Summary of The Loving Mother

The Loving Mother

[Mothers are Always Loving and Affectionate]

The Main Characters of the Story

• Shoji Sakota , The Pharmacist
• Sakota's Photographer Friend
• Mother's ghost (who comes every night to Shoji's pharmacy to buy an ame for her child)

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Introduction:

The Loving Mother is a Japanese supernatural story. It's a ghost story in which we find the ghost of a mother, who not only arranges for food for her baby, but also brings into someone's notice that there was a baby there in her apartment. The event takes place in the Sapporo city of Hokkaido Island , Japan. 

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Short Summary of the Story:

The Loving Mother is a ghost story, in which we find the soul (ghost) of a mother trying to save the life of her child by leading some people to her apartment and thus giving the information that there was a living baby there. 

Mr. Shoji Sakota was a pharmacist in Japan. One winter midnight he was busy with the records of the year, when there was a knock at the door. At first he tried to avoid it. But when the knock persisted, he thought to open the door.

But before that he peeped out through the window of the door, he found that a lady was standing there. At first he thought that it might be a trick to rob him, and so he did not want to open the door. But later he opened the door thinking that it might be some emergency.

She was a very strange looking woman who seemed to have come from another world. She asked only an ame for her child. Shoji was surprised at it because ame is not any medicine. It is only a type nutritious sweet. She could have waited till next morning to buy it.

She came next two more nights also with the same demand. On the fourth night, he called a friend in his shop and he took photographs of the lady when she came again. But it was strange that when the photographs were developed, there was no image of the woman in any of the snaps.

 The next night, again when she came, Sakota and his friend followed the woman up to her apartment. 

There in the room they found a baby sucking the same ame which the woman had just brought, and the same woman appeared to be sleeping there. When Mr. Sakota came near her, he found that she was dead and she had been dead for several days.

Thus it was not the woman, it was her ghost who used to come to the pharmacy for an ame for her child.

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Detailed Summary (Pointwise Breakdown of the Story) :

1. Mr. Shoji Sakota and the Midnight Knock:

Mr. Shoji Sakota was a pharmacist in the city of Sapporo, Japan. He used to live alone in his apartment and his pharmacy was in the same apartment.

One stormy night he was busy with his annual report. Suddenly there was  a knock at the door. He didn't want to open the door. He thought that the knocker would return back seeing the door was closed.

 But the knock persisted. After the third knocking , he thought of opening the door, thinking that there might be some emergency. But before actually opening it, he peeped out and found that there was a lady standing there.

2. Shoji Suspects :

Then he thought the lady might be a part of a gang. After her

 knocking, when he would open the door, her other friends would attack him and loot him.

The lady requested him to open the door because she wanted to buy something for her baby. Then he opened the door and the lady came in.

3. The Strange/Mysterious looking lady :

She was a very strange lady. She extremely thin. Her skin was very light (showing bloodlessness). Her long black hair was disheveled. She was wearing a very old kimono.

As she looked at him, Mr. Sakota was startled. Her eyes were extremely strange. They seemed to be looking through him, rather than looking at him. They looked like eyes of someone from another world.

4. The Strange Request :

The lady wanted only an ame for her child. It was strange because he had thought that she would ask for some medicine, but ame was not a medicine. She could have waited for it till the next day. Why she came to buy it in the midnight!  However, he gave her an ame and she returned from there . Mr. Sakota could not resume his work after she had gone; he could not concentrate. So finally he went to his bed.

[An ame]

5. She Came Repeatedly :

She came three continuous nights at the same time and with the same request. Now Mr. Sakota was much worried.

6. Mr. Sakota and his Photographer Friend :

Then Mr. Sakota told all about to his photographer friend. Together they made a  plan to take her pictures, if she came once more, and thus to find out about her.

 As usual, she came that night also. The photographer friend took several snaps of her, without letting her know. But surprisingly enough, there was no image of the lady in any of the pictures. 

7 . On the Fifth Night : 

She came the next night too. This time both friends followed her after she went from the pharmacy. with the ame. She was walking slowly as if she was allowing them to follow her. 

8 . They Reached at her Place :

After some time she led them near an apartment and went inside a room. They also came in. There they found that the same lady was there in a bed, as if she was sleeping, and a little baby was playing with her and licking an ame at the same time.

 When the two friends came nearer, they found that she she dead for a number of days. Now it was clear that it was not the lady who used to come to the pharmacy, it was her soul (ghost) which used to come.

9 . Conclusion :

In this way, this supernatural story wants to tell us that mothers are so loving, that not only in their life time, but even after their death they are worried about their children. 

In this case, the soul of her mother was worried about her baby. By bringing an ame every night she wanted to keep her baby alive. She also wanted to bring somebody to her apartment and to show that there was a baby alone, so that people would take care of her.

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Some Important Questions-Answers:

Question 1. Why was Mr. Sakota working late ?

Answer : It was close to the end of the fiscal year. At this time of year, every business man prepare his/her annual business report. Like others Mr. Sakota was also preparing his annual report. So he was working late.

Question 2. Why didn't Mr. Sakota go to the door when he heard the knock the first time ?

Answer : It was a stormy winter night. Mr. Shoji Sakota was busy with his annual business report. Suddenly there was a knock at his door. When he heard the knock for the first time, he ignored it. He did not like to get up and open the door. He thought whoever it was, could see that the store was closed.. Thinking so, he didn't go to the door.

Question 3. Why didn't he want open the door when he saw the woman through the window of the door ?

Answer : Third time, when the knocking persisted, he came near the door, looked out through the window. He was surprised to see a young woman standing alone there. He thought that perhaps  it was some kind of trick to rob him. So he didn't open the door.

Question 4. Why did he finally let her in ?

Answer: Mr. Sakota was not willing to open the door at first. But the lady was requesting him repeatedly. Now he felt that lady might be in some problem. He also felt that it might be an emergency. So finally he opened the door and let the lady her in.

Question 5. What did the woman ask for ? Why did this request surprise the pharmacist ?

 

Answer : When woman asked for an ame. Mr. Sakota was surprised at it. Ame isn't a medicine. It's only a nutritious candy. He was surprised because he had thought that  she had come due to some emergency , perhaps her son was ill. He had expected that she would ask for some medicine.

Question 6. Why did Mr. Sakota decide to quit working for the night a few minutes after the woman left the store?

Answer : He quit the working firstly because he was tired, and, secondly, because the arrival and appearance of the woman with the strange request in the night had upset him. 

Her physical appearance, particularly her strange, mysterious eyes had made a permanent effect on his mind. He could not get her image out of his mind. It had mentally disturbed him. So he could not continue his work.

Question 7. Why did Mr. Sakota want the pictures taken ?

Answer : When the lady started to visit his pharmacy every night, Mr. Sakota was very much disturbed. He wanted to find out the details about the lady. He thought that her pictures might help him in finding out information about her.

Question 8. What did the woman do when she noticed that Mr. Sakota and his friend were following her ?

Answer : When the next night too she came for an ame, the two friends started to follow her. She also noticed that they were following her. She started to walk still slowly. It seemed as if she wanted them to see where she was going. In short she was leading him to her apartment.

Question 9 . Whom did the men find in the woman's small apartment? How sick was the baby?

Answer : When finally they reached at the lady's apartment, they found that there was a bed there. There was a little baby of eight or nine months in the bed, and the same woman lay there appearing to be asleep. 

The baby was not sick at all. It was happy, satisfied and well. 

Question 10. What do you think Mr. Sakota meant when he said the woman's eyes looked like they belonged to someone from another world?

Answer : The eyes of the visitor were very mysterious and the look in them was abnormal. They seemed to be looking through him, and not at him. So he said they belonged to someone from another world. 

The simple meaning of this expression is that they were not common eyes of any creature of this world. They were uncommon. They were ghostly. His hint was that they seemed to belong to be eyes of a ghost.

Question 11 . Describe the lady who used to visit Mr. Sakota's pharmacy at midnight .

Answer : She was a very strange lady. She was extremely thin. Her skin was very light. Her long black hair was disheveled. She was wearing a very old kimono. Her eyes were extremely strange. They seemed to look through him, rather than looking at him. They eyes looked as if they were not the eyes of a common creature of this world. The eyes were ghostly.

Question 12 . Write a paragraph about this woman (who do you think she was, whether you think she had friends, how you think she died, why she was not found for days , and so on ...)

Answer : The woman remained a mystery all through. Her appearance, her timing, her demand, and particularly her death, everything thing about her mysterious. 

She was excessively thin, her skin was abnormally light, her long black hair was a disheveled (untidy/ ruffled) mass and her eyes, which were very strange. They seemed to be of somebody from another world. 

As she was a spirit (or, ghost) she could not come in the day time. Her dress and appearance make it clear that she was a poor woman Her poverty might have been a prominent (main, important) cause of her death. Perhaps she died of fever or due to lack of proper medicine and nursing. 

She certainly did not have relatives and friends. If there had been any relatives or friends, her body wouldn't have remained there unnoticed for a number of days, and her child wouldn't have with her dead body.

In short, she was a helpless woman, who was forced, to arrange for her child even after her death. 

Question 13 . How many more times did she come before he asked his friend to take pictures of her ?

Answer : She came three times before he asked his friend to take pictures of her. 

Question 14. Why did Mr. Sakota want the pictures taken ?

Answer : He wanted the pictures taken so that he could study her appearance, and trace out where she used to come from.

Question 15. Do you think taking a picture of the woman was a good idea ?

Answer : In general, it is not a good idea to take a picture of a woman with her permission. But it was an exceptional case. Her appearance was so mysterious. Everything he saw in her was so strange. So, in order to study her appearance they took her picture. So it was not a bad idea.

Question 16. What did the film show when it was developed ?

Answer : When the film was developed, they were surprised to find that the pictures clearly showed every object in the store, but not the woman. It was as if she had not been there at all, although his friend said that he had seen her through through the lens of his camera.

Question 17. Write about the similarities and differences between the stories "The Loving Mother" and "A House Call".

Answer: Both are supernatural stories. In the first one, the spirit (ghost) of a mother comes to a pharmacist's shop for her baby, and in the second one, the spirit of a little girl comes to a doctor's house to call him for the treatment for her mother. In this way both stories are about love of mother and child. 

Both stories tell us even after their death, spirits visit their near ones. They become restless if their near and dear ones are in trouble. Death is not the end of all relationships.

The only difference is that in one story mother's spirit helps her child, and in the second story the spirit of a little child helps her mother.

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