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.