On this entry, I'm concentrating on material from the "Marx" through "The Big Bang" chapters. (You're obviously free to draw on insights or knowledge picked up later in the reading as well...)
I'll expect a comment of one good paragraph or more. (To me, that means 5-6 sentences at a minimum.) You do not need to worry about perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation, but they should be understandable. Remember that this is a public site, and you are responsible for the content of your postings. Assume that each comment is worth 5 points.
YOUR COMMENT SHOULD BE POSTED BEFORE CLASS TIME ON TUESDAY, APRIL 28th IN ORDER TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT.
You may write on any ONE question of your choice. (If you want, you can certainly post another comment on a different question as well... First, however, focus on answering one question in sufficient depth, etc.)
NOTE: If I use a page reference, it's from the smaller paperback version that most of you seem to have. I'll also be sure to reference the specific chapter.
1. In "Marx," we see his famous quote that "Philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways; the point is to change it." What does this have to do with Sophie, Hilde and/or the Major at this point in the book?
2. Is it too much to say that the Major is like God? Why or why not?
3. In "Darwin," the chapters closes with excerpts from both Goethe and Thomas Hardy poems. Pick either one and tell us why you think Gaarder includes it at this point in the novel.
4. At the conclusion of "Our Own Time," Alberto shows Sophie a copy of the book, Sophie's World. What should we take away from this? How can one find a book about oneself in a book about oneself? What would happen if Sophie started reading the book?
5. Pick something from "The Garden Party," and tell us why you thought it was particularly interesting and/or important.
6. Where ARE Sophie and Alberto throughout "Counterpoint?" I mean more than just saying, "In Oslo." Have they become real? More real? How do you describe what is going on here?
7. Did you feel like the final lines of the novel "resolve" the whole mystery, or do they just make it deeper? Why?
Question #5
Rather than pointing out an interesting, or important event from "The Garden Party," I would like to point out an event that totally baffled me. At the party when Sophie's mom has completed her speech, Joanna and Jeremy start kissing. Sounds very innocent right? Wrong. While Joanna and Jeremy are doing their thing everyone else, besides Sophie and Alberto, seem to stop what their doing and watch. I know, right...its crazy weird. For this scene I have no explanation, or idea what the purpose is. Though, this scene is what I most remember from the chapter, so maybe there is some inner meaning that I am all but aware of.
(Question 2) It is not too much to say that the Major, Albert Knag, is like God. In almost every religion God is portrayed as the created of the universe and in the case of Sophie’s World, the Major is just that. He is writing the book about Sophie and Alberto and in doing so he is creating every aspect of their world. Him being the creator of Sophie’s world immediately turns him into a god-like figure in the story. Also, his constant interference in the story has strikingly similar parallels to some of the ideas from scripture stories. For example, the literary figures he sends to Sophie and Alberto are sort of similar to angels or other figures being send by God to humans. For these reasons, I believe that the Major is a God figure in Sophie’s World. Also, I think that Jostein Gaarder made the Major into a godlike figure in order to fuel more thought on the philosophy behind God.
Question #5:
Well, I think I would like to expand on the event that David brings up in his entry, Jeremy and Joanna kissing. He kind of talks about how Jeremy and Joanna "do their thing" while the rest of the room (excluding Sophie and Alberto) seems to stop. I think that the author does this pause to reflect on life. This pause seems to serve as an exploration for Sophie...what is everyone doing during this party while Joanna and Jeremy are enjoying each other's company? I think that is the purpose of this scene.
6. The boundaries between the world of the imagination and the human world have been nearly completely obliterated in this section. Since they cannot interact with things from the human world I would have to say that they are in a spiritual overlay of the human world, meaning, that the real world is more or less simple scenery that cannot be affected by them. This does answer the question of "where do the characters go after the book ends?" As the book has ended but the characters remain afterwards as spirits, though not in their own world, but rather in a different plane of the human world, one that cannot be seen by normal humans. This would mean that things that we cannot see are watching us, which should not be taken as, *creepy voice* "They are watching, always watching you." but rather more closely to the phrase: "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it." As these people are figments of imagination, and thus what someone wished into being. This also returns us to the start of the book, since it directly answers both "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" With the answers of: A girl created in an author's (known as the major or Hilde's father) mind to serve a purpose in a book, and that the world comes from the mind of the same author. Thus, the author, until he writes the last line of his or her book has temporarily become God as far as the characters in the book are concerned.
It is interesting in “The Garden Party” that Alberto speaks to party guests about the truths about their existence, when he almost contradicts a lot of the truths that he uncovered. He tells the guests that life has no meaning to it, but we as humans try to get something out of our existence. The extra effort that we make to find success and happiness can be wasted time. We can attempt endlessly, but in the end we all face the same fate no matter how hard we worked. However, Alberto goes through the effort of uncovering these truths, when as he explained it is wasted time. He did not have to explain this ideology, however he taking time and effort when it neither helps himself or to those that he is talking to, which creates a paradox. Alberto is going against his philosophy to explain and try to influence others when trying to lead them to believe that there is no meaning to life.
Q2
Is the major like God, yes, with another layer laid upon this. The major is much like God to Sophie and Alberto because he has written their entire lives, he has controled their thoughts and emotions and written what they will do. The major can make anything he wants happen much like in some people's mind God could. Personally I would like to believe that i control what I do in life and that my thoughts and emotions are completely my own and generated by myself. But, within the book, the major knew how he would make the characters act and such. Finally the layer that might differ from real life is that there is a a reader, Hilde, Hilde reads everything that comes into play and reads everything that happens, so there is different levels of things happening within the book, where does the narration of lives end?
Question 5
I thought the whole concept of the garden party was interesting. It was the end of the 'book' but the start of an adventure for Sophie and Alberto into Hilde's world. It boggles my mind to think about a book within a book within a book. But he is right when the purpose of the garden party is only to get Alberto's speech out. It is also really sad when sophie leaves her mother. I think it is rather underplayed, because the emotional distraught from a mother would be far greater. However, i have to remind myself that they are not 'real' and I guess emotions work differently in a different dimension of life. However, it was great to hear later in the book that Sophie and Alberto can go back and see her family.
I think that if you believe in the typical form of God, then the major could stand as a form of God to Sophie and ALberto. He has written their lives, dictated everything they will do or say, and provided their emotions for them. The Major can make anything he wants happen, and this is how some people view God. Personally, I do not believe one person can determine everyone else's lives for them. WIthin the book, it seems to work well but it is clearly not reality.
At the conclusion of "Our Own Time," Alberto shows Sophie a copy of the book, Sophie's World. What should we take away from this? How can one find a book about oneself in a book about oneself? What would happen if Sophie started reading the book?
Sophie can be reading a book about herself in a book about herself. What we should be taking away from this is that even though sometimes are actions seem to go unnoticed or unseen, they did happen and they are recorded down whether in memory or on paper. What ever actions you take in life can not be undone, whether the decision was good or bad, it happened and you can't erase the reprecussions of it. You can however try to mend or take other actions to make the damage lessen. If Sophie started reading her own book of her actions she would start to see how every action she took affected her life and the life of others.
Question 2:
The common perception of god is that he is a the creator, ruler, and ultimately has control over everything. In this book, the major is constructing a book which decides everything that happens in Sophie and Alberto's lives. He controls their emotions, thoughts, and has made all of their decisions. This seems to be very similar to the common perception of god. He created and decided what would happen in their lives, just as god had done when he created life and the world. The major also has certain similarities that pertain to Christianity and god. God's messengers one could say are angels. In this story the major send down angel type figure to meet with Sophie and Alberto.
It is definitely not too much to say that the Major is God. "We are but shadows in the major's soul". And it is no easy matter for a shadow to turn on its master." As i said in my previous blog, Hildes father is the author, the creator of the story the master of his characters, "his puppets." They have to submit to his will, he is the creator of their journey... so to the he is in fact God.
4. At the conclusion of "Our Own Time," Alberto shows Sophie a copy of the book, Sophie's World. What should we take away from this? How can one find a book about oneself in a book about oneself? What would happen if Sophie started reading the book?
One can find themselves within a book by taking on the viewpoint of a particular character. One can also find themselves by recognizing similar traits between themselves and a character and events they endure. I think, though, if I were to find a book literally about myself and everything I've ever done/thought/spoken/witnessed, I'd be a bit freaked out. I would feel as though everything I had ever thought I felt personally, was not so personal after all, but much, much more public. I'd feel a loss of identity and self rather than an experience of discovery.
4. At the conclusion of "Our Own Time," Alberto shows Sophie a copy of the book, Sophie's World. What should we take away from this? How can one find a book about oneself in a book about oneself? What would happen if Sophie started reading the book?
If Sophie were to start reading the book about her self the book about her self would read something like this:
"And Sophie found the book entitled Sophie's World on the ground beside her, she was immediately intrigued but a little weary. Finally she decided to pick up the book and started reading. To her astonishment she found that this story told the story of her life, but with more small details that Sophie had not picked up on the first time through. She was frightened at first but soon became enthralled in the story. After sitting all day reading the book she began to realize that the book never seemed to end. I simply kept on going. Soon she realized the book was simply printing her thoughts on the page. Eventually she decided to go on home and see what the book said tomorrow.
The next day the book and another page tacked on to where the end was yesterday."
This is at least what would happen if I were the author. There are many different ways that another author could take this idea. One could also have the whole book simply be printed out again in the book that Sophie is reading. In this case the book would never end and Sophie would continue on reading for eternity; until she decided to put down the book, at which point her life (and the original book that we are reading) would continue on after many pages of italicized font.
Since it is so obvious David has read this chapter and really paid attention to the book as he read it in its entirety I will not focus too much on how Joanna and Jeremy proceeded to have sex under the table and get pregnant after kissing. Nor will I point out how almost no one other than Sophie seemed to notice what was going on or were at least very uninterested in the series of events. I would like however like to point out what irony it would be if David had not even picked up a copy of this book, God forbid. How ironic would it be for some hypothetical class of seniors to have never read a chapter that describes their lives so well, or the book it was in, in their Philosophy Class. But of course such a class does not exist at MPA, we all work very hard in Philosophy, right through to the end of the day and have a very informative and respected teacher.
This chapter describes our current world view more clearly than anything I've read, and it is very subtle in its brilliance. Our society is no where perfect, we have problems across the board some trivial some life threatening. But no matter the problem it is simply sweep aside for after all we spared no expense. We consume without hesitation, and place little or no meaningful value in the things we buy or give (Barbie Doll). We are often startled by events and play attention for a moment and then drift back to what we were doing (Firecracker). There are immediate and disturbing problems in our world, but we rationalize and ignore and downplay them until we almost forget they exist. We do not take responsibility for our actions nor do we try to stop events when we see them happening (Joanna). We are quick to blame and grow irrational we are confronted with problem we haven't encountered (Joanna's Father). Crowd mentality dominates our lives and the crowds are controlled by people who themselves are not aware of the situation themselves (Joanna's Parents) Worse, we are not very good at learning from our ancestor's mistakes and as our influence and technology grow ever more advanced our influence on the world leaves ever greater and less manageable problems. (Boy's with firecrackers). Ignorance is the law of the land, for it is true ignorance is bliss but with bliss comes a very painful withdrawal. How very wrong it was for Joanna and Jeremy to kiss indeed...
5.
I thought that the garden party was interesting for many reasons, notably the part where Jeremy and Joanna hooked up. The first time they were on the table and Sophie's mother told them "Not on the table, children." Joanna stated that she kissed Jeremy because, "I sat looking at his mouth and couldn't resist it!" Then later, Joanna and Jeremy go to the bushes to do their thing. The guests just stood around them looking as Jeremy began to unbutton Joanna's shirt and she took off his belt. Joanna's mom then told the two, "don't catch cold!" I thought that this whole thing between Jeremy and Joanna was really weird, and then even weirder because the people started off not liking it, then not saying anything about it, to giving them advice about it. Why was this part of the chapter? I have no idea.