60 pages • 2 hours read
A Family Supper
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Symbols & Motifs
Fugu Fish
The fugu fish is a symbol that appears numerous times in “A Family Supper.” The narrator explains that it is a fish native to Japan, with “poison [that] resides in the sexual glands of the fish, inside two fragile bags” (1). Should the preparation of the fish be less than perfect, poison will leak into the veins of the fish and kill those who eat it. Ishiguro writes: “Fugu poisoning is hideously painful and almost always fatal” (1). According to the narrator, there is no way to know if preparation of the fish has been successful until after it has been eaten. The fugu’s poison is in its sexual organs, a detail that the narrator is quick to point out. The significance of this detail speaks to the larger themes of misogyny in the text. The fugu fish’s poison is the reason why the narrator’s mother passed away. Though the narrator’s father suggests that she might have intentionally killed herself, Ishiguro does not provide any additional details to support this.
What little there is to know about the narrator’s mother suggests that when she ate fugu for the first time, she did so out of obedience, not wanting to offend a friend, and died as a result. The fugu fish can thus represent things that have been left unsaid, words that have been swallowed down for years until they eventually become poison. Due to the traditional gender roles that the women in the story inhabit, they may be forced into obedience more than their male counterparts. The narrator’s mother is a silent figure in the text. Even as a ghost, she only stands in the garden and watches her children. When she was alive, she took the blame upon herself for the narrator’s decision to leave home. All the things that the narrator’s mother left unsaid became a burden upon her, further isolating her from the world, poisoning her bit by bit. Kikuko has begun to swallow some of this poison herself. Whenever her father orders her around, she only stares at him in silence before acquiescing to his demands.
The fish that the three members of the family eat for supper is unnamed. When the siblings ask Father what it is, he only responds: “Fish” (8). Ishiguro prompts the reader to wonder if the fish being served could be fugu, and if Father is trying to kill his children like Watanabe did upon the folding of their firm. This is the more literal interpretation of the fugu fish and its repeated use in the story. By reading the fugu fish as a symbol for things left unsaid, however, it becomes clear that the family supper is a continuation of the cycle of silence. Unable to communicate, to discuss the death of Mother and their treatment of each other, the siblings follow their father’s example to sit in silence and swallow down everything they wish to say. Much like Watanabe, the narrator’s father dooms his family through his selfish refusal to see beyond his own beliefs of what is right and wrong, and of how men and women should act. In serving them fish, the narrator’s father perpetuates the cycle of silence, forcing his children to fit the strained, traditional archetypes of what a family should be. Though the fish may not yet be fugu, their mother’s fate affirms that one day all the things they left unsaid will catch up to them, and poison them from the inside out.
Ghosts
Ghosts are a common symbol in literary works. They are often used to symbolize the past, the ceaselessness of time, and purgatory. In “A Family Supper,” the narrator recounts his childhood visions of an old woman “wearing a white kimono,” crossing the garden at night, and “standing there, watching me” (5). The narrator’s mother tries to explain his vision away: “[I]t was the old woman from the vegetable store you’d seen that night” (3). Neither Kikuko nor the narrator believed their mother. Despite Mother’s best efforts, they always believed that it was a ghost. Kikuko’s childhood fear is far from rational. She tells the narrator: “I never believed her and never came out here alone” (3). The narrator, on the other hand, attempted to use logic to support his fear. Even as a child, the narrator thought, “I imagine [the ghost] had some trouble clambering over these walls” (3). There is a marked difference in the siblings’ personalities. Both characters respond differently to the ghost’s presence, even if both fear it.
The ghost symbolizes the absence of Mother, and of the inevitability of death. Kikuko is younger than the narrator and not as aware of her mortality; when the narrator spots the ghost watching him in the garden, she is unable to see it quite yet. The narrator, on the other hand, is more aware than ever of his own mortality. The narrator realizes only too late that his mother may have always been his ghost. If the ghost represents Mother’s absence, its continued haunting of the narrator throughout his childhood explains his desire to leave Japan.
The narrator has always seen and known that their mother will eventually leave them. Ghosts can symbolize an omen. Trapped between living and dead, ghosts are torn between two worlds. The narrator feels the same way. He no longer has anything left for him in California, but he is hesitant to return to Tokyo. Like a ghost, the narrator is trapped in an in-between state of being.
Darkness and Light
Ishiguro uses descriptions of light and darkness to add to the tone and mood of the story. Motifs of light are littered throughout and can be used to gather more information about Ishiguro’s intention in a particular scene. Prior to their walk in the garden, for example, the narrator looks out of the tea-room and spies the haunted well. He thinks: “It was just visible now through the thick foliage. The sun had sunk low and much of the garden had fallen into shadow” (2). Shadows engulfing the garden foreshadow the disconcerting conversation about Watanabe’s family and the siblings’ childhood ghost that takes place moments later. When the siblings begin discussing the ghost, the narrator even notes that “[t]he light in the garden had grown very dim” (5). Darkness is often a symbol of ominous things to come, of hidden secrets, and loss. Light, on the other hand, tends to symbolize hope, truth coming to the surface, and good tidings. By using these motifs of darkness and light, Ishiguro provides a rich background from which readers can better hypothesize about the events occurring within the story.
At the titular family supper, Ishiguro uses these motifs to set the foreboding tone that heightens tension. According to the narrator: “Supper was waiting in a dimly lit room next to the kitchen. The only source of light was a big lantern that hung over the table, casting the rest of the room into shadow” (7). Instead of a dinner in a well-lit room, full of light, supper takes place in almost complete shadow. Instead of lighting up the darkness, the light source that exists only casts more shadows around the room. This play of light and dark could be Ishiguro’s attempt to convey the insurmountable tide of secrets that exist between the family members. As the tension mounts, Ishiguro prompts the reader to wonder about the fish that the characters are eating for dinner; Father’s intentions for this reunion are unknown. The narrator notes that “father’s face looked stony and forbidding in the half-light. We ate on in silence” (7). Through this use of light and dark motifs, Ishiguro plays with the reader’s expectations, increases the tension within the story, and adds to the ominous, sinister tone of the work.
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By Kazuo Ishiguro
