Feelings After Reading the First Chapter of Klara and the Sun

paranoia

This week I read the first chapter of Klara and the Sun. This section of Klara and the Sun follows Klara, an Artificial Friend (AF), as she observes life from a store window and interacts with other AFs, customers, and the world outside. Key events include Klara’s fascination with the Sun’s nourishing light, her friendship with Rosa, and the arrival of Josie, a sickly girl who forms a bond with Klara. The narrative highlights her keen observational skills, such as noticing subtle emotions in passers-by and understanding the anxieties of AFs about being chosen or replaced. Manager, the store supervisor, guides Klara but warns her about the unreliability of children’s promises. The story culminates in Josie’s return to purchase Klara, despite her mother’s disagreement, showcasing Klara’s empathy and adaptability.
This chapter prompts reflection on how technology shapes human connections. Klara’s role as a companion mirrors modern AI’s potential to address loneliness, yet her limited agency raises ethical questions about dependency on machines. The fear of replacement among AFs parallels workplace anxieties in a rapidly evolving world. Josie’s vulnerability and Klara’s empathy also highlight the need for compassion in an increasingly transactional society. And I was impressed by Klara's curious character. I think she was a lot like we were when we were kids, observing the world change and learn something around us. And in the novel, the manager seems to act as the biological mother of Klara's droids. The closed shop is like the mother's womb, is the cradle of their birth. AF is taken out of the store by the buyer, that is, liberated from the womb of darkness, from the chaotic state of the unconscious. Jung said, "The mother is the first world of the child and the last world of the adult." What struck me most was klara's mental activity when she parted from her friend. She thought everything was normal that day, but it was such a normal day that a friend was bought by someone else. It is very much like the feeling we have when we first meet parting, feeling that everything is normal, everything is sudden.