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 9-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “31 Rules for Lovers (Circa 1186)”
The chapter begins with 31 adages about love from The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus, followed by short remarks from Mary Foxe, Mr. Fox, and Daphne.
Daphne stays in bed all day to see if Mr. Fox notices, but he does not. He is working, and Daphne says it must be hard to kill so many people. He plays a symphony loudly, but she enjoys the song and is not bothered. Daphne spends the day avoiding housework, and at night, Mary comes to her. Mary is nude and thinks Mr. Fox took away her clothes to punish her. Daphne gives her favorite shirtwaist. She is glad they are the same size.
Mary says Daphne has a good face and asks her what she is thinking. Daphne laughs because Mary doesn’t have a British accent like Mr. Fox said she did. Mary thinks she and Daphne are very similar. Thinking Mary might be magical, Daphne asks if she is pregnant, but Mary cannot tell if Daphne is pregnant. Mary says she loves and believes in Mr. Fox. She touches Daphne, sending a strange, staticky feeling through both of them.
Mary asks if Daphne will take her to a nice dinner, and Daphne agrees. They laugh while picking out hats, and Mary struggles to make a decision. Daphne tells Mr. Fox she is going to dinner with Greta, and he makes a sarcastic remark about where he will get dinner. He suspects she is going to dinner with Pizarsky, and Daphne says something disparaging about him, though she doesn’t mean it.
Mary has fun at dinner, attracting a lot of attention. Daphne tells her, “Modesty is more effective than the most expensive rouge” (290). She realizes she made up that line, and Mary encourages her to put it in her book. Daphne is annoyed for a moment, claiming Mary came to steal her husband and replace him with a hobby. At dinner, Daphne asks Mary several questions about herself and Mr. Fox; Mary tells her things about Mr. Fox before he met Daphne but refuses to talk about his time in the military other than assuring Daphne he was “decent.” Mary excitedly talks about reading books where women are killers, including Hedda Gabler and The Three Musketeers. Daphne wants to point out that those characters aren’t real, but she knows she can’t say that to Mary. Instead, she tells Mary about a book she will write where all the women will survive.
Mary has a list of things she wants to do, and she decides to sleep at the lighthouse, although Daphne invites her to stay at their home. In the taxi, Daphne soothes Mary, who starts to cry. She asks Mary how she came to exist, and Mary explains how it started as a game of writing stories. They arrive at Cloud Cove, and no ferries are running, so Mary takes off the dress Daphne lent her and swims out to the lighthouse.
Daphne returns home, and Mr. Fox questions her; Greta called while Daphne was gone. She is scared of Mr. Fox’s anger, and she freezes. He threatens to hurt her. Then he sends her away, telling her to go to Pizarsky. Daphne locks herself in the spare bedroom, blocking it with a dresser. Mr. Fox tries to break in, then gives up. She stays up late thinking and starts to build a scene in her mind of a woman at a dressing table.
Daphne comes out in the early morning and offers to explain what happened if he comes with her to the lighthouse. Mr. Fox reads her some of his writing, and Daphne feels like she is “too stupid” for him. She waits for him to say something bad to her, and she mouths that she loves him, which she has never said before. He asks if they can start again, and Daphne agrees.
The Foxes go to the lighthouse. They find a note from Mary; it says she is going to Mexico and will reach out to Daphne when she arrives. She says she will come back to Mr. Fox and hopes he will be nicer when she does.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Some Foxes”
In part one of the chapter, a little girl and a fox are scared of each other because they were taught to be enemies. At night, the girl performs puppet shows, casting shadows out the window. This intrigues the fox. The girl’s sister warns her to stop, telling her not to attract attention, but their mother says the little girl can have her puppet shows and sing.
The fox listens to the girl sing, though he does not know what the words mean. He learns to appreciate beauty by listening to and watching the girl, and he begins to find beauty in the forest. The fox wanted to thank and know the little girl. He decided to bring her berries wrapped in a leaf. He had to wait for the right moment to deliver them, as the puppet shows had slowed because the girl was now dating men. After one such night, the girl put on a strange puppet show that the fox didn’t like; however, he still approaches to give her berries. He hops away so she can see but not touch him.
The girl, now a young woman, sees the fox, who looks like he is smiling, though she knows it doesn’t mean anything. She opens the curtain wider and finds the berries. Eating a few, she calls the fox, but he refuses to come. Wanting to thank and know the fox, the young woman follows him into the forest. The young woman gets lost, catches a chill, falls to the ground, and sleeps. She is weak when she wakes up, and a fox leads her home. She is unsure whether it was the original or a new fox. The girl dies from exposure and poisoning from the berries. Not understanding, the fox returns to his “fox business.”
Part two tells the story of a different red fox who has been hunted. The fox has lost everyone, and he decides to go to a farm and become something else, not wanting to be a fox any more. The farmer’s wife finds the fox and takes care of him, trying to nurse him back to health. The woman gets a gun, asking the fox if he wants to die. She shoots without hitting him to startle him, happy to see he runs. The fox pays attention to her after that. She likes him because he has a white star marking on his forehead.
The fox leaves, and the woman tells people she fell in but lost her love. She asks people to look out for someone with a star marking, but she doesn’t say he is a fox. One day, she returns home and finds she has been robbed of her dictionary. The fox took the dictionary to teach himself language. After learning some words, he goes to the woman using words ripped from newspapers to talk to her. He asks her to help him change. She doesn’t think she can do that, but she lets him stay with her. Eventually, he starts talking. He takes on human qualities but keeps his teeth. She lets him bite her and lick the wounds. While carrying water one day, he asks how old they are, but she doesn’t remember. He hugs her, now standing taller than her.
Part three mentions another story about a fox but acknowledges the reader is tired of fox stories.
Chapters 9-10 Analysis
In the final chapters of Mr. Fox, the narrative draws together the novel’s primary themes while deepening the relationships between the characters. Daphne takes center stage in Chapter 9, marking a significant shift as she begins to take control of her story. This perspective shift emphasizes her growing autonomy and contrasts with Mr. Fox’s lingering attempts to dominate the narrative. Chapter 10, with its symbolic fox stories, adds an ambiguous and metaphorical layer to the conclusion, as the narrator remains unclear.
Oyeyemi emphasizes Daphne’s isolation at the start of Chapter 9, where she spends the day in bed, listening to Mr. Fox play loud music—an echo of the first chapter where Mr. Fox assumes the music annoys her. However, Daphne now enjoys the music, feeling comfort in it. This marks a further progression in her character arc and highlights her growing emotional detachment from Mr. Fox’s control, contributing to the symbolic role of symphony music in the novel. As she begins to assert more independence, another key shift occurs in her relationship with Mary. What begins as jealousy and rivalry shifts into empathy when Daphne offers Mary clothes, recognizing her vulnerability. Their bond grows, though Daphne still struggles with insecurities, believing that Mary is meant to replace her—“You just swam in, take my husband with one hand and offer me a hobby with the other” (291). This echoes the story of Brown and Blue in Chapter 4, where Brown’s sense of displacement mirrors Daphne’s insecurity. The internal conflict Daphne experiences—between her resentment of Mary and her affection for her—adds complexity to her character. The two women’s connection evolves as they find themselves united in their shared experiences of Mr. Fox’s manipulation. Daphne’s newfound agency comes through in her decision to confront her situation rather than remain passive. This journey positions her on a path toward empowerment and self-discovery and cements the theme of Subverting Traditional Gender Roles and the “Damsel in Distress” Trope. Telling Chapter 9 entirely from Daphne’s perspective is crucial, as it further emphasizes her transition from a passive side character to an active protagonist. Throughout the novel, Mr. Fox’s and Mary’s narratives have shaped Daphne’s experiences, but here, she steps into a more dominant role, shaping her story. Her fear of Mr. Fox’s anger—“I’m really just going to knock you down” (297)—and the subsequent threat of violence reinforces the fragility of their marriage. Yet, by the chapter’s end, Daphne and Mr. Fox agree to start again. This reconciliation, however, feels tentative, as it’s rooted more in Daphne’s independence than in any meaningful change in Mr. Fox’s character.
Chapter 10 introduces two symbolic stories about foxes, which blur the lines between reality and fiction and serve as metaphors for Mr. Fox, Daphne, and Mary. The first fox, who fears intimacy with the girl, mirrors Mr. Fox’s fear of vulnerability. The fox’s gesture of giving berries, which leads to the girl’s death, symbolizes the unintended harm Mr. Fox inflicts on the women in his life, even when he tries to show affection. The second fox, who seeks to transform into something other than a fox, reflects Mr. Fox’s internal struggle with his identity. He desires to change, to be more than the manipulative figure he has been, yet the story suggests this transformation may be impossible.
The ambiguity of the narrator in Chapter 10 adds another layer to the novel’s exploration of The Relationship Between Authors and Their Characters. The narrative does not clarify who is telling the story—Mr. Fox, Mary, Daphne, or a combination of all three. This uncertainty further deepens the novel’s theme of blurred realities as Mr. Fox’s control over his characters begins to unravel. Daphne and Mary both gain autonomy, challenging Mr. Fox’s authority as the author.
Subverting Traditional Gender Roles and The Ethical Responsibility of Writers in Portraying Violence Against Women also reach their conclusions in these chapters. Daphne’s evolution from passive wife to active agent subverts the traditional damsel trope, as does Mary’s decision to leave for Mexico. Their friendship and solidarity challenge the roles Mr. Fox has imposed on them. Meanwhile, Oyeyemi addresses the ethical responsibility of writers through symbolic violence. The fox’s unintentional killing of the girl and the cycle of biting and wound-licking in the second fox story mirror Mr. Fox’s failure to recognize the harm he causes women. Oyeyemi critiques how male authors often portray violence against women without considering its emotional consequences, emphasizing the ethical responsibilities of storytelling—particularly when depicting violence.
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