Paul Maillefert answers “Anyone already finished & want to discuss...”

Stéphanie asked this question about Klara and the Sun:

Anyone already finished & want to discuss the ending?

Paul Maillefert I was a bit surprised with the end of the novel. I was sad for Klara. When she said to the manager that if she had replaced Josie it would not have wo…moreI was a bit surprised with the end of the novel. I was sad for Klara. When she said to the manager that if she had replaced Josie it would not have worked, because the problem does not come from Josie but from the others, which would not have been able to love Klara the same way.
I was sad because since the moment she left the store, she never really received affection, while being able to receive it. Like when the Mother hugged her, associating her with Josie. She would receive it just a few times, when humanized by Rick for instance, but that s it. Even Josie did not really ever humanized her, and so love her. She was like an animal.

But I was wrongly sad

I think the Last scene is critical. mostly because of this discussion with the manager. The same manager which was, in my opinion, the first, and perhaps the only figure of love she had.
Klara is an AF, and by so had by definition a purpose, to help and guide a child to grow up. When she accomplished her task, she was no longer needed. And was thrown away. She was not considered like a tool anymore, but not yet humanized.
But what matters for Klara is the purpose accomplished. Facing the motherly figure, she explains proudly that she did the Best of what she could do. And now, dying, she does not need to ask for love or attention, or leave her loneliness. And so, the manager leaves the yard.

Klara is different than humans, because she does not need love.
In fact she can feel it but does not need it. Which perhaps makes her say that sentence about replacing Josie, saying that it would not work.

And then we also, if we were a machine like Klara, would not really need love, which comes and goes, and perhaps focus more on our action. What is really important is what we do, and why we do it.
But it is also this fragility which makes us human, because we need affection, because we need that love, which creates conflicts, suffering and Joy. And sometime which explains "why we do it". It is in our nature. We can see that human nature everywhere in the novel. And it is life. We, humans, want to receive love, we want a motherly figure until the end. Would you let go of the manager if you were at Klara's place ? And it s why i wrongly felt sad at the end. Klara never needed that love. She is not human. And she dies focusing on her actions.

What s ironical is that by lifting People, you modify them so that their abilities are matching your "needs" as a parent (be stronger and cleverer) . Because of their own human nature, of their fear, people are ready to modify that same nature. Perhaps we could lift someone so that he behaves like an AF. And Capaldi may be wrongly right. In the end we have to accept our nature, and make something great of it. Klara is an utopy that we somehow ought to attain, while being beautiful humans.

And finally here is something more personal : when we give love, it makes us act for others, and then makes us build. In fact "I" matters but does not really matter.(less)

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Klara and the Sun

by Kazuo Ishiguro (Goodreads Author)

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