Setting

As the short story “A Family Supper” by Kazuo Ishiguro was written in 1982, it was probably the author’s intention for the story to be read as a contemporary one. The time setting is, then, the end of the twentieth century.

Physical setting

The main physical setting is Japan, more specifically Tokyo and the place where the father’s house is built, the Kamakura district. A search on the internet would reveal that Kamakura was the seat of the Shogunate (a military dictatorship) until 1333. This detail further enhances the fact that the narrator’s parents come from a place infused with strictness and tradition.

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Social setting

The social setting presents the clash of mentalities between Japanese parents and children. Both the father and the mother come from a traditional world that imposes respect and even fear; they have tried to instil the Japanese values in their children, but they have subsequently failed: their son moved to America without any regret, and their daughter has the intention of doing the same thing.

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