Through my drawing, I attempt to visually present the idea of continuation in the way that Ishiguro intends readers to view it: as a process that could never succeed in capturing the elements of an individual’s personhood. I first composed a portrait of Josie with a neutral expression. I then overlaid a piece of glass over my portrait and outlined the general features in thick black marker. Then, I shifted the piece of glass so that the original portrait and the tracing were misaligned. Finally, I removed the background portrait altogether, leaving just the glass tracing by itself. I was inspired to use a piece of glass by the scene where Klara encounters the Sun’s expression through overlapping sheets of glass. Klara uses her observations about the appearance of the glass to make conclusions about the sun’s expressions, noting that “whatever the nature of the images on the glass sheet, as I looked at them collectively, the effect was of a single face, but with a variety of outlines and emotions” (274). Klara claims that the compilation of all the glass sheets together makes it possible to capture the emotional complexity of the sun’s face. In my piece, the portrait represents Josie in her original human form, and the glass pane tracing represents the continuation of Josie through Klara. By using a single pane of glass with a minimal outline, I intended to show how a continuation of Josie would be severely lacking in the complexity of her personhood, just like a single sheet of glass capturing the sun’s reflection. When the glass painting is misaligned with the underlying portrait, I wanted to demonstrate that a replication of Josie would likely misalign with her true personhood. Moreover, when the underlying portrait is removed from beneath the glass painting, I strove to show that such a replication of Josie would not be self-sufficient because it is deficient in the qualities that define Josie’s personhood. While this portrayal is a visual representation of an abstract concept, my piece still captures a concrete distinction between Josie herself and the insufficient replica that Klara would be if she tried to continue Josie.
My creative project represents Klara and the Sun’s moral and philosophical question of whether a human being can be continued through an artificial intelligence. Chrissie’s plan to continue Josie through Klara prompts readers to consider the worldview that such a plan would require. Fearing the pain she would experience at Josie’s death, she plans for Klara to assume the role of her daughter by imitating Josie’s behavior and mannerisms to the point of assuming her personhood. Chrissie inexplicitly argues that there is nothing beyond Josie’s personhood that could not be replicated by another being’s behavior. She subscribes to Mr. Capaldi’s mindset, who argues that “the new Josie won’t be an imitation. She really will be Josie. A continuation of Josie” (205). In order for such an idea to even be possible, Josie’s existence would have no intrinsic meaning, meaning that it would be defined solely by other character’s perceptions of her. By defining an individual’s worth based on other people’s experience of that individual, personhood becomes a vacuous concept that only enables exploitation. This mindset inspires the mistreatment of several characters throughout the book, most notably Klara, who is ultimately discarded because her purpose to her family had been fulfilled. Klara tragically subscribes to this worldview, saying “there was something very special, but it wasn’t inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her” (302-303). While she expresses this sentiment to argue that Josie could not be replaced, it also denies Josie any worth outside of the worth ascribed to her by her loved ones. By encouraging the reader’s to appreciate the inherent dignity of each character, Ishiguro guides the readers to feel critical of the concept of continuation and to recognize the ramifications of assuming such a position. Through my drawing, I attempt to visually present the idea of continuation in the way that Ishiguro intends readers to view it: as a process that could never succeed in capturing the elements of an individual’s personhood. I first composed a portrait of Josie with a neutral expression. I then overlaid a piece of glass over my portrait and outlined the general features in thick black marker. Then, I shifted the piece of glass so that the original portrait and the tracing were misaligned. Finally, I removed the background portrait altogether, leaving just the glass tracing by itself. I was inspired to use a piece of glass by the scene where Klara encounters the Sun’s expression through overlapping sheets of glass. Klara uses her observations about the appearance of the glass to make conclusions about the sun’s expressions, noting that “whatever the nature of the images on the glass sheet, as I looked at them collectively, the effect was of a single face, but with a variety of outlines and emotions” (274). Klara claims that the compilation of all the glass sheets together makes it possible to capture the emotional complexity of the sun’s face. In my piece, the portrait represents Josie in her original human form, and the glass pane tracing represents the continuation of Josie through Klara. By using a single pane of glass with a minimal outline, I intended to show how a continuation of Josie would be severely lacking in the complexity of her personhood, just like a single sheet of glass capturing the sun’s reflection. When the glass painting is misaligned with the underlying portrait, I wanted to demonstrate that a replication of Josie would likely misalign with her true personhood. Moreover, when the underlying portrait is removed from beneath the glass painting, I strove to show that such a replication of Josie would not be self-sufficient because it is deficient in the qualities that define Josie’s personhood. While this portrayal is a visual representation of an abstract concept, my piece still captures a concrete distinction between Josie herself and the insufficient replica that Klara would be if she tried to continue Josie. Work Cited Ishiguro, Kazuo. Klara and the Sun. New York. Penguin Random House, LLC. March 2, 2021
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