Light and Dark Sides of Humanity Unfold in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Fiction

Kazuo Ishiguro is a contemporary fiction author who writes multiple fictional genres. The 66 year old was born in Nagasaki, Japan and moved to Britain at 5 years old. For his works, he was awarded the The Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. Two contrasting examples of his works include Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go. The books show the darker and lighter sides of society in the face of questioning the humanity of their creations. 

On one side there is Never Let Me Go, a disturbing and tragic piece of fiction with no happy ending. This book brings to light the ugliest parts of humanity with morally gray protagonists who are difficult to like, authority figures who give up on fighting for their students, and a society that would rather be ignorant than face the humanity of the beings they created. This book follows Kathy, a student at Hailsham, whose destiny is to grow into a “carer”. As the book progresses, the reader learns more about Kathy but in the end is left with an incomplete feeling and many unanswered questions. Though this book does not paint humanity in a very bright light, it is a wonderful representation of the way that society as a whole would rather be ignorant than face their own selfishness. 

On the more positive side, Klara and the Sun introduces AI specifically made to befriend and attend to the needs of children. Though Klara is never considered human, she is loved by her family and treated as one of their own. She does her best to keep the child she’s attending, Josie, happy and healthy despite her illness that forces her into bed rest often. Klara is highly intelligent and her gradual understanding of human emotion leads to her being a very likeable character in the novel. The book leaves with a melancholy and bittersweet end with much open to the imagination of the reader. While all of the characters have flaws, it is hard to hate them, and they serve as a realistic portrayal of human actions. 

In Klara and the Sun, Klara makes a statement that I felt truly resounded with me. She says, “Until recently, I didn’t think that humans could choose loneliness. That there were sometimes forces more powerful than the wish to avoid loneliness.”

Ishiguro’s writing style is one to admire, as he brings to life characters that otherwise may not be considered as true people and gives them a sense of humanity that I haven’t seen from many other books.