Sun

 

 

Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun undoubtedly features ideas of paganism and environmentalism – both working in tandem. Klara, an ‘Artificial Friend’, is seen worshipping the sun in the novel Ishiguro seen in the beginning of the novel where it states, “we would see the sun on his journey […] I’d lean my face forward to take in […] his nourishment” (Ishiguro 14). This is interesting to note as Klara as an artificial being recreates and brings her own philosophy to “one of the earliest forms of idolatry [being] the worship of the sun” (Ffrench 46).

Ishiguro, however, goes beyond this simple understanding of some vague imagery of paganism as Klara’s devotion to the Sun grows in intensity as the novel continues. This is where one can observe how Klara’s pagan ideas and the environment interact as she grows to hate ‘Pollution’. Klara fixates on not only the Sun but how Pollution is causing ‘harm’ to the Sun and as result makes herself a mission to destroy the machine.

Ishiguro thus uses this analogy of the sun to not only approach ideas of religion or paganism but also environmentalism and how religion operates in that sense. The class discussion on this text delved into this idea of paganism; however, I find that the way this worship interacted with ideas of environmentalism was particularly insightful.