Several references are made to the difficulties he is having with his thesis:

Furthermore, the story also frequently discusses mathematics education as Dov is working as a teacher while also completing his thesis. He teaches mathematics "to two fifth year classes majoring in literature". (I do not know enough about Israeli school to know how old the students are supposed to be...apparently many are teenage girls.) Dov says of their mathematical abilities:

(Is this sarcasm from an author who thinks that, in fact, it is mathematical brains that think mechanically?) Similar criticism of the inability of "nature lovers" to appreciate mathematics follows. At one point, Dov nonsensically mentions "a blackboard abounding with quadratic equations of the first degree", which could possibly be a mistranslation as the story was originally written in Hebrew

One can certainly see why Yehoshua is praised as "one of Israel's world-class writers". This is a powerful, deep and beautifully written story.

But, what does it say about mathematics? I can only imagine that the character's disdain for his students and lack of compassion for the child left under his care are intended to be recognized as the sort of things that mathematicians would do. I can certainly name other works of mathematical fiction in which this stereotype appears (see, for example, Antonia's Line and Old Fillikin).

This story was originally published in the Hebrew literary magazine Keshet in 1965 and was made into a short film in 1967.

I am grateful to Eyal Gruss who provided the original publication information and the link to a file of the issue in PDF form that I shared above. In regards to my earlier comments, he says:

Thank you, Eyal, for this information and these clarifications.