A Study Of Klara And The Sun From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Kazuo Ishiguro is a famous Japanese-British novelist.As an “internationalist writer,” his works always focus on themes such as human memory,trauma,and ethics,and he is concerned with the fate of humans.Klara and the Sun,Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel after winning the Nobel Prize,was widely discussed at home and abroad upon its publication and was shortlisted for the 52 nd British Booker Prize.It continues the posthuman writing in Ishiguro’s previous work,Never Let Me Go,and tells the story from the perspective of an AF Klara with a reflection on the ethical and moral issues and dilemmas faced by human society in the future.From the construction of the human ethical order to the awakening of the ethical consciousness of artificial intelligence,Klara and the Sun is a retrospection of Kazuo Ishiguro’s thoughts about the future of humankind.Kazuo Ishiguro’s works have always discussed ethical issues in the development of human society,and they are rich in irony and metaphor.Therefore,this thesis chooses the Ethical Literary Criticism proposed by Professor Nie Zhenzhao to study Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun through close textual reading.Ethical Literary Criticism considers literary works as the expression of human ethical or emotional concepts,and it aims to reveal the ethical value of literature by providing an objective ethical interpretation of literary works from a historical perspective.Taking the approach of Ethical Literary Criticism as the framework,this article explores the ethical thinking of Kazuo Ishiguro from three aspects: ethical environment,ethical identity,and ethical choice.The introduction overviews research background,current domestic and international studies,the theoretical foundation of Ethical Literary Criticism,and the significance of the study.The second part is divided into three main chapters: Chapter One examines the ethical environment’s complexity.By analyzing the ethical environment in the novel,including social ethics with significant class differentiation,ecological ethics with unbalanced development of technology and ecology,and family ethics with conflicting values of family members,the objective ethical scene is restored.The alienation of humans by technological development is revealed,and at the same time reflecting Kazuo Ishiguro’s concern for the future of humanity.The second chapter analyzes the changing ethical identities of humans and artificial intelligence caused by the complex ethical environment to emphasize the ethical disorder in the posttechnological era.On the one hand,due to the development of modern technology,human beings are “lifted” and modified into cyborgs,and the people who are not being“lifted” will be marginalized by society and become the “Other” in the community.What’s worse,technology replaces labor and brings mass unemployment,and the crisis of human identity is becoming increasingly severe.On the other hand,Klara,the AI,goes through the process of identity confusion,to humanoid identity construction,and then finally obsoletion leading to identity disillusionment.Chapter three explores the contrasting ethical choices made by humans and AI driven by changes in ethical identity.Using sociologist Max Weber’s sociological concepts of instrumental rationality and value rationality,different ethical choices will be thoroughly studied.Human beings are dominated by instrumental rationality,which uses gene editing to improve themselves and ward off social anxiety.At the same time,the plan of continuing Josie weakens human initiative and causes ethical confusion.AI achieves an awakening of ethical consciousness.Value rationality enables her to maintain the worship of the sun in the technological era and makes the ethical choice of sacrificing herself to save humanity.The conclusion summarizes the entire article and details the significance of applying ethical literary criticism to interpret Kazuo Ishiguro’s ethical thinking.Based on an analysis of the ethical environment,ethical identity,and ethical choices in Klara and the Sun,this thesis attempts to interpret Kazuo Ishiguro’s deep thinking about the reconstruction of the ethical order in the post-human era.In the age of rapid technological development,Kazuo Ishiguro recreates the ancient “myth of the sun,” providing answers to the question of solving human ethical dilemmas,and perhaps the transformation of human ethical concepts is the key.