Author: Sophia Tan, Heritage High School
📍Vancouver, Washington

In Klara and the Sun, a book written during the growing popularity and advancement of AI, Kazuo Ishiguro uses characterization and juxtaposition of this characterization of the different people in the book to show that we should also be wary of introducing it into our society.

Firstly, Ishiguro characterizes the richer characters and the poorer characters in this story very differently. For example, when talking to Klara, the richer children are unintentionally cruel and unempathetic towards her. This can be seen when one of these characters says, “Throw her over here!” In this situation, the richer children are looking to play with Klara by throwing her around the room. They justify this with the idea that because Klara is a robot, she cannot feel pain. While Klara and other AFs cannot feel pain, they do feel some kind of emotions. Additionally, AFs are made to resemble humans very closely, so it is disturbing to see these people immediately delving into cruelty towards Klara. In addition, while at this party the lack of social skills these children possess is very apparent. In fact, in this universe, this highly-advanced society has done away with most things that, in today’s day, require social interaction among adolescents, like grade school. As a result, when going to college, people found that because these children had such underdeveloped social skills, it was difficult for them to succeed in college. For this reason, parties and get-togethers, such as the one Josie and the other rich kids are at right now are organized, so that these children learn to interact with other human beings, but only for the purpose of succeeding in college. The richer characters are more open to technology like AFs because they can afford such things. Ishiguro draws a link between the richer characters’ openness to technology and them losing their humanity. 

In contrast, the poorer characters in this book, Melania Housekeeper and Rick cannot afford lifting procedures and the AF robots, and in general their attitude towards these technologies is more averse. As such, these characters are portrayed by Ishiguro as more human, relatable to the readers, and empathetic. For example, throughout the duration of this party, Rick’s social skills are contrasted by the lack thereof in the rich children. Rick is able to crack jokes and have genuine conversations with the adults at the party, whereas the rich children are awkward and robotic. This is highlighted further when the children look down upon Rick for not being lifted after they are unable to understand his jokes. Specifically, they say “Be nice. He’s doing okay”, talking about him as if he needs special care. This seems ironic, because in this situation, Ihsiguro frames the children as the “weird” or out of touch ones; the reader likely relates to Rick. Rick and his Mother are also among the most technologically-averse characters in this book, as they initially disapprove of Klara’s presence around Josie. Similarly, whereas Josie and the other rich children are used to being around AFs, so much so they are comfortable throwing them around and discussing throwing them around in front of them, Melania Housekeeper finds Klara weird. This can be seen when she says to Klara, “AF. You behind me all the time. Creep me out.” Not only does she say that Klara creeps her out, but she refers to her as “AF” instead of Klara, which creates some distance in their relationship. The characters more averse to technology are also the ones who are depicted as the most human. Ishiguro does this to remind readers that as technology continues to become more advanced and more human-like, we should pay close attention to the role it will play in our society, and that if we start to treat technology as humans, we might end up losing the qualities that make us human.

Ishiguro creates a difference between the richer characters, who all grew up around technology and the poorer characters, who live a comparatively less technologically-aided life. This difference, which portrays the richer characters as less kind and lacking humanity than the poorer characters, is meant to show the dangers of accepting certain technologies so readily.