What is the main theme of Sophie's World?
Several themes are identifiable in Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World, but the importance of inquiry is perhaps the most significant. In this work blending fiction with philosophy, a young girl named Sophie learns to ask questions in order to find out more about the world and her role in it. From the early pages of the book, when Sophie receives enigmatic letters containing questions, to her later existential musings about her own existence, the theme of inquiry persists.
As the theme of a work of literature is often defined as the lesson a reader might learn from the work, the main theme of Sophie's World concerns the importance of asking questions: this is more important than receiving answers. Many of the questions posited by the characters in the book, and the events they experience, are intentionally confusing and disorienting, inspiring more questions than certain answers. Though the book does have...
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a neat and tidy ending that provides Sophie with a clear answer about the strange world she visits, the main message of the book encourages questioning and the discovery process.
The main theme of Sophie’s World is that the key to surviving the world is understanding yourself.
As Sophie learns more and more about philosophy from the mysterious Alberto Knox, she has to evade the clutches of the creepy Albert Knag. Alberto tells Sophie that the only way to stay out of Albert’s power is to learn as much as she can about philosophy. In fact, philosophy is the secret to life.
One of Albert’s metaphors is a top hat.
A lot of people experience the world with the same incredulity as when a magician suddenly pulls a rabbit out of a hat which has just been shown to them to be empty. (ch 2, p. 14)
We know that the rabbit is a trick, but the rabbit does not know it is part of a trick. In order to understand life you have to learn all there is to know about philosophy.
Note: There are chapter by chapter study guides. I have included a link to the first one.
References
The biggest theme in this text, which reoccurrs again and again, is the need that humans have for philosophy as a means of understanding life and ordering their existence. In this novel, philosophy is not presented merely as a hobby that only those who are big thinkers or who have lots of time on their hands can practise. Instead, philosophy is shown to be absolutely vital in order for survival and understanding to occur. What Alberto tries to make Sophie realise is that her existence is wonderful, and it is the act of asking questions about our existence that makes us truly human. Note, for example, the following quote from one of the first letters that Alberto writes to Sophie:
But when these basic needs have been satisfied—will there still be something that everybody needs? Philosophers think so. They believe that man cannot live by bread alone. Of course everyone needs food. And everyone needs love and care. But there is something else—apart from that—which everyone needs, and that is to figure out who we are and why we are here.
The novel thus argues that when our basic needs have been catered to, humans should begin, and never cease, to ask ourselves these big questions about our existence and lives. Philosophy is presented as something that is necessary for humans to enjoy life to the highest degree. Philosophy is presented as a neverending journey that only humans, out of all creatures in nature, can participate. Even though asking questions might not give us the simple answers that we look for, our lives are enriched through the act of asking and thinking about those questions. This is the biggest reoccurring theme in the novel.
What is the main topic of the last chapter of Sophie's World?
At the end of Sophie's World we see the theme of existence again, a theme concerned with the meaning of life and of understanding mankind's place in the universe. This is a theme that is returned to again and again, for example in the conversation after the celebration when Knag and Hilde sit on the glider and talk about the universe and the enormous expanse it encompasses. The major tells Hilde about the immense vastness of the universe in terms of the time it takes for the light from distant stars to reach our planet. They discuss the fact that a star is already old and in the past by the time we see it, perhaps even by millions of years.
The major describes the Big Bang, in which all matter in the universe converged and then exploded. He explains that the stars and planets and other matter in the universe are now moving outward and wonders if it will continue expanding or converge again.
Watching the discussion are Sophie and Knox. He points out that it is ironic that they are all watching each other without necessarily knowing it. This again relates to themes of existence, time and space. Sophie hits Hilge's head with a wrench to make her notice but Hilde only feels it stinging. Then Sophie and Knox have trouble with the boat when they want to go out and row as they can't untie it. The boat gradually unties and Sophie sees it floating way out and on to the lake. She and her dad decide to swim out to get it. So at the end of Sophie's World, the book that Hilde has been studying, Hilde's father returns and they discuss it. Hilde decides that Sophie continues to exist in some form out in the universe. This confirms the theme as the meaning of existence because Sophie and Alberto have a new existence as spirits. Both have escaped from the clutches of Albert and are no longer trapped inside his mind. However no one else can see them and, like ghosts or unseen forces, they can pass through other people. This reminds us of the latest theories of physics involving time, matter and space and the universe theme. Another theme is power or control as Sophie would like to have influence in the abstract new world of Hilde. In the last chapters we see her trying to find out how to do this as her attitude changes.