Reflection Of Sophie's World

In Jostein Gaarder’s novel Sophie’s World we are introduced to fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen, we follow along with Sophie as her world gets flipped upside down by a series of letters written by a mysterious teacher. Sophie finds little white envelopes posing thought- invoking questions such as “Who are you?”. Big brown envelopes introduce Sophie to great philosophers like Democritus and Plato, as well as introducing philosophical concepts like fate. Sophie also learns of a mysterious Hilde Møller Knag, whose dad finds it easier to write letters addressed to Sophie rather than his own daughter. In Sophie’s World we follow along with Sophie as she better understands the people and the world around her through history and philosophy. Sophie began learning about fate. She learned who in the past believed in it and how it shaped their way of thinking. In the chapter “Fate” Sophie was asked three questions. The first question was “do you believe in fate?”. The Greeks believed that the “Oracle of Delphi” could help them with their questions about fate. The Oracle was kept in a temple at Delphi. “Over the entrance to

In the last few chapters we read in Sophie’s world we find a strange turn of events in Sophie’s perception. We find out that Sophie and Alberto and all the characters we have known so far are just characters in a book. The book is given to Hilde on her birthday and is written by her father. I am not sure why Gaarder wrote this into the novel, but I have an idea that it is used as a philosophical example. Alberto tells Sophie about the beliefs of Berkeley, he goes to say, “He said the only things that exist are those we perceive.” (279). Sophie thought that everything about her life existed because she perceived she was real and actually existed in reality. However, nothing about Sophie actually exists, she is just a made-up character in a