How does Ishiguro use Klara's literal, non-human vocabulary (e.g., "oblongs," the "Cootings Machine") to defamiliarize the reader's world?
Klara’s literal use of language is not “natural”, or what we’re used to hearing. Many of these concepts or objects are not even discussed further along the novel, so we’re obliged to infer what they represent. In a sense, reading the books is a detective experience; Ishiguro never explicitly reveals what the "lifting system”, the “oblongs” or the “Cootings Machine” really are, and it's down to us to figure it out. We are like Klara, we take in the information the book provides and piece it together to make sense of these ideas, but we get little help and certain answers to our questions. It is so that the world Ishiguro creates stays unfamiliar, and we as readers remain as observers– outsiders trying to make sense of it all, and likely getting it wrong in the process.
