This chapter opens with a flashback to the beginning of the novel, when the protagonist is still a student. He is now a teacher, and he has just resigned from his job because he feels that he is not doing a good enough job for his students. He asks the teacher why he has resigned, and the teacher tells him that he has not thought about what he wants to do for the rest of his life. The narrator then tells the audience that the reason for the teacher's resignation was that he did not think of what he wanted to do with his life after he had left the classroom. He says that if the teacher had not resigned, he would not even know what to do now. He also says that he will rely on the teacher more and more in the future.