A Family Supper - Redacció i preguntes sobre una short story. PDF

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Redacció i preguntes sobre una short story....

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‘A Family Supper’ by Kazuo Ishiguro. 1. Write a brief synopsis of the story. “A Family Supper” by Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story about a Japanese family, told by the old son; he returns to Tokyo after being in California for several years, because he has finished his relationship with his girlfriend. He has got a cold relation with his father, so he did not come back home when his mother died by eating fugu, a very dangerous fish. His father is very traditional, thus he disagrees with his attitude. When her sister Kikuko arrives home, they talk about her life, and they remember some facts that happened in the past (they saw a woman in their garden). She is not like their father thinks she is; she smokes, she goes out with boys... After a while, once the family has sit on the table in order to have the supper, the father tells the story of Watanabe, a friend of him, who had lost his job and committed suicide after killing his family. The story finishes with the family eating fish, a very special tasty fish. 2. Questions: a) How would you describe the main character? I could say that he is a distant person. He is cold and no talkative; he prefers to open his ears instead of his mouth. “Strained” is the perfect word to describe his personality. b) What kind of relationship does the main character have with his father? What about with his sister? He is different from his father, he is not as traditional as him, he is a way more open-minded, and consequently his father is disappointed for the decisions his son took (living abroad, skipping his mother’s funeral…). But the relation with his sister is different. She is giggly and nervous, but she wants to live as his brother does: abroad with almost no obligations. c) What is surprising about brother and sister talking about Watanabe’s death? d) What effect do you think the writer is trying to achieve by describing how the family eat fish on page 441? Does this passage make you think about the beginning in some way? The writer wants to create “the Watanabe effect”; the father has lost the job, and he is preparing a mysterious fish whereas in the beginning the author describes us a kind of fish: fugu. ¿Coincidence? Maybe. e) Comment on the ending. While the family is eating the fish that the father prepared , they talk and is then when we can appreciate the dimness seen throughout the story as a simile for grief, shame and uncertainty among the characters. Simply disturbing.

3. Vocabulary. Provide a synonym or a paraphrase for the following words and expressions. a) hazardous: dangerous b) cherished: admired c) haunted: full of ghosts d) awkward: clumsy/ungraceful e) grinned: smirked

f) mischievously: rudely g) peered: a lord h) trod on: i) startlingly: unexpectedly j) locusts: lobsters...