A Family Supper, by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

BIOGRAPHY & SUMMARY, by Aurora Ledesma

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, on the 8th of November 1954. He went to live in Great Britain in 1960, when his father began to research at the National Institute of Oceanography, and was educated at a grammar school for boys in Surrey. As a boy, Kazuo enjoyed television, Westerns and spy stories, and wrote easily without entertaining any serious ambition of becoming a writer.

The great creative awakening of his adolescence came at the age of 13, when he discovered the songs of Bob Dylan. He spent the next years learning to play guitar, writing songs and studying the work of Dylan, Cohen... and other singer-songwriters of the time. After graduating in 1973, he took a year off to travel around the United States and Canada, and to make the round of record companies with demos of his songs, but these efforts were unsuccessful.

Although he still planned a career in music, Ishiguro studied literature and philosophy at the University of Kent in Canterbury. He was also employed as a community worker in Glasgow (1976), and after graduating, he moved to London. He supported himself by working in a homeless shelter in Notting Hill. While working at the shelter, he also met a young social worker, Lorna MacDougall. They fell in love and married in 1986.

Early novels

Ishiguro went to study creative writing at the University of East Anglia, in England. He began writing full-time following the success of his first novel, A Pale View of Hills (1982), which it is a first-person narrative of a Japanese widow living in England.  Ishiguro’s next novel was An Artist of the Floating World (1986). These two novels reflected on life and culture in post-World War II in Japan. However, for his next novel, he wanted to write for an international audience. So he chose an iconic British character known throughout the world: the English butler. The themes of guilt and regret are seen in the butler’s lost chance for love in The Remains of the Day (1989). This novel won the Booker Prize for fiction (1989), a prize dedicated to the best novel published in the United Kingdom and written in English. The novel was adapted to a film in 1993, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. 

 

Later Work

Ishiguro continued to experiment with different genres and styles in his subsequent novels, The Unconsoled (1995) and When We Were Orphans (2000). Taking the leap to science fiction, Ishiguro wrote a tale about genetic engineering and human cloning in Never Let Me Go (2005). Although he’s best known for his novels, Ishiguro has also published a collection of short stories, Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (2009), and several screenplays, as The White Countess (2005).

His most recent book, The Summer We Crossed Europe in The Rain (March 2024), is a collection of lyrics written for the jazz singer Stacey Kent. Ishiguro and Kent have been friends and collaborators for a long time, and he wrote lyrics for a handful of songs on Kent’s Breakfast on the Morning Tram.

Ishiguro has won many awards, perhaps most notably the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. Now he is a British citizen and lives in London with his wife and his daughter Naomi, who is also an author and published the book Escape Routes.

 

SUMMARY

This is the story of a Japanese family. The protagonist is a young man who returns to Tokyo from California to visit his father and his sister, Kikuko. At the beginning, the protagonist describes “Fugu”, a type of poisonous fish and its dangerous properties, if you don’t prepare it correctly. He tells us how his mother died two years ago because she ate “Fugu” prepared by a friend. When his mother died, he was living in California and he didn’t attend the funeral.

The son’s father picks him up from the airport and tells him the circumstances in which his mother died. His father is a very intimidating man, and he is proud of the pure samurai blood that runs in his family. He is a man who values a traditional family and is very strict. He and his son don’t have a good relationship; for this reason, the son did not return to his country until two years after his mother’s death. While they are waiting for the arrival of Kikuko, they talk a little about his father’s business partner, Watanaba, who killed himself and his family after the firm’s collapse, because he didn’t wish to live with the disgrace.

Soon after, Kikuko arrives. She is a student in Osaka. Despite the fact that the brother is much older, the siblings had always been close. They decide to go for a walk in the garden, while their father prepares the supper. Kikuko smokes a cigarette and tells him about her boyfriend and his plans for them to hitch-hike in America; she also tells him that their mother always blamed herself for him leaving Japan, that she thought she hadn’t raised him correctly. They have an open conversation, talking about their lives, childhood and recalling events like when he thought there was a ghost living in the garden near the well.

After this, the father calls Kikuko into the kitchen and tells her to help him with the final preparations of the supper. Then the father takes his son to another room to discuss his regrets about how he raised his children and how he should have been a more attentive father.

When the food is ready, the father encourages the son to eat a lot of the fish that he and Kikuko have prepared. During the meal, the son discovers a photograph on the wall with an old woman in a white kimono. His father reveals that it’s their mother, who resembles the ghost he used to see when he was younger. After the meal, Kikuko prepares some tea while the son and his father speak about the son’s future plans.

The story ends with a peaceful supper and a serious dialogue. The father expresses his hope that his children will come back home to live with him.

 

Some Reflections

It is possible that the father has made a decision: to repeat his partner’s actions. Perhaps he realizes that he could no longer manage the situation and decides to commit a form of suicide, and his children don’t know anything about it.

I think that the author wants to show how rebellion is an escape from social conventions and family expectations. Japanese culture puts a lot of pressure on children. They are usually raised very strictly, and we begin to understand why the protagonist left Japan and his family. Now his younger sister intends to do the same as her brother did in the past.

 

QUESTIONS

-What do you know about the poisonous fish “aranya” they fish in Blanes?

-What do you think it happened to the protagonist’s mother?

-What is it for you, the “honour”? Was Watanabe a man of principle? What is your opinion of the celebrated sentence “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them... well, I have others.”?

-In your view, what was the ghost in the well or in the garden?

-According to your opinion, why did the son go back to Japan?

-What is the meaning of the mother’s picture in the story?

-What do you think it’s going to happen after supper? Why?

 

VOCABULARY

gutting, haunted, swayed, giggle

Analysis

The Red Shoes, by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen at the Wikipedia: click here

The Red Shoes at the Wikipedia: click here

Bibliography (enormous): click here

Some Youtube versions: click here

Presentation, by Tamara Martín

Biography

He was born in Odense, Denmark, in 1805. When he was 14 years old he travelled to Copenhagen because he wanted to be a singer or an actor (but he did not succeed).
While he was there, he met a famous theatre director names Jonas Collin. He recognized his talent and he paid for his studies.
In 1822, he attended Slagelse School. He stayed there for 3 years, and he wrote the poem The Dying Child while he was there.
Between 1828 and 1829 he wrote his short story A Walk from Holmen’s Canal to the East Point of the Island of Amager in the Years 1828 and 1829, and in 1840 he wrote his autobiography, The Adventure of my Life, 1855.
In the next 10 years he visited different countries.
In 1835, he began to become famous for his children’s books, for example The Little Mermaid in 1837 and The Ugly Duckling in 1843.
In Odense there is a museum dedicated to the memory of the life and works of this wonderful storyteller.

 The Red Shoes

The story tells us about a little poor girl. The girl goes barefoot because she doesn’t have any money to buy a pair of shoes. An old rich woman adopts her and takes care of her. One day the rich old lady buys her a new pair of red shoes. An old soldier puts a spell on them that makes them dance. She goes to church with the red shoes, but this is highly improper. Out of the church the girl starts dancing, and she cannot stop her feet. One day, there is a ball; the girl goes there and her feet cannot stop dancing anymore. The woman is sick and dies; the girl goes to the funeral with her red shoes, and she goes on dancing. She goes on dancing along the streets and fields until she finds an executioner; she asks him to cut her feet off. She walks with crutches, but her amputated feet go on dancing before her. Finally, when she feels sorry for dancing in the church and in the funeral, a beam of light takes her to heaven.

QUESTIONS

Karen has three different pairs of shores along the story. Can you describe them?
Talk about the different characters
Karen
Old Mother Shoemaker
The old lady
The queen
The old soldier
The executioner
What does the mirror say to Karen?
The mirror is a very important object in a lot of stories. Do you remember another story where there was a mirror and it had a capital role?
The first time Karen goes to the church, what does she go for?
And the second time?
What kind of shoes do people has to wear at church? Why?
The old soldier casts a magical spell to the shoes. What are the words and the actions?
Talk about the ball.
What was the angel’s curse?
What was the girl’s sin?
What happened to Karen after she had her feet cut off?
Who helped her at last?
Did she go to the church at the end of the story? What happened?

VOCABULARY

barefoot, clumsy, well meant, mourning, parson, sew /sóu/, flocked, train, thriving (thrive), patent leather, aisle, bygone, starched (starch), covenant, choir /kuàia/, knelt (kneel), unfenced (fence), graveyard, sword /sòd/, shrivel down, thorn, window pane, quiver, crutches (crutch), hobble, roll (organ), pew

The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson at the Wikipedia: click here

The Lottery at the Wikipedia: click here

The Lottery: study guide

The Lottery: audiobook

The Lottery: review

The Lottery, short movie:

Presentation, by Remedios Benéitez

Biography

Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, California, in 1916, and spent her childhood in Burlingame, California, when she began writing poetry and short stories as a young teenager. Her family moved east when she was seventeen, and she attended the University of Rochester, New York.

She entered Syracuse University, N.Y., in 1937, where she met her future husband, the young aspiring literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. Both graduated in 1940 and moved to New York’s Greenwich Village, where Shirley wrote without fail every day. She began having her stories published in The New Republic and The New Yorker.

In 1945 her husband was offered a teaching position at Bennington College, and they moved into an old house in North Bennington, Vermont, where Shirley continued her daily writing while raising children and running the house.

Her first novel The Road Through the Wall was published in1948, the same year that The New Yorker published her iconic story The Lottery.

She composed six novels, including The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, two memoirs and more than 200 short stories.

She was a heavy smoker and suffered numerous health problems. In 1965, Shirley died in her sleep at her home in North Bennington, at the age of 48.

THE LOTTERY

It is a short story by Shirley Jackson published in the magazine The New Yorker on June 26, 1948. Reaction to the post from readers was negative, who sent protest messages to the magazine, but later it was accepted as a classic short story subject to interpretations. Now it’s considered as “one of the most famous short stories in the history of American literature”. It has been adapted for radio, theatre and television.

 Argument:

The lottery takes place on a beautiful summer day, June 27, in a small town of 300 inhabitants, where all residents gather for a traditional annual lottery.

Although the event seems festive at first, people show a strange and gloomy mood, and it soon becomes clear that no one wants to win the lottery.

The draw is carried out between the heads of the family. The Hutchinsons are chosen and then the draw is made within the chosen family, getting chosen Tessie (the mother), so she is stoned to death by all the neighbours of the town, including his own family. This is a sacrifice to ensure a good harvest, according to the beliefs of the community.

I think that this is a story about the human capacity for violence. It explores ideas such as communal violence, individual vulnerability and the dangers of blindly following traditions.

We rely on collective violence in those circumstances that we would not be able to consider individually.

ISSUES

The quid of the story is that the people seem normal, nice and even happy, and they go to the square as they would go to the market, with an informal attitude, they chatter and gossip; even the day is sunny, the children don’t have school because they start the summer holidays and the procedures of the lottery are simple and common. So the jewel of the story is the ending; we don’t imagine that something horrifying is going to happen. The villagers aren’t afraid, although we suspect that something surprising can happen, because there’s too much happiness, and we have had some hints, e.g., they collect stones, there is somebody missing, Mrs Hutchington says “it isn’t fair”, etc. So in this case we have a story that loses all its effect when we know the end; the story has a punch, but as soon as we know that it’s going to hit us at the end, we are alert and don’t get hurt (symbolically) any more. A similar classical and very famous story of this kind is Monkey’s Paw, by W.W. Jacobs. I strongly recommend its reading if you like these kind of stories: it’s short and easy to read with a lot of dialogue.
👉So, what kind of stories do you prefer: the ones with a clear ending or the ones without?

I think the main topic of the story is tradition, what we do with tradition. According to the dictionary “tradition is a custom or way of behaving that has continued for a long time in a group of people”, but, for me, another definition is also possible: tradition is what you do because someone before you did, not because it’s reasonable to do. So you don’t think about the action and its consequences, you don’t think about the reason why. Accordingly, tradition is opposite to progress.What is your point of view about traditions? Do you remember the tradition in Julian Barnes’s story, that one about sleeping on a mattress in a barn on the wedding night? And I particularly remember the tradition of burying the mother’s placenta when there is a birth (as someone in my family told me).
👉Can you tell us a very unreasonable tradition you know? 

Something similar happens with proverbs and sayings. A typical case of a saying that can be false is “Better the devil you know than the devil you don't”. And in the story there is also a saying: “Lottery in June / corn be heavy soon.”
👉Are all sayings clichés? Can you explain a saying that isn’t exactly true? I give you some examples:

The pen is mightier than the sword.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
 Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
You are what you eat.
A watched pot never boils.
The grass is always greener on the other side.
Time heals all wounds.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Slow and steady wins the race.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
Love is blind.
You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs.

 

...

In the story, the tradition has lost some parts of the ritual, or some things have been changed, e.g., using papers instead of pieces of wood for the draw. Do you think that this is because traditions tend to keep the essential parts and forget the less important ones?
👉What is your opinion about rituals? Are they necessary for our everyday lives? And are they useful for ceremonies, social situations as a wedding or a funeral?

The story is situated in a small village of 300 inhabitants.
The smaller the society the stronger and less sound are the traditions?
👉What is your view on this?

Mrs Hutchington says “it isn’t fair”. Why? Because she thinks something in the procedure wasn’t correct, or because she knows she’s going to be stoned?
👉In which societies they did lapidation and in which countries they're still doing now?

So being lucky is another important theme in our narration. There’s a wonderful story about the fortune (in the classical or Greek sense) or the destiny ruling our lives: La loteria en Babilonia by Jorge Luis Borges. In the Æneid, they say: Fortune helps audacious people, that is, “chance is something you don’t have: that’s something you must look for”. Or: you cannot wait your chance sitting down, you have to stand up and go for it.
👉In your opinion, do our lives depend most on luck or most on our personal decisions?

Another topic you can find in The Lottery is the question of the scapegoat; that means that, when there are catastrophes or phenomena you aren’t able to explain, you attribute them to some sin or bad action someone has done, and so this person has to pay for it, and, if you don’t know the guilty one, you’ll have to choose someone (using a lottery, e.g.) to pay for it. That will stop new disasters. Religion explains this as a sacrifice: you have to do a sacrifice to soothe the gods, and that means killing an animal or a person. You already know the legend of Saint George and the Dragon: every year they had to choose a maiden to feed the Dragon.
👉Can you remember other examples of scapegoats?