60 pages 2 hours read

Kazuo Ishiguro

A Family Supper

Fiction | Short Story | YA | Published in 1983

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Character Analysis

The Narrator

Little is known about the unnamed narrator of “A Family Supper.” He is not physically described, but Ishiguro provides small details about his character throughout the work. At the beginning of the story, the narrator returns to native Japan after many years abroad. His return comes too late, two years after his mother’s death. Both Kikuko and his father talk to him about his estrangement from the family. Kikuko tells him that their mother never blamed him for leaving them but, instead, blamed herself for not raising him correctly. The narrator’s father, on the other hand, suggests that the narrator’s refusal to return home caused her to take her own life from disappointment. The narrator tries to defend himself from his father’s accusation, insisting that his mother could not have expected him to stay in Japan forever. The narrator and his father struggle to connect and communicate, unable to linger on difficult conversations. They are quick to lapse into silence or to change the topic to something mundane, like toy ships, tea, or the weather. Though the narrator does not voice his guilt for staying away, he also doesn’t agree to stay in Japan. The narrator’s small actions in the story betrays his feelings.

Related Titles

By Kazuo Ishiguro

Plot Summary

logo

An Artist of the Floating World

Kazuo Ishiguro

An Artist of the Floating World

Kazuo Ishiguro

Study Guide

logo

A Pale View of Hills

Kazuo Ishiguro

A Pale View of Hills

Kazuo Ishiguro

Study Guide

logo

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

Study Guide

logo

The Buried Giant

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Buried Giant

Kazuo Ishiguro

Study Guide

logo

The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro

Plot Summary

logo

The Unconsoled

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Unconsoled

Kazuo Ishiguro

Study Guide

logo

When We Were Orphans

Kazuo Ishiguro

When We Were Orphans

Kazuo Ishiguro