AF's
Klara and all other AFs are primarily powered by this natural energy source, leading to Klara's unique beliefs about its power.
What is the Sun (solar energy)?
Klara believes the Sun shows "favor" on sunny days but shows its anger or disapproval on days when this weather is present.
What is cloud cover (or rain/overcast skies)?
As Josie recovers and prepares for college, the natural drift in her relationship with Rick is primarily caused by the fact that he chose not to undergo this specific educational and social procedure.
What is "lifting" (or being "unlifted")?
After Josie has recovered, Mr. Capaldi approaches the Mother with an offer to purchase this item from the family.
What is Klara?
As a fiercely independent "unlifted" individual, this character often builds small, intricate machines in his backyard.
Who is Rick?
Klara is an older, but highly observant, model of AF designated by this letter and number
What is a B2 model?
"Cootings" is simply a name written on the side of a large construction vehicle, but Klara sees it as a sinister entity that causes this environmental problem.
What is pollution?
This character is "unlifted" but highly intelligent, skilled at building complex machines, and aspires to attend the prestigious Atlas Brookings University.
Who is Rick?
On a dark, stormy day, Klara insists that everyone open the blinds in Josie's room, at which point the Sun's light shines directly on Josie, causing this immediate and dramatic effect.
What is her healing?
This character is highly observational but occasionally struggles with the complexities of human emotion and sarcasm.
Who is Klara?
At the end of the novel, Klara is placed in this type of final location, where she slowly runs down her functions, unable to charge her solar cells.
What is the yard (or the recycling yard)?
To appease the Sun and convince "him" to help Josie, Klara makes a solemn promise to carry out this specific act against the Cootings Machine.
What is destroying it?
A primary advantage of being "lifted" is gaining automatic entry into top-tier colleges and universities, bypassing the highly selective admissions process. Name the prestigious university often mentioned in the book.
What is Atlas Brookings?
As Josie's health rapidly declines, Klara asks Rick to help her visit this location for a second time to make another plea to the Sun.
What is Mr. McBain's barn?
This character is an intense artist obsessed with capturing the precise essence of Josie to transfer it to the AF.
Who is Mr. Capaldi?
When Klara is overloaded with new or complex visual information, her perspective segments into this shape, a reminder of her artificial nature.
What are boxes (or a grid)?
When Klara goes to the barn to make her plea, Josie's father helps her disable the machine by providing a specific type of fluid drawn from Klara's own internal system.
What is P-E-G fluid?
While "lifted" children gain advantages in school and career paths, the procedure is high-risk, a fact demonstrated by the fate of Josie’s older sister, who died. Name the sister.
Who is Sal?
Before making her second plea, Klara asks Rick to confirm that this emotion between him and Josie is "genuine" and "lasting," a condition she believes is necessary for the Sun to grant her request.
What is Love?
She is a highly protective mother who is deeply scarred by the loss of one daughter and struggles with guilt over the choice to "lift" the other.
Who is Chrissie?
Part of Klara's function after being purchased is to act as a companion who will prevent Josie from feeling this common emotion for "unlifted" children.
What is loneliness?
Klara believes the Sun's "face" has seven specific variations, an observation made possible by this everyday object in Mr. McBain's barn that reflects the Sun in "kinder" pieces.
What are the sheets of glass (or panels of window glass)?
The rigid separation between "lifted" and "unlifted" individuals is so severe that Mrs. Helen believes her son Rick might need to move to this location to have a real future.
What is the Northern Union (or the North)?
Klara realizes that the Mother's original plan for her was not just to be a companion, but to serve this specific, unsettling purpose if Josie were to die.
What is to become a physical replacement or imitation of Josie?
Though she appears healthy at the start, this young character suffers from a mysterious, debilitating illness that eventually resolves after Klara's intervention.
Who is Josie?