Literature Analysis #1

Sophie's World

Jostien Garrder

Plot: The story begins with 14 year old Sophie Amundsen one day returning from school. She arrives home and checks her mail per usual, however this time she gets a envelope from an unknown sender. Upon examination of the contents of the letter she finds a sliver of paper that read,"who are you?" Sophie considers the question and answers it as best she can considering the questions' lack of apparent origin. Within the next few days Sophie continues to receive envelopes and it's soon revealed that the envelopes are given to her by her unknown sender in an attempt to teach her philosophy and have her think as such through teaching Sophie about the history of philosophy and several philosophers. The unknown sender then reveals himself to be a man by the name of Alberto Knox. Whilst all of this occurs Sophie also receives a post card from the father of a girl by the name of Hilde Knag wishing his daughter a happy birthday. Sophie then begins to connect the dots and feels that Hilde and the philosophy teachings are somehow connected.

Theme: Throughout the story there are several different themes but they all fall into the category of philosophy. For example one of the themes was that one needs to experience the good and the bad in order to see the difference between one or the other, this is so that you can truly appreciate how good something is by looking at its polar opposite. Another running theme throughout the book is free will because it hints at something that is later discovered in the book but it also explains how if fate were real then you could not do anything at all and you would be fine because no matter what you do you are going to somehow do what you were "destined" to do.

Why?: I chose to read this book because you(ostini) said that it was a book about philosophy, a subject that just so happens to be one of my keen interest. At first when I began to read I didn't like it very much at all because of the way that the book was written but as time goes on i got used to it. What kept me reading, I think, was when Alberto begins to ask Sophie all sort of questions about Philosophy and seeing the way that she personally thought about the matter.

Realistic/connections?: I wouldn't really classify this book as being realistic at all really. there were some things that were possible to occur in the real world but for the most part the book is/seems fictional. The book was also conveniently about philosophy, this allowed me to make several different connections to the book because it allowed me to answer the questions that were asked of Sophie, along with her.

Tone: The story for the most part was told in third person. I think that this made the author sound generally cold but the author also definitely provided clear insight into the mind of Sophie Amundsen. "She tried to think extra hard about
being alive so as to forget that she would not be alive forever. But it was impossible.
As soon as she concentrated on being alive now, the thought of dying also came into
her mind." I think that the tone i enjoyed the most was when the author spoke as the philosopher because he seemed much more charismatic that way "I must add that from now on I will no longer be able to deliver the letters
personally. It would be much too risky in the long run. In the future, letters will be
delivered by my little messenger." Whenever Sophie's mom showed up the tone changed to being more negative and it reminded me of stereotypical bad parent, "“Is he the one who told you about the rabbit and the top hat?” her mother asked.
Sophie nodded.
“He—he doesn’t do drugs, does he?”  "

Literary Devices:
1: Allusion: The author makes constant references to various myths of the past when he talks about the history of specific philosophers. " He therefore
assumed that everything was built up of tiny invisible blocks, each of which
was eternal and immutable. Democritus called these smallest units atoms."
2:Hyperbole " They are also unbreakable She couldn’t ever remember having seen a
broken Lego block"
3: Metaphor: ". Actually, we are the
white rabbit being pulled out of the hat. The only difference between us and
the white rabbit is that the rabbit does not realize it is taking part in a magic
trick"
4:Symbolism: There are several instances in which the author seems to unnecessarily note the color of things but as it turns out that's symbolism. "Sophie let herself quickly into the red house."
5: Situational Irony: " Could it be the messenger? Her heart
started beating faster. It sounded like a panting animal was coming.
The next moment a big Labrador pushed its way into the den."
6:Sensory Detail:" Although it was almost dark outside, she could make out the shape of a human
figure. It was a man, and Sophie thought he looked quite old. He was certainly not her
age! "
7:Imagery: "The girl in the mirror did not react with as much as a twitch. Whatever Sophie
did, she did exactly the same. Sophie tried to beat her reflection to it with a lightning
movement but the other girl was just as fast. "

Characterization: I think that Sophie Amundsen was a round character because she adapted to what was going on with her surrounding situations accordingly. The prime example being the fact that Sophie was able to adapt her thinking to that of a philosopher and to be equally matched to the likes of Alberto.
When initially reading the book it was more like I was simply reading a character above everything else. But as the story began to progress it became much easier to identify with Sophie and by the end of the book i felt like i had personally met her and Alberto.

Enduring memory:
Because the book was about philosophy it is difficult to pick just one of the many lessons that the subject entails. However if I must, i feel what I will remember for a long period of time is the lesson that Sophie had to learn about in the beginning of the book when Sophie realized that she had to experience the bad in order to be able to appreciate the good. Another idea was the one that you cannot really be living or being appreciative of the world around you if you don't question it. Because otherwise how are you going to come to understand it?