Georg-August-University Göttingen

Seminar für Englische Philologie

WS 2022/2023
Proseminar: Humans, Robots, Androids
Modul: B.Eng.302.Mp
Prof. Dr. Barbara Schaff

Human-Robot Companionships in Klara and the sun by

Kazuo Ishiguro and The mad scientist’s daughter by
Cassandra Rose Clarke

Thi Ngoc Minh, Tran

9. Semester English, German
Matr. – Nr. 21800028
Email: thingocminh.tran@stud.uni-goettingen.de
Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. How human are the robots?

2.1. Klara (Klara and the sun)

2.2. Finn (The mad scientist’s daughter)

3. Ethical issues:

3.1. Misusing and abusing robots

3.2. Love relationship between humans and robots

4. Conclusion

Bibliography

Plagiarism statement
1. Introduction

In this modern world, robots and artificial intelligence are becoming essential parts of human
life. We even attach our daily life to electronic devices, such as mobile phones, computers,
GPS, search tools, etc. Robots penetrate various areas of our quotidian activities. For example:
in the medical field, there are robots with functions to help doctors to perform the most accurate
surgeries, having abilities of "streaming supply delivery" and "disinfection", along with
"enabling providers to focus on engaging with and caring for patients."1 The advancement of
robots in the scientific zone has existed for an extended period. Furthermore, it is reaching the
emotional life, which is even more complex and extremely hard to predict.

The long history of humanoid robots started in the 4th century. In the 1950s, people
discovered designs of a humanoid robot by Leonardo da Vinci, and the first humanoid robot
was made in 18102. Until now, scientists have been trying day by day to improve the capacities
of robots to make them as human as possible. The more advanced the androids become, the
more complicated and intense the relationship between them and us will get. As Coeckelbergh
mentioned in one of his articles: "Whatever we think of it, the idea of humans engaging in
companionship relations with robots is not science-fiction."(1). The idea of a human-robot
companionship occurs in numerous novels, movies and other art genres. This term shows a
multiform connection and contains several aspects as well as problems in it.

1
All the information is based on “Robotics in Healthcare: The Future of Robotics in Medicine”. “Intel.”. N.p.
n.d. 01/04/2023. <Robotics in Healthcare: The Future of Robots in Medicine - Intel>
2
All the information is based on “History of Robots”. “Adelaide Robotics Academy”. N.p. n.d. 01/04/2023. <
History of Robots - Adelaide Robotics Academy>
 Both novels "Klara and the sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro and "The mad scientist's daughter"
by Cassandra Rose Clarke exploit a motif of a partnership between a robot and a female
protagonist. However, each of the authors has different methods in building the development
of this relationship along with the protagonist's stages of life. To analyse the companionship
between humans and robots, we have to answer the first important question: How human are
the robots? The reason is that the level of depicturing appearance, how intelligent they are, and
the capacity to understand, think, and express emotions profoundly affect the intensity of the
relationship. The second question is: Which ethical issues come along with a human-robot
relationship? More precisely, in order to answer these questions, I will put my focus on
analysing robotic self-awareness, the problem of a love relationship between a robot and a
human, and how robots are treated by humans in these novels.

2. How human are the robots (Klara and Finn)?

Companionship requires an intense emotional exchange and interaction between two subjects.
According to Coeckelbergh, to satisfy this requirement, robots have to become a recipient of
human empathy (3). The more human robots are, the easier people can have feelings for them.
In my opinion, the condition to assess if a robot is human enough is the ability to have self-
awareness. The term self-awareness is defined as “the conscious knowledge of one's own
character and feelings”3. Furthermore, emotions also depend on how the robots are designed
with appearance and which gender they are identified with.

2.1. Klara (Klara and the sun)

Klara is an AF which means "artificial friend", or in other words, a robot with a function of an
assistant for children. Through a short description of Josie - the protagonist, readers know a
spare image of Klara's appearance. It is a girl with a French look, "short hair, quite dark, and
all her clothes were like dark too, and she had the kindest eyes, and she was so smart" (42).
Due to the specifically targeted customers, the design of Klara must be suitable and friendly
for children.

Since Ishiguro tells the story in a homodiegetic narrator's voice, Klara's self-awareness
will be reflected in her observations, thinking, and emotions. Compared with other robots in
the shop, she has the capacity to observe things and a curiosity to learn new human emotions.

3
“self-awareness”. Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Copyright © 2023. <Home : Oxford
English Dictionary (oed.com)>
"Unlike most AFs, unlike Rosa, I'd always longed to see more of the outside - and to see it in
all its detail" (12). The capability of learning is usually in the default setting of an AI. However,
what makes Klara special is that she chooses to focus on human beings' sentiments and facial
expressions, which are the most complicated and human aspects.

Machines do not have feelings, so the way she manifests her sensations, such as
excitement (14), sadness (39), fear (43), etc., shows that she is able to feel empathy. More
precisely, she can understand and share the compassions of what she notices. Klara feels sad
while perceiving what happens to the Beggar Man and the dog and even wishes someone would
help them, and a mere machine cannot make a sentimental wish like that. In addition, she has
a remarkable observation of nature, namely the sun. She does not see the sun scientifically but
rather from an idealistic inspection. For her, the sun is a metaphor for God, which has a magical
power to cure people.

The idea of seeing the sun as a supernatural subject sounds quixotic, and both belief
and God belong to theology, which contrasts with science. Moreover, the way Klara depicts
and communicates with the sun is the use of personification which does not fit into a scientific
product. She acknowledges that it comes to the point: "I believe I have many feelings. The
more I observe, the more feelings become available to me" (91). It means that the more Klara
perceives, the more she learns and becomes human. "At least, I believe so. And I believe there's
now reason for hope. Hope for Josie. Hope that she'll get better" (151). Talking about science
is talking about facts with only two results: true or false. Nevertheless, Klara uses the verb
"believe" and the noun "hope", emphasising that she is more than just a pre-engineered
machine. The closer to the end, the more self-awareness she gets and the more "believe" words
she uses. The action of being willing to sacrifice one part of her body makes Klara human more
than ever.

Even though the readers cannot know what other characters think about Klara, they can
estimate how the others accept her through the interactions and dialogues. Klara is not a highly
designed robot since she still has some limitations in movement and vision. For this reason,
she receives empathy from other people merely because of her sentiment and behaviours.

The first person showing empathy to Klara is Rick when he helps her escape the evil
play of other children at Josie's party. According to Coeckelberg, human beings are vulnerable
due to their embodied existence. Furthermore, the condition of human empathy depends on
sharing similar vulnerabilities, "this is what makes you 'like me' or 'one of us'" (6). At this party,
Rick and Klara share the uncomfortable feeling and the feeling of being an outcast, and they
both become subjects who are ridiculed and treated with cruelty. The Manager is the second
person to show empathy for Klara when she meets Klara again in the Yard, which is used to
store all the no longer-used AFs. Both the Manager and the robot are kicked out of their places,
and this similarity makes the human feels empathy for the robot. They talk like old friends who
see each other after a long time.

2.2. Finn (The mad scientists’ daughter)

Unlike Klara, Finn is an advanced design and high-functioning robot from the inside to the
outer shell. More specifically, he is an android similar to the android - Adam in "Machine like
me" by Ian McEwan. Finn is created by Dr Judtith Condon, who is considered to be
his mother, with the purpose of replacing her dead son. Because of the specific intention, Finn
is made to be as human as possible. Although there is no detailed depiction of his outward
show, through some small traces, Finn comes up with an image of a male android with dark
eyes (8), fair skin, black hair (9), skin temperature (40), and " no one who just sees you for two
minutes on a light-rail is going to think, oh my God, a robot" (116). So from appearance, Finn
is perfect and more human than Klara. More importantly, Finn is constructed with " incredibly
elaborate personality programs" (23), which make him feel, think, understand and have
consciousness as a normal person.
At the story's beginning, Finn does not express many of his emotions; nevertheless, his
sentiment is shown through Cat's observation. Clarke uses a heterodiegetic narrator to tell the
story, and the readers, therefore, can see objective judgment of other characters about him.
However, it has a disadvantage in that people do not have access to Finn's mind. People know
how human Finn is in how Cat defends Finn's humanity. Throughout her childhood, Cat
emphasizes their friendship when she fights with a boy named Erik because this boy speaks
evil of Finn (43). People can argue that this relationship is only Cat's illusion, like other children
who see their toys as best friends. However, she affirms many times that Finn is a person, even
when she is an adult with high-level knowledge4. The relationship between Cat and Finn
develops at every stage in her life. The longer they are together, the more emotions Finn has,
from a blank face to "his blank face full of sadness" (89) to "the corners of his mouth turned
up in a sad, unusual way" (166) to the ability to feel the pain (286), to feel angry (298), and to

4
The first time Cat affirms Finn is a person, is when she has the fight with Erik (43). The second time is after
being married, Finn comes and visits her to inform about his trip to the lunar station (169). The third time is
“now she thought about him not as a system of circuits and code, but as a person” (228).
love and feel happy at the end. The most substantial evidence proving that Finn is a human
with self-awareness is the capacity to love and be loved, which is considered to be impossible
for machines. He is loved not only by Cat, but also by Dr. Novak – Cat’s father, who afterwards
sees him as a son.
Finn is not only an android but a human with a high-level consciousness. It is shown
not only in the scientific fact that Cat's father unlocks the key in Finn's program to let him feel
more but also in how he faces his love for Cat. Finn is aware of the objections that would come
if they became a couple and their relationship is unnatural. So, he tries to hide his feelings and
make himself less human. The highest level of awareness is to solve the "what or who I am"
question, and Finn knows the exact answer. It is shown in his speech at Dr. Novak's funeral: "I
am a machine. However. I am... alive... in a sense, and I'm aware of this fact (...)" (292).
Furthermore, Finn knows the meaning of his existence and chooses to be what he wants: " (...)
That was my purpose. (...) Just to bestow meaningless affection upon her. (...) And that's why
I went away. To show her, to show your father, to show you - I'm just a machine. And I wanted
to be owned like one. (...) I refuse to be something I'm not." (298). Even a human being hardly
understands the meaning of existence, but Finn can do it.
3. Ethical issues
The development and advancement of robots raise challenging questions about ethical issues.
The first question is: How to use robots accurately? All robots are produced for specific
purposes but generally have an identical task to serve human life. It means that they are
considered to stand in a lower position of a servant, which is why they are potential objects for
misuse and abuse by human beings. The second question is: If robots reach advanced
consciousness and self-awareness, will their love relationship with humans be acceptable?
3.1. Misusing and abusing robots

In "Klara and the sun", Klara is manufactured with the task of playing and being a friend with
children. However, everyone in Josie's house treats her wrongly. The first person is Melania
Housekeeper, who verbally abuses Klara. Melania always has a surly attitude towards Klara
and even shouts at her: "Quit follow me AF get lost" (48). She does not allow Klara to join the
morning coffee with Josie and the Mother (49) and keeps forcing her to hide her existence.
Furthermore, the more extensive matter is other people in the house witnessing this abuse, but
no one says anything or takes action to stop it.
 The second person is the Mother, who uses Klara inaccurately. She wants Klara to try
to imitate Josie as much as possible so that in case Josie cannot overcome her sickness, Klara
will replace her. The Mother even asks Mr. Capaldi to make a new outer shell simulating Josie.
Even though Klara agrees to take on this mission, it is still abusive since this is beyond her
original duty. Moreover, she cannot live genuinely to herself because she would have to wear
Josie's appearance if she continued living her life. The last person is Josie, who is supposed to
be Klara's best friend. Nevertheless, when other children in the party abuse Klara, she does not
act to protect her friend. In the end, she abandons her best friend in the Yard.

In "The mad scientist's daughter", the concept of misusing and abusing robots is
different. Although Dr. Judith Condon creates Finn with the same idea as Josie's mother, unlike
Klara, Finn reaches the human level with his appearance and capacity to have high
consciousness. Judith "had made a life," and "she wants to kill it" (211). Nothing is crueler than
being killed by the mother who brings him into the world. When Dr. Novak first meets Finn,
he is shut off. Finn is created to be an actual human, but he does not have the right to control
his life and is given away by his mother. Finn comes to the second house and continues being
misused by his adoptive father. Dr. Novak changes his program to let him become an advanced
human, which means he can feel all the sorrows and pain. And he does it without Finn's
permission. So, when all the sorrows come suddenly, Finn has to run away. He is forced to be
something he does not want to be. His right to choose his identification is violated.

This novel also raises the problem of robotic slavery. There is a thin line between
intelligence and sentience, and how can people distinguish if a robot has sentience or not? Can
people let robots do dangerous and heavy tasks just because they cannot feel physical pain?
The Automaton Defense League in the book tries to fight for robot's rights which means robots
themselves should "be granted the rights of human beings" and "free to program themselves
into whoever they wanted to be" (162). Another problem is that if people see robots under the
same rights as human beings, they cannot be owned or be anyone's property and belong to
themselves. So, buying robots would be illegal as human trafficking. People could not use
robots as tools, and the robots should receive the same working conditions as ours, which
means they could have holidays, days off and free time.
3.2. Love relationship between humans and robots

This ethical issue is the main problem of " The mas scientist's daughter". It sets a tricky question
about the sentimental relationship between humans and robots. The companionship between
Cat and Finn develops from friendship to love. Moreover, they have sexual intercourse many
times, even when Cat is in a relationship with another man. If Finn is counted as a person, then
Cat's action is immoral since she cheated on her boyfriend. However, suppose Finn is counted
as a robot meaning an object, that makes Cat's action acceptable. In that case, it does not violate
any ethical issue since it is similar to using an erotic stimulator.

Cat's feelings for Finn cause the disruption of her marriage. Even though, in the end,
they find each other, their relationship is still unnatural because they cannot illegally get
married or have children. Furthermore, as Coeckelberg mentioned in his work, human feelings
for robots may be self-deception (1). The reason is:
“(…) We might object that there is an ethical problem with this kind of empathic
relation: since robots pets imitate their biological cousins, they seem to deceive humans. They
make us believe that they deserve our empathy, but they are ‘mere machines’. The human
vulnerability might be real, but they do not really mirror that vulnerability since they are not
living beings. The mirror deceives and deception is morally unacceptable. (…)” (Mark
Coeckelbergh, 2010: 9)
Finn is a pre-engineered program; all these emotions and feelings do not come naturally
but are designed by a person. His physical existence is not flesh and blood, which means he is
not alive. He expresses his love through words and emphasizes that he understands "the
complexisties of love" (300). It shows that for him, love is similar to other scientific terms
which can be defined. Nevertheless, love belongs to emotions, which cannot be explained
scientifically. No one can look into his mind to see if his love for Cat is what Cat feels for him.
4. Conclusion

These two novels use different narrators that significantly affect how the characters are
depicted. In "Klara and the sun", although everything the readers see is through Klara's
observation, it does not show the judgments of other characters on her, if they see her as a
human or a mere machine. However, a homodiegetic narrator gives the readers access to Klara's
mind, and therefore it is more certain to draw a conclusion about her self-awareness. Klara's
journey is like a developing process of a child, and she observes and learns; the more she learns,
the more self-aware and human she becomes. Klara's relationship with Josie is pure friendship.
However, Josie does not treat Klara somewhat as a best friend; she interacts with Klara in the
same way a child plays with a toy. A child will cherish and cosset a toy when it is new to
her/him, but after a while, when the child gets older and has new interests, he/she will abandon
the old toy. It is an ephemeral companionship. The fact is that Josie no longer takes care of
Klara after recovering from her sickness. Klara is wholly erased from Josie's life when Josie
enters college. Her improvement is depicted gradually, which is more convincing than Finn's
changes in "The mad scientist's daughter".

On the other hand, the depiction of Finn's self-awareness is shown through the voice of
a heterodiegetic narrator. The readers can only partially be convinced that Finn has perfect
consciousness and human awareness since they do not know what happens inside his head. He
does not have a developing process like Klara. All of Finn's human functions are already set
up in his programs; Cat is the one who discovers and exploits his capacities. Like Josie and
Klara, Finn stays with Cat through her childhood until she becomes an adult. However, unlike
Klara and Josie's faint relationship, Finn's connection with Cat develops more profoundly, and
in the end, it turns into a love relationship. This companionship can collapse easily due to many
ethical issues.

So, the companionship between humans and robots is very complex since it goes along
with many ethical problems. The more advanced robots are, the more complicated this
relationship will become.

Bibliography
Primary texts:
Clarke, Cassandra Rose. The mad scientist's daughter. Great Britain: Saga Press, 2013.
Digital version.
Ishiguro, Kazuo. Klara and the sun. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021. Print

Secondary literature:
Coeckelbergh, Mark (2010) "Artificial Companions: Empathy and Vulnerability Mirroring in
Human-robot Relation", Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology: Vol.4 : Iss. 3,
Article 2.
“History of Robots”. “Adelaide Robotics Academy”. N.p. n.d. 01/04/2023. < History of
Robots - Adelaide Robotics Academy>

“History of Robots”. “Adelaide Robotics Academy”. N.p. n.d. 01/04/2023. < History of
Robots - Adelaide Robotics Academy>

Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Copyright © 2023. <Home : Oxford
English Dictionary (oed.com)>
Plagiarism Statement:
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Hilfe verfasst und keine anderen als die in der Arbeit angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel
verwendet habe. Die Arbeit hat in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form noch keinem anderen
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