Klara and the Sun

Through Klara’s unwavering belief in the sun, Ishiguro portrays faith as an essential force that allows individuals to face life’s difficulties with hope. Over and over again, Klara expresses hope that Josie will get better, despite her declining health. Her hope for Josie’s future is a product of her general positive attitude and of her faith in the benevolence and omnipotence of the sun. 

Rick and Paul recognize the importance of Klara’s beliefs to her and help her hold onto hope. After leaving Mr. McBain’s barn the first time, Klara tells Rick, “I believe there’s now reason for hope. Hope for Josie […] but first I must perform a task” (166). Rick doesn’t push her for more information. He is motivated to help Klara because he also wants to help Josie and is inspired by Klara’s hope. Similarly, Paul goes along with Klara’s plan to sabotage the Cootings Machine, despite having no idea what the machine has to do with Josie. Just as Klara has faith in the sun, Rick and Paul put their faith in Klara without trying to understand her machinations, which Klara recognizes in her second plea to the sun: “You must have seen how the Father too helped and did his utmost, even though he knew nothing about the Sun’s kind agreement, because he saw my hope and placed his faith in it” (269).

Conversely, Chrissy is sometimes insulted by Klara’s positivity. Her hopes were dashed when Sal died, and she therefore sees hope as a foolish coping mechanism, exclaiming to Klara—as the AI imitates Josie—at Morgan’s Falls, “You think you know more than the doctors? More than I do? Your sister made promises too. But she couldn’t keep them. Don’t you do the same” (105). Later, however, in the car, she calms down, and allows herself to hope: “You’re an intelligent AF. Maybe you can see things the rest of us can’t. Maybe you’re right to be hopeful” (108). Chrissy is often caught between the hope she wants to feel and the rationality she uses to defend herself. Mr. Capaldi’s technological plan, which Chrissy eventually rejects, is the antithesis to hope and faith. In a Christian context, Capaldi’s commitment to science is an idolatrous rejection of faith.

Klara and the Sun leaves the reader questioning, like Rick, whether the sun and Klara’s faith really had a hand in Josie’s recovery. Ishiguro gives no definite evidence either way, because the nature of faith is defined by its unanswerability. When Josie recovers, Klara continues to believe that she was healed by the sun, but nobody will know for sure. By refusing to answer the question of whether Klara’s faith healed Josie, Ishiguro mirrors how those who choose to believe can imbue events with meaning and purpose.

Paradoxically, Ishiguro uses an android narrator as a unique lens to explore the limits of human perception. Klara’s deep, empathetic grasp of others’ emotions and her childlike understanding of her surroundings shape her relationships and beliefs. By depicting Klara’s developmental process, the novel explores humans’ efforts to make sense of the world. 

If her time in the AF store is analogous to her childhood, then the anecdotal scenes she perceives there are the events that make a strong impression on her young mind. Klara witnesses customers and pedestrians displaying complex emotions. Her natural curiosity leads her to observe more carefully, and thus she develops her keen sense of emotional literacy. Klara is technically only a year or two old when she is bought by Chrissy and Josie, and the AF store is the only world she has known. She has to observe and learn every new environment, such as Chrissy’s house and the paths between the houses and the barn. Klara sees the unhoused man and his dog rise from the ground after the sun shines on them and concludes that the sun must have raised them from the dead. To the reader, this may seem like an absurd deduction, despite its being made by a rational, computerized system. Klara’s errors in perception reflect the degree to which sentient beings misunderstand their surroundings.

Ishiguro also uses Klara’s narration to show the fragility of perception. When Klara is low on P-E-G- Nine solution, she struggles to make sense of the crowd outside the theater. More broadly, Klara’s technological limitations cause her impressions of the natural world to be faulty. This differentiates her from other androids across literature and film, who tend to understand the material world to a superhuman degree but lack emotional intelligence. On the contrary, Klara’s perceptions of the material world are like that of a child, while her emotional intelligence is highly advanced. Limiting Klara’s perceptive ability gives her a sense of wonder about the world which in turn makes her a more effective emotional companion. Through Klara’s unique perspective, Ishiguro portrays how each individual’s experiences and perceptions shape their understanding of reality.