Morris Property, Inc.

Morris Property, Inc. is the company where Hazel Grace Lancaster's father works, a satellite office in Dayton, Ohio, that he frequently visits. The firm is mentioned in passing as the reason for the family's financial strain due to Hazel's medical expenses and as the backdrop for her father's daily commute, which underscores the emotional weight of his fear that he might never see her again.

Nature and Structure

Morris Property, Inc. is a real estate company with a satellite office in Dayton, Ohio. Hazel's father works there, and his job requires him to travel to Dayton regularly. The family's old black suitcase, a wedding present, was intended for exotic travel but ended up mostly making the trip back and forth to Dayton for his business visits.

Financial Impact on the Family

The company's modest income is a source of financial strain for the Lancaster family. Hazel reflects that the reason her parents have no money is her: she has sapped the family savings with Phalanxifor copays, and her mother cannot work because she has taken on the full-time profession of hovering over her. When Hazel considers asking her parents to fund a trip to Amsterdam to meet Peter Van Houten, she immediately dismisses the idea, knowing they cannot afford international travel and the expense of getting her medical equipment there.

Narrative Significance

Morris Property, Inc. serves as a quiet but persistent reminder of the economic toll of Hazel's illness. The company's satellite office in Dayton is the destination for the suitcase that was supposed to see the world but instead only shuttles between Indiana and Ohio. More poignantly, the daily commute to Morris Property gives Hazel's father a recurring moment of private grief: as he waves goodbye to Hazel and her mother before they leave for Amsterdam, he is crying, and it occurs to Hazel that he is probably thinking he might never see her again, a thought he likely has every single morning of his entire weekday life as he leaves for work.