The sun always has a way to shine on us, no matter where we are. - Kazuo Ishiguro, "Clara and the Sun"
Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan in 1954 and immigrated to the UK with his parents at the age of 5. Kazuo Ishiguro's major works include "The Light View of the Mountains", "Ukiyo Painters", "The Long Day Will End", "Don't Let Me Go", "Buried Giants" and so on. For his great achievements in the field of literature, Kazuo Ishiguro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017.
Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for his novels, with their immense emotional power, unearthed the abyss hidden beneath the illusion of our connection to the world. In its Nobel Prize speech to Kazuo Ishiguro, the Swedish Academy of Letters made a subtle distillation of his theme: "Memory, time and self-deception." ”
Kazuo Ishiguro's works have been translated into more than fifty languages by various countries, among which the British versions of "The Long Day Will End" and "Don't Forget" have sold more than one million copies, and have been remade into films, which are widely acclaimed. In 2018, Kazuo Ishiguro was knighted by the Queen of England for his outstanding contributions to the field of literature.
In March 2021, Kazuo Ishiguro's novel "Clara and the Sun" came out in the expectations of readers. This novel is another masterpiece after Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize. In fact, this work is no exception, although this time, Ishiguro staged a clever variation for the reader.
In a sense, "Clara and the Sun" continues the theme of "Don't Let Me Go", they are all stories that reflect human and non-human life, and it is not difficult to find Ishiguro Kazuo's contemplation of some of the great changes brought about by the development of human science and technology.
The background of "Clara and the Sun" can be said to be unexpected, but the core of the story is still a continuation of the typical Ishiguro Kazuo style. Ultimately, in Clara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro explores a fundamental question through an unforgettable narrator's perspective on the ever-changing modern society: What exactly is love?
The book "Clara and the Sun" has an unusual cover design, with a square hollowed out window in the center being the most attractive, the original color of the cover exposed after the hollowing out complements the color of the orange cover decorative paper, and a small piece of bow lemon yellow in the upper right corner of the blue background. Only by peeling off this layer of orange decorative paper outside the hard skin can we understand that the bow shape was originally part of the sun.
Clara and the Sun is a story about the sun. A sun that emits artificial flames, is obscured, and is not recognized. Perhaps it is this cover design that tells some of the unfinished meanings and mysteries of the novel.
In Clara and the Sun, the protagonist of the novel and the first-person narrator of the story, Clara, is a solar robot AF, which is artificial intelligence in the popular sense.
At the beginning of the novel, Clara makes an opening statement in the first person narrative: "When Rosa and I arrived, we were in the middle of the store, near the side of the magazine table, and the line of sight could be seen through most of the windows. ”
Clark brings a limited vision into the narrative, and the limited gaze reveals her passivity as a commodity, and even more to find the exact tone for the entire work: the restricted, incomplete, blinded but desired tone. The tone doesn't belong to Clara alone, we'll know it soon. But now, let's think that it belongs only to Clara, the AF that has just been displayed.
AF is an artificial intelligence designed to accompany children's growth. They are able to learn to perform their functions according to the autoencoder, but they know only a limited amount about the world, whether it is nature or human society, and they have childlike and childish thoughts, such as "the sun is home for the night."
As a strong artificial intelligence, AF is capable of performing complex synchronous operations. Simple information input can make AF complete database and have basic common sense. But no one did that. Because they only need to know one thing – to spend time with their children.
But there are always exceptions, and Clara is the one in the AF family. She would say something like this: "I've always longed to see more of the outside world and see it in its entire details. At that time, the sun and its mercy were almost forgotten. ”
Clara possesses all the good qualities that humans pride themselves on: she is kind, considerate, selfless, and has given everything she can for Josie, and she is a perfectly altruistic being.
It is not until the last chapter of the novel, in Clara's conversation with her manager, that we inadvertently realize that the whole story is actually Clara's review of her life as she approaches the end of her "life." In Clara's words, it is to organize her memories one by one on the axis of time.
Clara is a robot designed to accompany humans, with keen observation, reasoning and empathy, and unforgettable memory. At the same time, in the process of looking back, Clara always has a purely altruistic motive, that is, to repeatedly torture herself, whether the choice she made is really the most beneficial to the young girl Josie, whom she wholeheartedly accompanies. Thus, we can be sure that Clara's memories are completely true, reliable, and honest, and that he is a rigorous narrator.
Designed as the concept of accompanying children to grow up, the artificial intelligence Clara, since being selected by Josie and coming to her home, she has taken it as her duty to love Josie and accompany Josie to grow up, and it seems that all her behaviors and ways of thinking are carried out with this goal. This is perfectly illustrated in Clara's self-description in the novel, "My Duty Is to Be Josie's Best Friend."
What does Clara look like? Clara's eyes never looked at her, no one took the initiative to mention her appearance, in fact, when people talk about Clara, they rarely think of Clara as Clara. She is Josie's AF. Her functions and responsibilities are all she has.
With only one exception, Clara found it difficult to sit on Nakajima's high stool because my feet couldn't reach the ground. At that moment, the moonlight broke through the clouds and shone on Clara's body. She was seen. She should just look like a little girl. She should not be a beautiful girl AI. It was an extraordinarily moving moment.
In Josie's eyes, Clara looked like a Frenchman, with short hair, dark color, and dark clothes all over her body; she had the kindest eyes, and she was so clever.
Clara's words and deeds are highly consistent and can be said to be done, and Clara regards the responsibility to Josie as the meaning of her existence. When Josie first took Clara out to meet the boy next door, Rick, Clara did not forget to take care of and protect Josie when she did not adapt to the outside environment and needed to walk carefully, Clara thought to herself: "You must concentrate on making sure that Josie will not be hurt." ”
In the small daily life, there are many plots like Clara who do her best to take care of Josie. When Josie consults Clara on minor issues such as dressing, Clara does her best to encourage Josie.
During a time when Josie and Rick had an affair with each other over a bubble painting game, and the two ignored each other for a few days, Clara saw Josie's subtle psychology: Josie wanted to contact Rick both out of the girl's reservedness. Clara takes Josie's delicate thoughts to heart, so she takes the initiative to replace Josie as her messenger and reconcile with Rick.
But how did Josie and those around him see Clara? Let's start with Josie's attitude, josie sees Clara as a doll-like object, as she later said to Clara more than once, "You're my AF." These are two different things. Rick, well, we're going to be together for the rest of our lives. ”
Melania, the housekeeper of josi's house, also complained indignantly to Clara: "Also, AF. Your big plan. If it makes Miss Josie worse off, I'll come and tear you apart. Stuff you in the trash. The hostess of Josie's neighbor, Rick's mother, Helen, also said to the visiting Clara, "After all, are you a guest?" Or should I be when you're a vacuum cleaner? ”
Although Clara has always been labeled "human auxiliary tool, non-human being" since the beginning of creation, Clara has always treated them with a heart of love and understanding in order to become Josie's better AF, whether it is For Josie or his relateds.
She became more and more like a human being, she was deliberately silent, her mind was filled with great fear, and she began to nostalgia and even developed a kind affection for the Kutins machine that was determined to destroy. What makes her more human is her initiative.
In order to save Josie, she planned and implemented her naïve and fanatical plan, and she took several risks. Clara has worked hard to recover Josie, who believes that only the sun can give special nourishment, and only the sun can ultimately save Josie's life. To this end, she twice went to The Barn of Mr. McBain, where the Sun might "rest", to plead with the Sun for mercy.
For the first time, despite Rick's help, she still has to face the great discomfort and fear of the road, but these difficulties seem insignificant in the face of Clara's strong will to save Josie. In order to please the Sun, in exchange for the Sun's special kindness to Josie, Clara subjectively made a pact with the Sun.
After that, completing this mission became Clara's greatest wish, for which she did not hesitate to endure any pain, and was even ready to give her life at any time. Clara took out the PEG9 solution at the suggestion of her father and sacrificed some of its functions, all of which she actively chose, not human instructions. Clara, while becoming Josie's better AF, gives meaning to her own existence and gives her life a subjective value. It is only in this case that sacrifice is noble.
The second time she came to Mr. McBain's barn to confess to the sun, she could feel this powerful force, and Clara organized the words in her head facing the sun, "I don't mind losing precious liquid." I'd rather give more, give it all, as long as that means you'll give Josie a special help... So now the wish in my heart is that the sun will once again show its great mercy. ”
Clara's monologue is purely her own mental activity, and she doesn't want anyone to know about it, nor does Rick, who accompanied her to the barn twice, know it. This highlights the purity of Clara's feelings for Josie, because Clara's dedication and sacrifice to Josie are unconditional.
Clara, a robot who lives with the young josie day and night, can really learn Josie's smile, raise her hands, and even her entire inner personality by virtue of her far more human insight and learning ability, not to "copy" Josie, but to "become" Josie and become her true continuation in this world.
Melanie, the housekeeper, doesn't like Clark. When Josie is in crisis, the housekeeper forgets the distance between her and Clark. She repeated, over and over again, the words that had later proved incomparably correct. She said to Clara, "We're in a group. They're in a group. They were also used by the family. ”
When Josie recovers and is busy with her academic friends, the housekeeper and Clara become redundant at the same time. They fall into a similar situation. They used to take care of Josie together and protect Josie in their own way, and now need to withdraw from Josie's life separately.
The housekeeper is replaced by a new housekeeper who brings the futon or the camp bed into Josie's bedroom a day or two in advance, so Clara has to move into the utility room, which Josie acquiescies to.
Clark herself found the utility room, and she stayed quietly inside, which was where she should be. Then she waited for Josie's gentle farewell. Earlier than Josie's farewell when she left home, before the junkyard's farewell to the manager, Clara's farewell began when Josie opened the utility room to find her.
Josie built a staircase for her in the utility room leading to the high window. She knew Clark liked to look out the window. Now Clark can stay in the utility room. It had everything she needed. When they said goodbye, they looked at each other with a kind smile.
But when Josie asked Clara, "That's where you're now." Is everything okay? Clara replied, "All the best, thank you." ”
Clara will not tell Josie that it was she who saved Josie by sacrificing herself in exchange for the special nourishment of the sun, she will only silently accept and approve of what Josie has done to her.
The novel slowly ends in a conversation between Clara and her manager, and as Clara approaches the end of her "life," she makes an intriguing review of her life:
He said to the manager, "Before you go, manager, I have to report one more thing to you." The sun was very kind to me. He has been kind to me from the beginning. But when I was with Josie, there was a time when he was exceptionally kind. I wanted to let the manager know. ”
"Yes. I'm sure the sun has always been good to you, Clara. ”
When the manager said this, he turned to the wide sky behind him, with one hand raised in front of him; for a moment, we both looked at the sun together. Then she turned to me again and said, "I have to go." All right, Clara. Bye. ”
"Goodbye, manager. Thank you. ”
After reading the novel, our minds can't help but churn with such a question: If one day artificial intelligence technology makes a breakthrough, what kind of changes will be brought to human life after creating highly intelligent robots?
Perhaps Kazuo Ishiguro's novel brings us thoughts and inspirations, perhaps just like the cover of this book and the title of the book, "Clara and the Sun". Yes, the sun is merciful. "The sun always has a way to shine on us, no matter where we are." This is a story about the sun: the sun is merciful. The benevolent sun showed only a corner of her.