Unrequited Labour of Care in Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun
In this article, I explore questions of care and selfhood from both the humanist and post-humanist perspectives, as they play out in Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun. Ishiguro's novel portrays a tragic, futuristic universe, not too different from ours. Klara is an Artificial Friend, a ro...
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Published in | Women (Oxford, England) Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 370 - 389 |
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Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Abingdon
Routledge
02.10.2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd |
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Abstract | In this article, I explore questions of care and selfhood from both the humanist and post-humanist perspectives, as they play out in Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun. Ishiguro's novel portrays a tragic, futuristic universe, not too different from ours. Klara is an Artificial Friend, a robot caregiver, whose purpose of existence is to care for the child, Josie. However, theirs is not a relationship of reciprocity, as the novel presents a world where care is commodified as emotional labour. It is a world where the worker is manipulated into practising an ethic of care, while the cared-for is encouraged to receive it as mere paid service. In the particular case of Klara, her personal investment in caring for Josie guarantees that she loses everything in the end, including her 'self'. I discuss here the ways in which Klara is shown throughout the novel to carefully construct a sense of self and an understanding of her place within the environment, only to eventually lose it in the performance of her one-sided duty of care, imposed on her by the system. I examine the ways in which care is co-opted within an unempathetic economy so that the cared-for receives genuine love and care while the carer is simply used and abandoned, feeling humiliatingly dispensable and, simultaneously, eminently privileged to have been of service. |
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AbstractList | In this article, I explore questions of care and selfhood from both the humanist and post-humanist perspectives, as they play out in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. Ishiguro’s novel portrays a tragic, futuristic universe, not too different from ours. Klara is an Artificial Friend, a robot caregiver, whose purpose of existence is to care for the child, Josie. However, theirs is not a relationship of reciprocity, as the novel presents a world where care is commodified as emotional labour. It is a world where the worker is manipulated into practising an ethic of care, while the cared-for is encouraged to receive it as mere paid service. In the particular case of Klara, her personal investment in caring for Josie guarantees that she loses everything in the end, including her ‘self’. I discuss here the ways in which Klara is shown throughout the novel to carefully construct a sense of self and an understanding of her place within the environment, only to eventually lose it in the performance of her one-sided duty of care, imposed on her by the system. I examine the ways in which care is co-opted within an unempathetic economy so that the cared-for receives genuine love and care while the carer is simply used and abandoned, feeling humiliatingly dispensable and, simultaneously, eminently privileged to have been of service. |
Author | Misra, Jahnavi |
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Cites_doi | 10.7551/mitpress/6115.001.0001 10.2307/1891592 10.1177/1357034X20917450 10.1093/0195138503.001.0001 10.4324/9780203011430 10.17763/haer.47.4.g6167429416hg5l0 |
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References | Hochschild Arlie Russell (e_1_3_3_16_1) 1983 Fischer Marilyn (e_1_3_3_10_1) 2008 Tronto Joan C. (e_1_3_3_21_1) 1993 Walker Margaret Urban (e_1_3_3_23_1) 2007 Flanagan Owen (e_1_3_3_11_1) 1993 Bellacasa María Puig de la (e_1_3_3_4_1) 2017 Hekman Susan J. (e_1_3_3_15_1) 1995 Bostrom Nick (e_1_3_3_6_1) 2014 e_1_3_3_9_1 Ahmed Sara (e_1_3_3_3_1) 2004 Chatzidakis Andreas (e_1_3_3_7_1) 2020 e_1_3_3_19_1 Churchland Paul M. (e_1_3_3_8_1) 1996 e_1_3_3_13_1 Ishiguro Kazuo (e_1_3_3_18_1) 2021 Goffman Erving (e_1_3_3_14_1) 1956 e_1_3_3_2_1 Scheff Thomas J. (e_1_3_3_20_1) 1990 e_1_3_3_5_1 e_1_3_3_12_1 Hollway Wendy (e_1_3_3_17_1) 2006 e_1_3_3_22_1 |
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Snippet | In this article, I explore questions of care and selfhood from both the humanist and post-humanist perspectives, as they play out in Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and... In this article, I explore questions of care and selfhood from both the humanist and post-humanist perspectives, as they play out in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and... |
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SubjectTerms | Caregivers Duty of care Emotional labor emotional labour Ethics Ethics of care Humanism Ishiguro Ishiguro, Kazuo (1954- ) Klara and the Sun Personhood Posthumanism Reciprocity selfhood |
Title | Unrequited Labour of Care in Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun |
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