppresses the feeling.
The mother wants the boy—now a man—to take the heart from the shrine, but he does not want to just take it. He gives his mother a sleeping draught, and he takes their art collection to the shrine. He waited for five days, leaving on the sixth because the heart’s owner did not show up.
Daphne writes that Mr. Fox doesn’t like her. She hates the way he laughs at her when she tries to talk to him; she tries to talk about it with Greta, but Greta laughs, mocking Daphne because she never finished college. Daphne hated college and got stress nosebleeds there. She can learn, but she can’t learn “important things.” Her mother forced her to learn flower arranging, and now she feels compelled to straighten any vase of flowers she sees.
Daphne likes Mr. Fox because he is “different” from others she knows, like Pizarsky, whom she can’t take seriously. However, she is unhappy and worried that Mr. Fox married her because he could “manage” her. She reflects on her youth when she used to imagine the kind of man she would marry; she wanted someone she could “really be together with” (228). Daphne and Mr. Fox met at a soiree thrown to help find Daphne a suitor. Mr. Fox was there. Daphne was drawn to his sadness, and they started dating.
Mr. Fox has gone someplace, leaving his study door unlocked. Daphne is suspicious, but she is relieved that the random phone calls with breathing and crying on the line have stopped. She goes into his study and finds a page with notes about the benefits of “D” and “M.” She is upset that her husband is trying to pick between her and an imaginary woman. She hates Mr. Fox, and she is mad at herself for stopping her use of Lysol to prevent pregnancy. She considers having him “certified insane,” but that would mean Mary wins. Daphne assumes Mary is thinner and taller than her. She thinks that if he hits his head, it may shake Mary out.
Daphne notices a strange shadow. It moves toward her and calls, “Mrs. Fox?”. When Daphne acknowledges the voice, Mary materializes. Daphne tells her to stay back, threatening her with a stapler. The doorbell rings, and Mary scatters. Pizarsky is at the door, and he asks Daphne to come play croquet.
Chapter 8 Summary: “My Daughter the Racist”
A widow’s daughter has been hanging out with boys who glare at passing soldiers. The daughter cut off all her hair and declared that she is racist against the soldiers who patrol their village. The boys stare at the soldiers, and the soldiers point guns at them. The neighbor, Noura, thinks the soldiers wouldn’t shoot children, but the woman learned that people are capable of murdering children.
A man named Bilal asked multiple times to marry the daughter, but she refused. Her mother defends her, saying that she isn’t ready. Bilal jokes that he will kidnap her instead of asking again. Later, the daughter throws rocks at a convoy that drives past. The mother joins in, telling the soldiers to leave. A “scrawny” soldier comes out and approaches them. He offers them chewing gum and says the daughter is brave, asking to shake her hand. The woman and daughter let the trucks pass. While the mother is upset at the event, the town applauds the daughter, and her popularity grows.
The scrawny soldier comes to their house. The mother refuses to tell the soldier her name, but he and the daughter exchange names. He says he might use the daughter’s name for his daughter. The soldier says that the boys who stare at the soldiers remind him of the children in The Pied Piper of Hamelin. On his second visit, the soldier says there are foreign soldiers in his homeland, too. The woman covers her daughter’s ears because the soldier’s story is not an excuse for their presence, but he does not apologize. Later that night, the daughter pretends she never said anything about being racist.
They expect the soldier the next day, but Noura warns them not to see him again. People in town are talking about it, and Bilal is offended. Noura says before the mother arrived in the village, the men in town took and beat a young woman, resulting in severe brain damage. The mother agrees with Noura that the men are violent, but she critiques Noura and the other women for not interfering in the previous attack. Noura also warns that they could take the woman’s daughter. The mother realizes Noura is right. She writes a terrible letter to the soldier, and they don’t see him again. The daughter is sad because the soldier hasn’t returned, and she is no longer popular. The woman tells her it is good when your friends leave because they take pieces of you with them.
Mr. Fox complains about women being manipulative, including imagined women like Mary Foxe. Mr. Fox reflects on his parents—his mother was a librarian, and his father pursued her by pretending to like her favorite books. He considers visiting his mother but drives around and thinks about Daphne instead. Daphne said something about knowing what Ralph Waldo Emerson says; when pressed, she said she doesn’t know, expecting Mr. Fox to know. However, he doesn’t know. He called her a “horror,” and she told him to “write a book about it” (259). The weekend before, at a picnic, Daphne was short with a little girl and uncomfortable holding a baby. Mr. Fox wants to be “allies” with his wife but feels she is holding back. Mr. Fox found a book called Happy Husband in the laundry, which bothered him.
Although Mr. Fox has been trying to conjure her, Mary has not appeared. Mr. Fox worries it will impact his writing. He goes to the bar, where he meets college boys who recognize him. When he gets home, he hears Daphne talking to Pizarsky. He listens in on them and can tell she is drunk, and Pizarsky is sober. Pizarsky denies being like Bluebeard, Reynardine, or Fitcher. Mr. Fox reflects on Pizarsky’s education and wealth. Pizarsky tells the story of Fitcher’s Bird, and Daphne says Mr. Fox is driving her “insane.” As the two are discussing the story of Mr. Fox, Mary appears and tries to pull Mr. Fox away. Mr. Fox decides he is tired of Mary, and he takes away her voice, holding it in his hand. However, Daphne and Pizarsky overheard him, so he must show himself. They explain they played croquet. Daphne goes inside, and Pizarsky leaves.
Mr. Fox finds Daphne in a spare bedroom. She has a bouquet of flowers; Pizarsky gave them to her. Daphne asks him to get her ice, but Mr. Fox questions her. She doesn’t want to fight and asks if she can host a charity dinner soon. Daphne gets up to get the ice and kisses Mr. Fox on the forehead. He goes back to his study, where he finds the note comparing “D” and “M.” He realizes Mary wrote it and thinks Daphne saw it. Mr. Fox says he is incapable of love; he thinks it is powerless. He is conflicted, calling for Mary and wanting her to stay away.
Chapters 7-8 Analysis
The use of multiple narrators serves as a key device the author uses to explore the complex relationships between characters and their roles within the novel; Oyeyemi also uses it to create a narrative that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. This multi-narrator structure deepens the characters’ internal struggles and emphasizes the fluid nature of storytelling. The different viewpoints complicate the plot, allowing Oyeyemi to weave in themes of power, authorship, and gender roles. Through the narrators, the novel presents not just a story but a commentary on how stories are constructed, controlled, and subverted.
Daphne’s progression as a character contrasts sharply with Mr. Fox’s stagnation, highlighting the novel’s continued thematic exploration of Subverting Traditional Gender Roles and the “Damsel in Distress” Trope. Daphne, who initially seems passive and constrained by her marriage, evolves as she confronts the realities of her husband’s relationship with Mary. She begins to assert her agency, questioning Mr. Fox’s control and seeking ways to escape her role as the submissive wife. The moment Daphne reads the note comparing “D” to “M,” which Mary wrote, signifies a turning point. Not only does she see tangible evidence of Mary’s presence, but Mary also materializes before her, directly challenging the boundary between fiction and reality. Daphne’s connection to Mary grows. The flower-arranging skill in which Daphne was trained—which appeared in Chapter 3 when Mary’s character was an assistant florist— connects Daphne to Mary’s world of symbolic storytelling, deepening the interplay between the two characters.
By contrast, Mr. Fox remains static, trapped by his cynicism and a refusal to change. His belief that “love will never be real” emphasizes his emotional detachment (276), as he continues to view relationships through the lens of control and desire rather than genuine affection. While Daphne grows increasingly independent, recognizing the manipulations that surround her, Mr. Fox clings to his power as both a writer and a husband. His relationship with Mary becomes a metaphor for this control; though he calls for her and then silences her, his inability to truly comprehend or release her reflects his deeper issues with control. This juxtaposition between Daphne’s growth and Mr. Fox’s stagnation contributes to the novel’s themes of subverting traditional gender roles, as Daphne begins to break free of her “damsel” status while Mr. Fox remains trapped in his authoritarian mindset.
The growing connection between Daphne and Mary is one of the most significant developments in these chapters. Initially, Daphne’s awareness of Mary is limited to suspicions and insecurities, but as the story progresses, the boundary between them blurs. Mary writes the note comparing Daphne and herself, calls Daphne, and materializes in front of her. This breaking of the fourth wall reflects the theme of The Relationship Between Authors and Their Characters. As Mary moves from the realm of Mr. Fox’s imagination to Daphne’s reality, it becomes clear that the characters are not simply bound by Mr. Fox’s authorship. Mary’s growing autonomy emphasizes that she is not just a figment of the imagination. Rather, she is a fully realized figure, one who can transcend Mr. Fox’s control and interact with Daphne.
The novel’s multiple allusions to fairy tales reinforce these themes. The references to Bluebeard, Fitcher’s Bird, and Reynardine are central to the author’s exploration of violence against women. These fairy tales, which all deal with men who exert control over women—often through violent means—reflect the underlying tension in Mr. Fox’s stories. The connection to Fitcher’s Bird, where the male character dismembers women, echoes Mr. Fox’s violent tendencies in his writing. The references to Bluebeard and Reynardine serve as warnings about the consequences of unchecked male power, as both tales involve women trapped by men’s cruelty. Mr. Fox’s inability to evolve, despite these cautionary tales, underscores Oyeyemi’s depiction of The Ethical Responsibility of Writers in Portraying Violence Against Women. Through these fairy tale allusions, Oyeyemi also subverts the “damsel in distress” trope, positioning women like Daphne and Mary as figures who challenge their traditional roles. Instead of being passive victims, they begin to take control of their narratives. Daphne’s growing awareness of her situation and her connection to Mary signifies a shift away from the damsel archetype, as both women recognize the power dynamics at play and resist them. By contrast, Mr. Fox’s continued reliance on these old stories and perpetuation of violence, along with his refusal to acknowledge the real emotional stakes of his relationships, reinforces his stagnation and the outdated nature of his worldview.
Related Titles
By Helen Oyeyemi
