Ishiguro leaves the door to the future of Josie and Rick’s relationship open to interpretation. Klara notices that “[Josie had] hoped… that Rick would come to wave her off” for college, but he did not (298). They part ways without a true goodbye, and with the understanding that “[they] will always be together at some level, some deeper one, even if [they] go out there and don’t see each other any more” (288). Rick notes that he “will always keep searching for someone just like [Josie]” (288). Even though the readers do not want them to separate, we know that there is a possibility that they will meet again someday. Our narrative is cut short by Klara’s “slow fade,” but Josie and Rick will continue to age and could meet again. I found it very intriguing how Klara was able to grasp this concept as well. Being able to think beyond one’s life and have hopes for a future which one will not be a part of is typically considered a uniquely human characteristic. It is another example of Klara’s underlying humanity, one which makes the reader even more upset about the way she is treated as she continues to hope that “after many changes, Josie and Rick might once again meet as the Coffee Cup Lady and Raincoat Man had done” (289). I built my drawing around this quote, including figures meant to represent Josie and Rick walking away from each other on the hands of the clock, and then an older couple embracing each other on top of the clock who were meant to be the Coffee Cup Lady and the Raincoat Man. From this adaptation, Josie and Rick gained a possible future together since it is shown that over time, their paths will circle back together and they will meet again. My drawing also highlights the way that reunions are bittersweet because they only come after a separation. When Klara first observed the Coffee Cup Lady and the Raincoat Man, she “wasn’t sure if they were very happy or very upset” (22). Manager later explains to her that “sometimes, at special moments like that, people feel a pain alongside their happiness” because “when they last held each other, they were still young” (23). If Josie and Rick were to find each other again, the pain of their time apart and of their unfinished goodbye would mingle with their joy at being together again. I hoped that the clock would demonstrate the cyclical nature of separation and reconciliation, and the way that the feelings associated with each flow together.
This piece was inspired by “Klara and the Sun.” I decided to base my drawing around a clock to represent the significance of time in KATS after our class discussions about the unsatisfactory ending of the novel. Like many of my classmates, I felt that Josie did not say a proper goodbye to Klara when she left for college. I was expecting more finality and for Josie to express more sadness at leaving behind her AF for the last time after everything that Klara did to her, but instead Josie just said that Klara “may not be here when [she] get[s] back,” and told her to “be good now” (Ishiguro 297). However, it is important to remember that while the ending of the novel is the end of Klara’s life, it is not the ending for the other characters. Their stories continue beyond Klara. Because of this, I decided to focus my project on the concept of time in the book. I was particularly drawn to Josie and Rick’s relationship because that was another ‘ending’ that felt disappointing, but unlike Klara’s fate, was not entirely determined yet.
Ishiguro leaves the door to the future of Josie and Rick’s relationship open to interpretation. Klara notices that “[Josie had] hoped… that Rick would come to wave her off” for college, but he did not (298). They part ways without a true goodbye, and with the understanding that “[they] will always be together at some level, some deeper one, even if [they] go out there and don’t see each other any more” (288). Rick notes that he “will always keep searching for someone just like [Josie]” (288). Even though the readers do not want them to separate, we know that there is a possibility that they will meet again someday. Our narrative is cut short by Klara’s “slow fade,” but Josie and Rick will continue to age and could meet again. I found it very intriguing how Klara was able to grasp this concept as well. Being able to think beyond one’s life and have hopes for a future which one will not be a part of is typically considered a uniquely human characteristic. It is another example of Klara’s underlying humanity, one which makes the reader even more upset about the way she is treated as she continues to hope that “after many changes, Josie and Rick might once again meet as the Coffee Cup Lady and Raincoat Man had done” (289). I built my drawing around this quote, including figures meant to represent Josie and Rick walking away from each other on the hands of the clock, and then an older couple embracing each other on top of the clock who were meant to be the Coffee Cup Lady and the Raincoat Man. From this adaptation, Josie and Rick gained a possible future together since it is shown that over time, their paths will circle back together and they will meet again. My drawing also highlights the way that reunions are bittersweet because they only come after a separation. When Klara first observed the Coffee Cup Lady and the Raincoat Man, she “wasn’t sure if they were very happy or very upset” (22). Manager later explains to her that “sometimes, at special moments like that, people feel a pain alongside their happiness” because “when they last held each other, they were still young” (23). If Josie and Rick were to find each other again, the pain of their time apart and of their unfinished goodbye would mingle with their joy at being together again. I hoped that the clock would demonstrate the cyclical nature of separation and reconciliation, and the way that the feelings associated with each flow together.
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He enveloped Josie into his arms as both parties simultaneously sighed and cried - whether for joy or sorrow I do not know. His face was the expression of a man who had lost everything. The tight lips, stale eyes, and blurry lines dotted his composure. Yet, he seemed full - the slow dancing began with him lifting Josie into the air until she screamed, “Dadda, stop ittt.” Of course, that just made him do it all the more. Twirling Josie, he smiled, and that smile was infectious. The taxi driver smiled. That old lady, struggling to pick up her cane, smiled. Hell, even the dog smiled. They eventually came to a stop and their ovation was the thundering of tears, dripping, pouring, ever so slightly from Mother. Her hands were in the pockets of her dark trench coat; I wonder if they were clenched. And though she was looking at her ex-husband and daughter, it was as if she was living in a different period in time. A singular instance where she was happy…
~~~ “Momma! Look, come ower here.” Strands of golden cascades shimmered in waning light as Sal rushed into the room, nearly bumping into Melania. “Damn children,” Melania muttered as she pretended to chase after the screaming, mud-soaked ball of energy. Sal clenched two Amaranth flowers with one of her chubby hands while the other picked at her itching nose. “Sweetheart, hold on,” Mother tip-toed down the oak-wood stairs, enveloped in a pink, satin bathrobe. Before she could react, Sal tumbled into Mother with a delightful screech. Their bodies shook in a warm embrace as both mother and daughter smiled the kind of smile when you love the other person deeply. The feeling that vibrates slowly but steadily from your heart and ends with a slight tingle that leaves you wanting more. “Mom, my teacher told me that these flowers stand for eternity. I didn’t know what eternity meant so my teacher said it just meant “fowever.” Sal gently squeezed Mother’s cheeks and laughed as she pushed them together, contorting her mother’s face into quite a sight. “Well that’s lovely dear, but why don’t you get cleaned up? Guests are coming over soon and I can’t have you looking like that.” “But mommmmmmm… I wanted to give these to you because I’m gunna love you fowever!” For a second, Mother’s face went limp, the corner of her lip twitched thrice, but then quickly recovered and whispered, “Yes baby, forever and ever and ever. Now you go get yourself cleaned up.” Analysis: This story was inspired by wondering about the reliability of Klara as a narrator. I was especially interested in how the book would be different if Klara was a human observer rather than an AF. Further, the Mom’s character always brought flashbacks to Passing because she continually wanted to be in control of everything - her children’s love above all. Thus, I combined these two interests and created a short creative piece that stems from the lines, “He clearly wished to greet Josie with an embrace, and looked around for somewhere to put down the paper bag, but Josie stepped forward and placed her arms around him, paper bag and all” (Ishiguro 185). Through this piece, I gained two key components of insight. I had previously viewed the Mother in a negative light as a selfless, manipulative parent-figure, but I realized the deep pain she must have faced with Sal’s death. This, of course, does not justify seeking to permanently ingrain Josie’s life in the world through Klara. Yet, it helped me understand the grief and the trauma. Another important lesson that I learned was about the beauty of love. What makes love so special, is that it can transcend into the eternal realm; it is not bound by time and even through Sal’s death, there is a lingering love that her family members feel. While life may be special because it is limited, love is valuable because of the very opposite: it is not temporally enclosed. Klara lost her AF personality and I added a more humanistic lens that was more descriptive and observant. However, the narrator was more distracted as well unlike Klara’s usual, focused self. Creative component: https://youtu.be/2U3Q_mltG8I Lyrics: Ricky This room is so lonely Won’t you come and keep me company But even when you’re right here You and I, were ghosts here We communicate in the words of a picture of me that I drew We both know that the sound doesn’t ever kill the silence I can be with you only in the future I can’t feel us if there’s no dream here Only then does my head fill with your presence Of your dreams baby make me a present And then loneliness will never take me again You know when you come visit Gently next to me you sit I can’t feel your touch on my skin It sounds just like condolences ringing But when I make my dreams with you Your words will be on every page I drew Imagine the life we would lead Plan everything we could need I can be with you only in the future I can’t feel us if there’s no dream here Only then does my head fill with your presence Of your dreams baby make me a present Oh Ricky My life is lifeless without you And I’m so lonely in this room So let me be with you only in the future I can’t feel us if there’s no dream here Only then does my head fill with your presence Of your dreams baby make me a present And never let loneliness find me again Analytical Component:
This song aims to show how the book reveals that what is important to avoid loneliness is not the people we're with and we spend time with, but the future we imagine with them. Josie and Rick spend a lot of time together, but what seems to truly unite them is their “plan,” their dream for their future life together. Indeed, Klara says that she “realized too the significance of this plan for [her] own aims; that as the future unfolded even if the Mother, Melania Housekeeper and I could remain near her at all times, without the plan, Josie might still not keep away from loneliness” (122). In the song, written from Josie’s perspective, we can hear her saying that she can only really be with Ricky and feel his presence when they are imaging a future together. When the song says that his touch “sounds just like condolences ringing,” we can see that the kindness Josie receives from Ricky, from her mother, and from all the other people in her surroundings, is comforting but it does not make her feel less lonely because it feels like they have already given up on her, and don’t include her in their vision of their lives. Klara often refers to loneliness as the main issue in humans. She insists on it so much that she even contradicts Josie’s word when Josie says “but who says I’m lonely? I’m not lonely” and Klara replies “perhaps all humans are lonely. At least potentially” (255). This exchange is interesting because we can see both Josie’s need to deny her loneliness, and Klara’s need to reassert it because she sees how Josie truly feels, and because if Josie is not lonely at all then Klara’s role is obsolete. Not seeing a future with Josie would make Klara herself, lonely. Klara does her best to make Josie less lonely, but she doesn’t truly know how. She struggles to understand loneliness. She watches Helen wish Ricky a successful life in college and says that “until recently, I didn’t think that humans could choose loneliness. That there were sometimes forces more powerful than the wish to avoid loneliness” (152). This becomes clearer when Rick explains that he will love Josie and still be with her even when they are apart. That seeing someone as part of your life story, is the most important thing because “Josie and I will always be together at some level, a deeper one, even if we go out there and don't see each other anymore” (288). Indeed, we can understand that Helen will always be with Ricky because she will always see him as part of her life, living parallel to each other and so in a way together. Having dreams together as the escape from loneliness means a future together in the sense that both have a future, and both consider the other to be a part of their life. Klara then understands that people never leave your heart. She experiences this at the end of the book in the yard, as while she sorts through her memories, she does not feel loneliness, only love. We have confirmation of this theory when Josie heals from her illness. That moment, when they are all in the room, is the only moment when all of her family have hope for her again. They can see her in their future. “all at once – as if each of us in the room had received a secret message – we turned to Josie” (279) Klara says. At that moment, we may think that Josie heals physically because she is finally healing from the real illness: loneliness. She heals because people believe in her, because she feels like she is part of them again, and so she wants to live. Their hope heals her. Creative Component: Klara’s vision Analytical Component: Klara’s relationship with the Sun
This drawing represents Klara’s vision of the mother as the book describes it on pages 101 to 104, when Klara and the mother are at the waterfall. We can see how Klara uses the different boxes of her vision to zoom into certain features to be able to focus on them, and how this enables her to decompose someone’s expressions into different emotions. She observes people with great attention and sensibility, being able to comprehend exactly how they feel and responds appropriately in the way she thinks will bring them more comfort. Indeed, she remembered that the waterfall might get them wet, and she “wondered about mentioning this to the Mother. But something in her manner told me she didn't wish me to speak just yet” (101). When Klara goes to visit the Sun one last time on page 267, something intriguing happens that sheds light on her relationship with him. At the end of the visit, Klara believes that the Sun “had come right within Mr. BcBain’s barn and installed himself, almost at floor level, between the front alcove and the barn’s front opening” (272). She then realizes that it is not the Sun himself, but his reflection of seven superposed sheets of glass. She first sees the Sun’s face as one, but then understands that “there existed a different version of the sun's face on each of the glass surfaces” (273), as the glass separated the Sun’s face much like she separates the mother’s in the drawing above. This separation allows her to see the Sun’s different faces, and emotions, and to understand them. It seems that the Sun is sending her a message, telling her that she can see just as much as humans in squares, if not more, because these separations allow her to see all the layers of someone’s emotions. We can observe those separations and layers in the drawing. In his own decomposition, the Sun reveals that we are all layers and squares and so it is through her deep and separating vision that Klara can really see humans. As such, he validates her nature. From the reflective nature of the glass sheets, Klara can understand that she too, like the sun, has multiple layers. She is complete, as complete as a human; the sun sees it and, with kindness, his last humorous face tells Klara: ‘it'll be our little secret.’ This encounter tells Klara that she must embrace all of her abilities and herself. By offering all these emotions on the glass for Klara to choose from, the sun is saying that he trusts Klara to choose the right one; that will save Josie. Klara chooses love and hope (this is further explained in my creative project “Escaping Loneliness in Dreams” – the Ricky-Josie song). When Klara speaks to the Sun, she has a sense of self. She imagines that the Sun listens to her and her words, seeing her as more than a simple machine. He is attentive, receives her audience, and even comes into the room. He is telling Klara that she has personhood, she has value, and reassuring her that her life is seen. Although the world might not recognize her person yet – like the people at the theater that the seats at the theater are “sought-after seats,” and “they shouldn’t be taken by machines” (238) – the sun reassures her that it is here. Their relationship of negotiation and respect also acknowledges her personhood as it is the only relationship Klara has in the story in which she is not taking orders. Ultimately, Klara’s undying belief in the sun and his kindness reflects her desire to be seen as a person and provides unquestionable confirmation of personhood. Klara does not give up on the Sun at any moment, even when, after she destroyed the machine, he does not show her any help. Though she experiences a “wave of anxiety that the Sun wouldn’t keep the promise he’d made in Mr. McBain’s barn” (257), she quickly does more thinking and upon seeing the new pollution machine, immediately renews her faith in the Sun as she believes to understand his actions. She sees him as eternally kind, as he was with the homeless man and his dog when she believes he healed them, but she has no proof of this. She does not seem to understand the science of how the Sun nourishes her, and mistakes it for kindness coming from a sentient being. Klara believes in the Sun’s kindness without scientific proof just because she feels it and she needs to believe in it to feel independence and personhood. This is religious behavior. In sentences like “I'd remembered of course that I should be grateful as always” (257), we can recognize religious language. The fact that a robot has religion, illogical beliefs, shows that she has truly become a sentient being. Both from Klara’s perspective (the Sun’s acceptance of her), and from the reader’s perspective (Klara’s religious attitude), Ishiguro uses Klara’s relationship with the sun to prove her personhood beyond doubt. Jeanne C. I wanted to explore Rick's comments to Klara on the nature of his and Josie's relationship, focusing on the idea that he and Josie would always be together on some level, even though they "were bound to go their separate ways...despite everything, their love would last" (Ishiguro 289). The idea that people you love and care for always leave their marks on you, and that there is some tie connecting two people and a mutual change stemming from a relationship was interesting to me, and I tried to express it in my half sculpture half painting. I modeled hands with plaster, foam and paint to try and make it look somewhat realistic, before adding in much more cartoony details, such as stitches in the white hands made up of the same yarn as the very big oversized 'friendship bracelets' that bound the two hands together. I also tied the thinnest and plainest 'bracelet' from one hand's pinkie to the other, in some sense representing childhood pinky promises to remember and cherish things that most generally forget with time. Keeping the hands pure white but leaving the yarn colorful, I tried to show the concept of change from love being a net positive, even when it ends.The hands are set in something that looks almost like a white void, bordered by different generic images of children playing. I wanted to portray the idea that even when childhood friends grow up and grow apart, they leave their mark on each other, even if that tie can't be consciously traced and remembered. Rick and Josie have changed each other and affected each other's lives, both in ways they can conceptualize and understand and in ways they cannot. Whether or not they continue to remain friends, this change is permanent and meaningful nonetheless.
Epiphany in Cartier-Bresson's Photography and Bishop's In the Waiting Room - Katherine McLaughlin5/6/2022 In creating this collage, which puts Bishop’s poem, In the Waiting Room, into conversation with a work of Cartier-Bresson's photograph, I was largely influenced by Zachariah Pickard’s Natural History and Epiphany: Elizabeth Bishop’s Darwin Letter. The most meaningful lines to me as I worked through this collage (which I will later discuss in more detail) were the following:
“Dreams, works of art (some), glimpses of the always-more-successful surrealism of everyday life, unexpected moments of empathy (is it?), catch a peripheral vision of whatever it is one can never really see full-face but that seems enormously important” (Pickard 269). “What one seems to want in art, in experiencing it, is the same thing that is necessary for its creation, a self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration” (Pickard 269). “Her goal is to craft a set of particulars engrossing enough to draw the reader further and further into the poem so that, once entranced, the reader can be pushed out, half-conscious, into the unknown. She asks the reader simply to read with Darwin's rapt attention, to achieve a "self-forgetful [...] concentration"” (Pickard 281). I was initially interested in putting these two works of art intro conversation because as I observed one of Cartier-Bresson's photographs, I found myself experiencing a process of epiphany similar to the one outlined by Pickard. So, I decided to manipulate the Cartier-Bresson photograph to create a timeline of my observation as it coincided with the narrator’s process of epiphany in In the Waiting Room. While I aim to use this collage to outline my, and the narrator’s, “automatic observation,” “forgetful relaxation,” and “feeling of strangeness in undertaking,” it also exemplifies a relationship between one’s conscious and unconscious states in observation, epiphany, etc. (Pickard 269). By taking my own unconscious process of observation and epiphany, and forcing it upon the viewer, I overthrow their own unconscious process of viewing, and stimulate their conscious observation with annotations, phrase and word cut-outs, and a compartmentalized version of the Cartier-Bresson photograph. The slight irony in this process is indicated by my phrase cut-out on the last page of the collage – the “Without thinking at all” that is slapped onto the final version of the Cartier-Bresson photograph. While this outlines my, and the In the Waiting Room narrator’s, process of epiphany, it seems to contradict all that the viewer just experienced. I will now unpack the collage in chronological order of the poem and images, and the processes of epiphany. Firstly, I will note that my process of epiphany in viewing the Cartier-Bresson image revolved around the presence of the running girl, and her relationship with the rest of the photograph. For the majority of the images on the first page of the collage, to replicate my viewing process in which I was initially caught up by the gondola and then the surrounding landscape, I exclude the girl. This is indicative of an automatic process of observation, much like that of the narrator in Bishop’s poem in lines 1-35. In these lines, the narrator views her surroundings from a first-person perspective; everything around her is in relation to her. She describes her own waiting and reading, and the fact that she read the article straight through and was too shy to stop, much like my surface level first glance at the photograph. The narrator’s moment of epiphany begins on line 36, as she describes a sudden pain in exclamation. To the immediate right of these lines is the first image in which the girl appears - the beginning of my epiphany, that there is far more to the Cartier-Bresson photograph than that initially meets the eye. Thus marks the beginning of the process of epiphany, “the sensation of falling off the round, turning world,” the narrator’s eyes glued to the National Geographic, and my eyes glued to the running girl. I represented the sensation of falling that follows a sudden moment of epiphany, by turning the photograph upside down, not only to depict the girl as if walking on the edge of the Earth, but also to exemplify the way in which epiphany can turn one's previous perspective entirely on its head. The automatic, yet conscious observation slips away, and an unconscious, “forgetful relaxation” takes over. This is the beginning of an understanding of self, first in the most immediate sense - “you are an I” - then an understanding of how others see you - “you are an Elizabeth” - and finally in an abstract sense that Pickard compares to the abstraction of a natural historian - “you are one of them”. This process conflates the first, second, and third person (singular and plural); on a more general scale, perspectives begin to overlap and become ambiguous. We can see the image in a panoramic view, with the running girl to the far right (maybe this is akin to how others see someone). We can see the image zoomed into the girl, highlighting her stance parallel to the tip of the gondola (maybe this is akin to how one sees oneself). We can see the four of the running girls in a pop-art style (maybe this is akin to one’s abstract and anonymous relationship with everyone else in the world). Finally, on the third page of the collage after “sliding beneath a big black wave” of epiphany, and then another, and another, we return to what is now a state of semi-consciousness. The image in the top right of the page zooms into the bridge and its reflection, a somewhat circular shape that reminded me of a unified perspective - the world, and the girl on the edge of it. I doubled the bridge in the larger final image to emphasize this point, and moreover, to depict that when one returns from epiphany, they do not return to the same state of mind. Although we may only have gotten a peripheral vision in epiphany, of whatever it is that is “enormously important”, we have been entranced by our epiphany, and can now be “pushed out, half-conscious, into the unknown” (Pickard 281). The setting in the poem’s narrative is re-stated, although perhaps now the narrator sees her relationship with it differently, perhaps in a more relaxed, stranger, and less conscious state of mind, much like how I ultimately viewed the Cartier-Bresson photograph. Creative Component: End of Denial
“What? Mom… why? But, I don’t understand. You want to replace me, to have someone else pretending to be me, all so you can imagine I never died? And what about Klara then, you’d confine her to an existence that isn’t her own, pretending to be someone she isn’t and never truly acknowledging herself! Klara’s not a person to you, if you’d just shut her off like this. But I am not either, am I? You don’t see who I am! You only love me because it brings you comfort. How can you recognize my person if you really think that I’m so replaceable? And by imitation too: having someone pretending to be me would be just as good as having me!” A strange mix of anger and pain rose in Josie as she tried to contain it. “Mom, I see your suffering and that my death would be hard to accept. I understand that. But you’re planning it! You’re planning to forget me and be content with a duplicate! By denying my death, mom, you’re denying my existence! Creating my continuation, you deny me my emotions, my thoughts, my pains and my fears, my love, my ways, me. Klara will never feel things the way I do, she will never have the same thoughts, the same love. Not because she is a robot, but because she isn’t me! Her mind will never work the way mine does! And you’re willing to let her imitation erase the worth of my life and reduce the purpose of my life to simply the one of keeping you company. How could you? I’m your daughter! But no, to you I’m just an image, a representation, a tool against loneliness, and you wouldn’t care if I die as long as your need for the love of a daughter continues to be fulfilled.” Josie’s eyes filled with tears. In a painful and deep realization, filled with hate and betrayal, she uttered: “You don’t love me for me, mom, only for what I bring to you.” Coldly, she continued: “So you’ve been planning this all along since we first bought Klara. I didn’t think you had given up on me so long ago.” Josie determinedly kept her eyes open while a veil of water glossed over them. She didn’t let it go, but as the words began to leave her mouth, the water flowed, and she couldn’t stop it. “Mom, Klara could copy me, but she could never be me. You know that. Please don’t do this. Please see me, mom! Please don’t let my life just vanish behind a lie. I know you’re in pain. I see that. After Sal, I know how difficult this would be, but it’s better than lying to yourself. Don’t deny my life, don’t deny me my personhood.” The Mother stood silently, her eyes red and wet. She looked like she understood, but the pain visibly overwhelmed her and it seemed that if she spoke, she would collapse. The Father, had arrived later but stayed to listen. Calmly, and almost like asking for forgiveness while saying the words, Josie heard him say through her confusion: “My darling, there’s nothing unique about you, science can do it all. You’re not special.” And with those words cutting through his heart and hers at the same time, he stepped out of the room. Analytical Component: This project is a continuation of the story around page 239, if the conversation between the Mother and Josie had gone differently and Josie had understood the extent of the plan to replace her. This is her reaction to it. Josie calls out to her mother, feeling betrayed, and addresses the subject of personhood, the role of children in relation to parents, and the effect of denial. In this project, Josie seeks to end the mother’s denial of her death but also reveals the opposition in nature of her father’s denial. The mother’s denial is Josie’s death while the father’s denial is Josie’s lack of uniqueness. This project highlights the distinction between the parents’ beliefs, and analyzes the parents’ behaviors and beliefs to help the reader further question the situation and all the different points of view presented in this book. For both parents, the pain of losing Josie is tremendous, but it seems that their loss of their daughter would take different forms. For the mother, the portrait replacement of Josie would give her comfort at the time of her daughter’s death and allow her to live in denial that anything bad ever happened to her. The mother questions Klara, wondering if she would be able to continue Josie, but mostly, she questions her own ability to believe in the lie she is creating. “But will I believe in it?” she asks. “When the day comes. Will I really?” (205). For the mother, “there’s going to be no other way for [her] to survive. [She] came through it with Sal, but [she] can’t do it again” (210). She feels that ignoring her daughter’s death is her only option because acknowledging it would be too painful. She tries to lie to herself, telling Klara that “[she’ll] be able to love [her]” (210) like she loved Josie. The mother is also attempting to rid herself of her own guilt by pretending like she never lifted Josie in the first place. “I called it, and now Josie’s sick. Because of what I decided” (210), and the thought that she killed her own daughter is too painful to bear. Josie’s reply in this creative project reveals the betrayal that this means for Josie and the significance of her parents’ actions. “By denying my death, mom, you’re denying my existence!” (project) Josie says as she explains to her mom that pretending she never died through a robot denies her recognition of everything that made Josie, Josie. Klara had said, in the book, that “if this were the best way to save Josie, then I’d do my utmost” (216). But it doesn’t save Josie, it saves the parents. Indeed, Josie also questions the parent-child relationship in Klara and the Sun that is distorted by this plan, as it suggests that children are only here to serve the company needs of their parents, instead of living for themselves and their person. To end her denial, the Mother must accept that her daughter lived and died, and that she cannot be replaced by a robot. For the Father, accepting Josie’s replacement is even worse than accepting her death because it would force him to accept that his daughter is replaceable and would strip him from the view he has of his daughter. This is why he is much more opposed to the portrait than the mother is. “Josie, we leave right now. Believe me, I know what I’m doing” (202) the father had said at the office of Mr. Capaldi to take Josie away. Like the mother, the Father questions this situation and asks Klara, “Do you believe in the human heart” (215) in the poetic sense? Do you believe there is “something that makes each of us special and individual?” (215). Klara does believe it, but he thinks that science contradicts the poetic heart of his daughter. On page 221, he admits that he “hates Capaldi because deep down [he suspects] he may be right.” “Science has proved beyond doubt that there’s nothing so unique about my daughter” (221) “and it feels like they’re taking from me what I hold most precious in this life” (222). So, for the father, the pain is in realizing his daughter is replaceable, and his denial consists of believing in her heart and her death. This project shows the end of his denial that Josie is replaceable as he concludes the scene by saying: “My darling, there’s nothing unique about you, science can do it all. You’re not special.” Creative Component: Analytical Component:
This picture represents Josie saying goodbye to Klara as she leaves for college. My friend is modeling the picture. When Josie is leaving for college, in the whole period when she heals and gets ready to leave, she stops treating Klara like a person. Up until now, Josie really considered Klara to be a friend. She took into account her wants – like realizing Klara would love the sunset – and she really cared for her as a friend. In that period, Josie’s behavior completely changes as she stops paying attention to Klara and she is perfectly content leaving Klara in the utility room. She had told her “No one’s saying you have to hide” (290), but she did not ever make the effort to include Klara in anything and did not spend time with her anymore. Klara became just an old stuffed animal that we leave at the back of the closet until we take it out every now and then to say hi to and remember old times. We can see this in the picture of this project as the stuffed husky represents Klara. Klara's personhood is revoked in Josie’s mind as she grows up and leaves Klara behind as an object. The day of her departure, Josie says goodbye to Klara knowing very well that Klara might be disposed of, and in Josie’s words “you’ve been just great, Klara. You really have” (297), we can hear her thanking Klara for her service and saying goodbye with a tone that says ‘thank you, I don’t need you anymore.’ This event seems to question Ishiguro’s final argument about robots in this book because, in this moment of farewell, he suggests that truly believing that robots have personhood is just a childish dream, and now that Josie grew up, she knows better. However, Ishiguro speaks in the first person with Klara for the whole length of the book, so we have really seen Klara’s personhood, her thoughts, her feelings, and her care. The length of the book seems more significant than a brief moment near the end, so we can conclude that he is making the opposite argument: we know Klara, we know she is a person, so let us not be fooled by self-serving assumptions and open our eyes to seeing her personhood. He is telling us to observe Klara like she observes us and take the time to see her personhood instead of discarding it like a childish dream. That would be no better than the way the children wanted to treat Klara at the beginning of the book: “‘Come on,’ the boy Scrub called out. ‘Throw her over. If she can’t coordinate, I’ll just catch her.’” (78). Ishiguro is saying that Klara is not a teddy bear to be put at the back of the closet. Indeed, the theory of solipsism in philosophy states that we can never truly know if other people have person, think and feel, unless we are them. This is the most extreme test of personhood because it does not recognize any symptoms of personhood. In this case, reading the book in the first person, we are Klara, so we can be sure of her personhood. Klara’s personhood transpires in the picture through the husky’s sad eyes, showing Klara’s feelings and surrendered pain at not being recognized as the person she is. Ishiguro further confirms Klara’s personhood in her ability for self-determination in her project with sun. Indeed, when she decides whether or not to take the liquid out of her head, it is truly her own decision. As the father says, “this is your call, Klara” (224). Ishiguro finalizes the establishment of Klara’s personhood when Klara is in the yard and she reflects on past memories. This action, of going through memories at the end of one’s life, is a very human activity. It shows that Klara cares about her memories: she is sorting through them even though she is in a junkyard, and no one will come and recycle her hard drive. She is doing this activity for herself. Klara tells the manager that she has “her memories to go through and place in the right order” (302), like if she was organizing and storing them, which is more of a robot action. So, in that last conversation, Klara finalizes the reconciliation of her robot self and her personhood as she uses her robot abilities and nature for a truly emotional and human action. Jeanne C. I looked at Percy Shelley's poem Mutability in order to try and create a scene emulating the imagery he used in his poem and the intent behind his words. I used his imagery of clouds that restlessly "speed and gleam and quiver,/ Streaking the darkness" (Shelley 2). To interpret the idea of restless and impermanent clouds always moving and changing, I used a mixture of clouds and fog that almost seem to radiate off the rock and the tree. Everything in this scene, from the tree growing on the rock, the paper crane floating on the water, the reflection, the fog, and the clouds, are all subject to constant change. The scene would look different just a few minutes later, or with the slightest change in weather. A gust of wind could make even more leaves fall off the tree, and blow the paper crane out of sight. The rock, the most 'permanent' object in frame, is shown to be the most stable through its darker colors. However, even the rock may move and sink or otherwise change, and is only temporarily on this area of the lake. The fog, sky, and water were all painted using similar color schemes to add a feeling of borders between objects melting as they all share in their constant change. On this lake, nothing "may endure but Mutability," and the leaves are already changing color and slowly falling off while the paper crane is almost out of frame (16).
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