1. The Mother’s Death
Honour is so important that it puts strain on the relationship
Children making “out of norm” decisions will take honour from the family
Dishonour may push people to death or suicide
Strong honour themes come from the culture

2. The Mother’s Death
In the exposition of the story we are greeted by a brief, formal explanation regarding the death of the protagonist’s mother. Honour is a repeated theme that restrains the characters from expressing emotions, consequently conveying a distant, oppressive family relationship. The narrator does not return home until “two years later.” This reveals how his relationship with his mother was based on portraying the roles that had been assigned in the family to display unity to others in the community. Whereas in fact the relationship was not emotional and was “strained around that period”.
When the son left to go to America, his mother felt as if her honour had been removed, this is parallel to Watanabe “a man of principle” whose business collapsed and he consequently committed suicide. Whereas we are always in the dark on the whether the mothers death was suicide or accidental, we are aware that she “had always refused to eat fugu” however she made an exception because she was “anxious not to offend” this demonstrates how either way honour was a contributing factor of her death and was imposed on her by her culture. 

3. Childhood Memories
Childhood fears are irrational but based on realistic fears
Childhood memories affect decisions we make late in life
Events in his childhood put hidden strain on the relationship between him and his mother

4. Childhood Memories
In the short story ‘A family supper’ the author, Kazuo Ishiguro explores the powerful concept of childhood fears that are imbedded in our lost memories. In the story, the man who speaks in the first person viewpoint explains that ‘as a child I had believed it was haunted’ when referring the murky well in his overgrown and dismal garden. As a child our fears are often seen as irrational, but tend to be based on realistic fears and worries. Society teaches children and adults alike that children’s everyday terrors are irrelevant, imaginary and idiotic - they will grow out of them. What we don’t tend to think about is the aftermath of these terrors, how even as we grow they stay with us causing us to shy away from the world and those who did not help. Here, Ishiguro is exploring the lack of giving from the Mother and equally the lack of trust from the son. While she tried to convince the boy that it was not a ghost he had seen, he didn’t believe her and so their relationship was left with a sense of distance and loss. Shorty after this, the sister, Kikuko says, “Mother never really blamed you, you know” implying that there was betrayal and confusion between the Mother and son juxtaposed to the obvious tension between the Father and the son who’s memories and clearer and harsher than the darkness in his reflections concerning the Mother. Ishiguro uses imagery effectively when referring to the ghost seen by the man which links to the recent picture of his Mother. He describes her as “the old woman in the white kimono”. In Japan, the white kimono is generally only worn on the bodies of dead (corpses). When somebody passes away, they are wrapped in a kyokatabira, which they also tend to wear when taking their “final journey”. The use of the short sentence suggests that this is a memory the boy tried to forget due to underlying horrors and questions. The adjective “old” creates a dark and foreboding image, suggesting that the nearing death of the Mother was inevitable and due to happen. 

5. Darkness
Pathetic fallacy is used to represent the ever deteriorating relationship between him and his mother
The boy not being able to see clearly shows a distant relationship between the mother and her son

6. Darkness
In ‘A Family Supper’ the effective use of pathetic fallacy enables the writer to explore the relationship between the son and the dead Mother. Ishiguro repeats lines like “I gazed out once more into the darkness” to subtly hint at the difficulties between the characters. The anaphoric image of the darkness throughout the story suggests that relationship between Mother and son was troubled. The noun “darkness” illustrates the unclear nature of the bond between them as well as hazy future the son will face. Another place where this mistrust is clear is when the son fails to recognise his own Mother, claiming “it’s dark, I can’t see it very well.” This powerful image reiterates the cloudy mother-son relationship and gives the implication that even when his Mother was alive, the son never knew her that well.