Analysis of Kazuo Ishiguro's 'A Family Supper'

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, Ruhr-University of Bochum, language: English, abstract: Kazuo Ishiguro's 1982 short story A Family Supper tells the story of a Japanese family, sitting down to dinner together for the first time in years. Having lived in California for several years, the son returns to Tokyo to his father's house. While they wait for the arrival of the daughter, Kikuko, the son and the father talk a little about the mother's death, the collapse of the father's firm, and the son's plans for the future. When Kikuko joins them, the father goes off to prepare the supper, leaving the brother and sister to take a stroll in the garden together where Kikuko talks about her life at university. They also recall their childhood fears of the ghost the son believes to have seen in the garden once. Before dinner, the father decides to show his son around the house. While they are eating, the son confuses a picture of his mother with the appearance of the garden ghost he remembers, which angers his father. The short story closes with the father inviting his son to come home again and confiding his hopes that his daughter may return home too.