- Back to school. This is great news for some people, who are getting grants to pursue interesting studies.
- It even greater needs for Dr. Hagen, who is being asked to move to a more prestigious university. But it is terrible news for Pnin, who will probably lose his job as a result.
- Pnin's last hope is a guy called Leonard Blorenge, but by the sound of it our favorite professor is kinda screwed.
- And not just because his name is "Blorenge." Get this: Blorenge is the Chair of French Literature and Language, but he hates literature and does not speak French. We don't think we need to say anything else.
- Meanwhile, Pnin is blissfully unaware of what's going on. He's probably the happiest he's been in the whole novel, and he's even found a place to call home.
- He's so excited about this new future digs that he decides to host a housewarming party. The only problem with that is, outside of the Russian émigrés, Pnin doesn't really have friends. Still, he manages to invite some people.
- Pnin gets ready hours before the guests are supposed to arrive. He even uses the precious bowl sent to him by Victor to serve punch. He's really going all out!
- Now the party's started. The Clements are here and more people are arriving by the moment. If you want to know what the party is like, it's simple. Imagine if a bunch of professors who don't know each other very well got together and started making corny literary jokes and referred to cocktails as flamingo tails as some kind of sly ornithological reference. Yeah, it's that bad.
- Well, things at least start to get better when they get drunk.
- In between all of this, there is a passage where Pnin talks about Cinderella and how her shoes were originally made out of squirrel fur, but magically transformed over the years into being made out of light blue glass. This probably doesn't make sense to you now, but it's a good idea to remember it.
- By 10 o'clock everybody in the club (or Pnin's house) has gotten tipsy. They are still making lame literary jokes, but it's slightly funnier because they are all red-faced. In this drunken state, they somehow predict the emergence of e-schooling and Skype.
- Finally, the party is winding down and people are going home. Before Joan/John Clements and Margaret Thayer leave, Pnin invites them to take a look upstairs and they just can't refuse. It's cute and full of children's books. Aw.
- Finally, as everyone's leaving, Dr. Hagen arrives. Awesome timing, dude. We can only imagine that he's going to be a buzz kill. As soon as he hears that Pnin is planning on getting a house, we know what's going to go down.
- After some long meandering and a couple of drinks, Dr. Hagen lays it down. Pnin can't buy this house because he's going to be fired. Poor Pnin.
- Well, there's nothing to do about it right now. So Pnin just cleans up after the party.
- He almost manages to shatter Victor's bowl, and it's somehow almost sadder than the moment where he remembers Mira. We mean, come on, he just lost his dream home and his job—he shouldn't have to lose his bowl, too! Single tear.
- Don't worry though. The bowl is fine.
- The house and job, though, are totally gone.