Klara and the Sun

“Then the mother said: ‘B2, third series. The ones with the solar absorption problems, right?’ She said it just like that, in front of Rex, her smile still on her face. Rex kept smiling too, but the child looked baffled and glanced from Rex to her mother.”

Right away, Klara reveals the AF’s capacity for feelings. She is surprised that the parent would say such a hurtful thing about an AF’s power supply in front of him. Because she has not been trained to treat AF as machines, the child also worries that her parent’s comments might hurt Rex.

“‘Sometimes,’ she said, ‘at special moments like that, people feel a pain alongside their happiness. I’m glad you watch everything so carefully, Klara.’” 

There are several reunions in Klara and the Sun. Some are happy, some are bitter, and some are both. Across the novel, Ishiguro emphasizes the complexity and irrationality of human emotions. As a uniquely capable AF, Klara is able to analyze the combinations with remarkable accuracy.

“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.” 

Klara feels good when the sun is out and is fretful when it gets cloudy. When she sees the beggar and his dog waking up as the sun starts to shine, she concludes that the sun has revived them. This marks the beginning of Klara’s faith in the sun’s healing powers.