A Family Supper Analysis

A Family Supper Analysis

  • Submitted By: EBakker
  • Date Submitted: 02/26/2014 12:47 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 695
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 1

Kazou Ishiguro’s constructs a theme of an inharmonious relation between the younger generations and older generations of Japan in his short story A Family Supper. The younger generation, who is represented by the narrating son and his sister Kikuko, have strayed away from the older generation, embodied by their father, and their traditional Japanese values.
The setting in Kazou Ishiguro’s short story A Family Supper is used to further develop the theme of an inharmonious relationship between the older and younger generations of Japan. The garden in particular creates an essence of freedom and opportunity as the two siblings, whom represent the younger generation, are walking through it. It is evident that as soon as the siblings disappear into the garden, away from their father and the obligations bestowed upon them from the older generation, that they are able to display their emotions freely. Kazou Ishiguro allows the readers to appreciate and further understand the theme of conflict between the older and younger generations by only allowing the moments in the garden, hidden from their father, to be the only time where the daughter and son can openly express their thoughts and feelings on various topics. “The daylight had almost gone” (Ishiguro, 606) when the son and daughter stepped into the garden, creating an air of secrecy as if they wish to mask their true feelings in the presence of the older generation. Kikuko demonstrates her desire for secrecy when she made “a furtive gesture back toward the house, then grinned mischievously” when her brother inquired why she didn’t smoke when she craved (Ishiguro, 607). The darkness upon the daughter and son and their wish to conceal their true selves in the garden indicates another connection to the theme of a struggle with the divide between the older and younger generations.
There are many symbols in the short story A Family Supper which are used to further reveal the theme of an inharmonious relationship...

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