A Family Supper

The narrator’s mother is a ghost throughout the story. Metaphorically, she haunts the narrative through her sustained absence. The characters in the story grieve for her. Her true feelings about her son and his prolonged absence are unknown as they are mediated through her husband and daughter. The narrator’s father tells him: “Your mother too was always ready to welcome you back—upset as she was by your behaviour” (2). Combined with Father’s accusation that she may have killed herself, her death haunts the narrator, becoming a specter of his guilt. Kikuko’s retelling of their mother’s feelings only compounds the culpability that the narrator feels for his long absence. She tells him: “Mother never really blamed you, you know […] She always used to say to me how it was their fault, hers, and Father’s, for not bringing you up correctly” (4). Both Kikuko and the narrator’s father’s comments could be read as passive aggressive slights against him for his long absence, or as innocent comments not meant to harm him.

The narrator’s mother may also be a literal ghostly presence in the story. She is described as having long gray hair. When the narrator is unable to recognize her picture, Ishiguro prompts the reader to wonder if he has been seeing a ghost of her since he was a child. According to Kikuko: “Mother always told me it was the old woman from the vegetable store you’d seen that night […] But I never believed her and never came out here alone” (3). The narrator’s mother tried to protect her children and alleviate their fears about the ghost in the garden. Little is known about the narrator’s mother as her character is depicted only through the memories and perception of others. The narrator’s father has a character outside of a familial role; he has a hobby building toy ships, and his job at the firm. Mother, however, is only characterized by her role as their “[p]oor Mother” (4). 

The narrator’s father is the only character in the story who Ishiguro describes in detail. The narrator relays that he is “a formidable-looking man with a large stony jaw and furious black eyebrows” (1). His physical appearance is a manifestation of his equally stony personality. According to the narrator, “His general presence was not one which encouraged relaxed conversation; neither were things helped much by his odd way of stating each remark as if it were the concluding one” (1). The narrator’s father is unable to communicate with his children. His presence makes Kikuko uncomfortable, and she is unable to have a real conversation with him. He is stoic, and his children “can never tell” when he’s upset (4). Though he tells the narrator when he finally returns to Japan that, “I for one am prepared to forget the past,” he continues to bring up past events without talking through them (2).

The narrator describes Father as being exceptionally “proud of the pure samurai blood that ran in the family” (1). The father is a stereotypical representation of traditional Japanese masculinity. Proud as he is of his family’s samurai blood, he is likewise ashamed of skills that are deemed feminine. When Kikuko praises his cooking skills, he looks at her “coldly” and states that it is “[h]ardly a skill I’m proud of” before ordering Kikuko to take over the meal preparation (5). Father struggles to connect with his children, but he makes more of an attempt with his son. He shares his experiences in the war and even admits to the narrator that “[p]erhaps [he] should have been a more attentive father” (6). The father remains mostly unchanged throughout the story, certain that his son has no interest in staying in Japan with him. This certainty does not stop him from repeatedly asking the narrator if he plans on staying; he does not ask Kikuko, on the other hand, if she wants to stay. The narrator’s father seems to take her obedience for granted.

Kikuko is the narrator’s younger sister and has been studying at university in Osaka. According to the narrator, they have “always been close” (2). She is “excessively excited” by her brother’s arrival and “giggle[s] nervously” for a while (2). Ishiguro describes how uncomfortable she is around their father, answering him only in “short formal replies” (2). She, too, suffers from an inability to communicate with her family. When she talks with her brother, “she seemed inhibited by the fear that her questions might lead to awkward topics” (2). Ishiguro does not go into detail about what these “awkward topics” might be, but the reader can hazard a guess that it might have something to do with their mother and the narrator’s many years away from Japan. Kikuko’s discomfort around their father is compounded by his ordering her around. She often hesitates after Father commands her to do something, but eventually concedes. Kikuko only relaxes around the narrator after Father leaves. She is repeatedly described as “a good girl” for listening to her parents and obeying them (5). Kikuko plays the role of a good and obedient daughter in front of their father. For example, she is only able to admit to her brother that she has “been dying for a smoke for the last half-hour” when their father is absent (3).

Her demeanor is entirely different when Father is not around. Without him present, she “grinned mischievously,” and openly chats about her boyfriend, her desire to hitchhike through America, and her love for her “friends in Osaka” (3). Kikuko’s “unnecessarily theatrical puffs on her cigarette” is another performance she puts on for her brother’s sake, an inverse to the obedient daughter role she plays (3). By the end of the story, the family continues to expect Kikuko’s obedience. Neither her brother nor her father dares to suggest that Kikuko might not wish to move back into her family home. To their father, she appears almost entirely devoid of agency. 

Watanabe was Father’s business partner for “seventeen years” (2). Watanabe’s fate is delivered piecemeal throughout the story. The narrator’s father first claims that “[a]fter the firm’s collapse, Watanabe killed himself. He didn’t wish to live with the disgrace” (2). The narrator’s father continues to speak extremely highly of Watanabe, describing him as “[a] man of principle and honour” (2). It is only later revealed by Kikuko that “[h]e took his whole family with him. His wife and his two little girls” by “turn[ing] on the gas while they were all asleep” (4). While the narrator’s father speaks about Watanabe as a good and honorable man, he does not mention that Watanabe murdered his wife or daughters. Kikuko is the only one who remembers and mentions them, “those two beautiful little girls” (4). In response to the narrator’s recounting of Father’s praise of Watanabe, Kikuko only says, “sick” (4). Ishiguro is vague about who Kikuko directs this indictment at; she could mean Watanabe for his actions or her father for his callous sexism.

Suichi is Kikuko’s boyfriend. He wants her to accompany him to America after she graduates. Kikuko is unsure if she wants to follow him to the United States. She tells her brother, “I like him, but I’m not sure I want to spend so much time with him” (3). This statement reveals much about Kikuko’s distrust and discomfort around men.