A Study On Body Narrative In Klara And The Sun

Klara and the Sun,published in 2021,is Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017.In the novel,the change in the protagonist Josie’s physical conditions,the reason for her sick body and the treatment of her body constitute the plot development of the novel.Body narrative theory considers the process of narrative as the process of the body being symbolized,and believes that focusing on the role of the body attaches great importance to the interpretation of texts and understanding of the work.Research on body narrative has attracted wide attention of scholars,among which Daniel Punday first proposes corporeal narratology,which combines body with traditional narrative elements such as plot,character,and setting;Peter Brooks emphasizes desire as the crucial driving force of the plot development.This thesis analyzes the novel from the interpretation of the body,the influence of desire on the body,and how the body promotes the development of the story from the perspective of body narrative.The thesis consists of five parts: The introduction mainly provides a brief description of the author,Ishiguro,and his works,the basic information of Klara and the Sun,studies on the novel at home and abroad,as well as the literature review of the body and body narrative theory,laying foundation for the thesis writing.The first chapter focuses on the different ways in which the body enters the narrative.The body,manipulated by technology,is divided into the “lifted” and the “non-lifted”.The lifted body is at the top of society,while the non-lifted is at the lower end of society,suffering discrimination and injustice,which demonstrates the division of social classes;the body can also be divided into the healthy and the sick,indicating the uncertainty of human beings about their fate in modern society and shows the living predicament of human beings.In order to find out the causes of the change in the body,the second chapter analyzes the relationship between the body and desire.The body is not immutable and can be affected by various factors,such as illness and desire,and a healthy body may become a sick one.Driven by advanced technology,the Mother Chrissie’s love to her children is highly irrational.Out of her selfish desire to escape from loneliness,Chrissie launches crazy behaviors on Josie in the name of love,leaving her child to suffer from illness,and the activities and changes in the body constitute the storyline and promote the process of the story;likewise,the sick body brings great pains to Chrissie,who has to find more radical ways to get rid of the predicament.Finally,this irrational desire brings great harm to both her child and Chrissie herself.The third chapter focuses on the salvation of the sick body by the Artificial Friend(AF)Klara’s controlled desire.The selfishness of human beings forms a sharp contrast with the love shown by Klara.Klara’s selfless and controlled love originated from perceptive desire becomes a means of treatment that plays a crucial role in the healing of Josie’s sick body.At the same time,Klara gains the awareness of her identity in the process of salvation.The final part draws a conclusion,which highlights that the novel revolves around the transition of a healthy body and a sick body.The healthy body and the sick body act as a contradictory and integrated whole and desire is the main driving force to develop the story,which makes the novel full of tension.The loss of the healthy body and the healing of the sick body driven by desire constitute the main storyline.The controlled and selfless desire makes human beings recognize and improve themselves while irrational and selfish desire contributes to disasters and brings harm to themselves and others,triggering people’s thoughts about technology,human beings and emotions.