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Hope, Faith, Love, Human and Humanoid: a Study of Kazuoishiguro’S Klara and the Sun

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Hope, Faith, Love, Human and Humanoid: a Study of Kazuoishiguro’S Klara and the Sun Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707 HOPE, FAITH, LOVE, HUMAN AND HUMANOID: A STUDY OF KAZUOISHIGURO’S KLARA AND THE SUN S. Bavetra Department of English SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, India R. Ravi Department of English SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, India ABSTRACT Kazuo Ishiguro, the winner of Nobel Prize for Literature has come out with his eighth novel titled Klara and the Sun, six full years after the publication of his previous novel, The Buried Giant. Klara and the Sun is a typical Ishiguroian novel that raises several pertinent questions about human beings; their love, their joy, their pain, dreams and aspirations. The questions gain poignancy, thanks to the fact that the human experience is narrated through the eyes of Klara, an artificial friend and a robot. Klara being a keen observer and a quick learner is tuned well enough to become a good and genuine artificial friend. She walks into the life of Josie when Josie was fourteen and half years old and stays with her till Josie no longer required her. Along with Josie, Klara also grows and grows into a smart, determined, affectionate, trustworthy friend. Josie’s physical weakness causes serious concerns in the minds of her mother, Chrissie Melania, her house keeper and Rick, her real childhood friend. Klara also learns that after genetic upgradation, Josie’s sister had died and Josie too is following suit. She commits herself to the cause of saving her friend from becoming oblivion. What has been medically declared to be a hopeless case, ends in miraculous recovery, thanks to Klara’s faith, hope and conviction in the healing touch of the Sun. One tends to compare the humanoid with the humans as one gets a feeling that the humanoid is more humanistic than the humans per se. Key Words- Artificial Friend, Klara, a keen observer and a quick learner, Genetic Editing, Healing touch- Sun. Volume X Issue V MAY 2021 Page No : 295 Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707 I.INTRODUCTION Kazuo Ishiguro’s seven published novels have revealed a fact that he is not a writer to be treated lightly. His is a serious style of writing that does not suit effortless beach reading. One tends to read and re read his works over and over again to get anywhere closer to his intent. Klara and The Sun, the eighth novel of Ishiguro, published in the year 2021 only reiterates the point once again that Ishiguro is a genuinely committed writer. His commitment to the cause of understanding human beings through their memories and emotions, has moved on to a newer altitude as in Klara and The Sun, Klara, an artificial friend, a humanoid, a robot indulges in such an exploration seeking answers for some disturbing questions relating to the place of Hope, Faith and Love in the lives of the human beings. When human interacts with humanoid, the limitations of the humanoid are expected to come to surface. But every interaction between the human and the humanoid only reveals the insufficiency and inadequacy in the human. As an observer, as a friend, as a nurse and as everything Klara proves to be so perfect that one wonders if the imperfect human is capable of creating a living, feeling and thinking machine that matches perfection in everything it does. This article aims at studying the role of Hope, Faith and Love in the lives of the human as seen by a humanoid. II. Klara, the most efficient AF Even among machines the democratic principle of all being equal does not work. Klara is smarter than her fellow AFs. Her manager knew from the beginning that Klara was wiser than the other machines. The story is perhaps set in United States of America, technologically an advanced Nation in which people buy AFs (Artificial Friends) to keep the loneliness of the teenagers at bay. These AFs are machines tuned and trained to understand the human beings and to act accordingly to please them. Their ability to react emotionally to hurting remarks makes them more human than their intellectual precision. The manager of the stores whose very duty is to observe the AFs closely regards Klara to be better than the advanced B2 and even B3 versions. Klara, in her opinion was a great observer, quick learner and as an AF is bound to be an asset to the owner. Twice she allows Klara to grace the window of the shop knowing that Klara preferred to be an observer. Klara regarded the sun to be the prime source of energy. She respected the sun and genuinely aspired for contact with the sun. The sun that was worshipped by human as God, was also worshipped by these Robotic friends. Ishiguro, the author has used the Sun as a driving force in the novel. Klara watches the sun, worships and talks to him with true devotion. Once from the window of her shop, Klara had watched the sun pouring out his special energy to bring a dead beggar and his dog back to life. In utter excitement Klara says The Sun was pouring his nourishment onto the street and into the buildings, and when I looked over to the spot where Beggar man and the dog had died, I saw they weren’t dead at all – that a special kind of nourishment from the Sun had saved them. (37) Her faith and respect for the Sun grew in leaps and bounds since then. Rosa, her companion in the store was the first one to find a home. With her going away, Klara was left alone to contemplate upon her observations till Josie, a young girl chose her for her friend. Klara moves into her new house not knowing what was in store for her. She observes and learns to handle the mood swings of Josie, of Josie’s mother and of Melania, the house keeper. The Volume X Issue V MAY 2021 Page No : 296 Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707 house keeper in particular was against her very presence, from the beginning. She reprimanded Klara, even when Klara tried to please her by doing all that she liked. Klara was smart enough to observe Josie’s Mom whose face overflew with kindness also had another side to her. For several days she could go about doing her work “unsmiling and tense”. (51) Klara could also guess that it was all due to the indifferent health condition of her daughter. Klara understands and appreciates the mother’s love for her daughter and vice versa. Ricky, Josie’s childhood friend is introduced to Klara as “a special person” (62). In the interaction meeting friends question Josie as to why she had not gone for a B3. Josie pleases Klara with her response. She says “There is nothing any B3 can do Klara can’t” (76). But when Klara fails to comply with the requests of the guests to sing and to greet, Josie laughingly admits “Now I’m starting to think I should have” (77). This simple casual remark hurts Klara. Klara’s only aspiration in life is to satisfy Josie. She feels bad about not standing up to her expectations. The remark of Josie brings to Klara’s mind the teenager who walked ahead of his AF, not bothering to turn back to see if his AF was following. “…and I wondered if Josie and I would ever walk in such a way.”(82) Danny one of the visitors suggested that they should put Klara to scrub’s test. Rick came to Klara’s rescue and Klara thanked him for it. Klara may be a machine but a machine with human sentiment and emotions and that is the take home point of the interaction meeting. When Josie’s mother pays her a compliment, Klara feels delighted. ...Josie is so much more calm, so much more cheerful since you got here. You are doing very well Klara. I want you to know that (89) Trip to Morgan Falls brings Klara closer to Josie’s Mother. Actually Josie was the one who planned the trip for Klara. Klara had not seen Falls, therefore Josie wanted Klara to enjoy. But on the day of the supposed trip, Josie fails to keep good health and so her mother wanted her to stay back at home. Klara was surprised with the decision of the mother to go ahead with the plan in spite of the indifferent health condition of Josie. For the first time ever mother talks freely to Klara. She asks Klara to speak like Josie and is amazed at the proximity achieved by Klara. She imitates Josie’s mannerisms perfectly well enough but reveals the hope and faith of Klara which is unavailable to anyone else. she says There is special help coming. Something no one’s thought of yet. Then I’ll be well again (105) Klara hopes that the sun would pour out his special energy as it did to the beggar man in the street. She connects the illness of Josie to lack of appropriate attention from the sun. She was very confident that her Sun knows his time and would not delay unnecessarily. The confidence in the voice of Klara is taken for ignorance and Mother walks away, paying no serious attention to it. But Klara waits and waits with hope and faith. Her love for Josie and her faith in the magic of the Sun keep her in the swim. But neither Josie’s parents nor the house keeper share Klara’s faith in Josie’s recovery.
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