Sophie's World

Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. Her garden (Chapter 1)

2. Natural philosophy (Chapter 4)

3. Lego blocks (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. People’s inner drive to ask questions and explain the world around them is what leads to advancements in all realms of society, physically and morally. When people ask important questions like How? and Why?, they seek fundamental explanations for the very nature of existence. (Chapter 2)

2. Studying past ideas is essential to understanding how humanity developed into what it is today. It also exercises and opens the mind, forcing one to ponder ideas that often still hold truth today. Many of these ideas are the foundation for scientific inquiry, art, and more. Finally, examining the way that past philosophers arrived at their ideas (i.e., their thought processes) can help develop a philosophical frame of mind from which to ask new questions. (Chapter 4)

Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. Hermes, a Golden Labrador (Chapter 7)

2. A video tape of himself traveling back to Athens and meeting Plato, who poses questions to Sophie (Chapter 8)

3. The Major’s cabin (Chapter 10)

Short Answer

1. Fatalism is the belief that events of the future are pre-determined and cannot be altered. Knox explores the idea of fatalism and how people who claim to believe in it are often drawing on a false notion since nobody can see the future. (Chapter 6)

2. Sophie feels that since babies seem to need to be taught things and do not simply know them on their own, the world of ideas cannot exist. (Chapter 10)

Chapters 11-15

Reading Check

1. The UN Battalion in Lebanon (Chapter 13)

2. Greek culture and Hellenism (Chapter 12)

3. He is cloaked like a monk. (Chapter 15)

Short Answer

1. Women were not given the opportunity to become philosophers and educate themselves in the same ways as men. Aristotle saw women as unfinished men who lacked rationality. (Chapter 11) Sophie views these inequalities as mistreatment and injustice; she responds by accepting the challenge of becoming a female philosopher. (Chapters 11-15)

2. Sophia refers to the feminine side of God, and Sophie means wisdom, both of which relate to Sophie’s character and her philosophical journey. (Chapter 15)

Chapters 16-22

Reading Check

1. Alberto (Chapter 16)

2. Compasses, firearms, and the printing press (Chapter 16)

3. A god (Chapter 22)

Short Answer

1. Hume believed that human reasoning has limits and that it is impossible to be certain about ideas as complex as God or the soul. (Chapter 21)

2. Hermes speaks to Sophie in plain English, saying, “Happy birthday!” This seemingly impossible behavior by the dog suggests that Sophie’s world is becoming more ridiculous, unpredictable, and fantastical. (Chapter 20)

Chapters 23-26

Reading Check

1. Her crucifix (Chapter 23)

2. To wish her a happy birthday (Chapter 24)

3. Little Red Riding Hood (Chapter 24)

Short Answer

1. Hilde sees that Sophie is not only unaware of her role as a character in a story, but Sophie is also under the control of the Major. Hilde relates with Sophie because Sophie’s character is written after Hilde’s likeness. (Chapter 22)

2. Ideas about God shifted to that of pantheism, or the idea that God encompasses all things as more of a world spirit than a specific being. (Chapter 26)

Chapters 27-31

Reading Check

1. Midsummer’s Eve (Various chapters)

2. To improve (Chapter 30)

3. By going into the Major’s unconscious and distracting him (Chapter 31)

Short Answer

1. As Sophie and Knox discuss and teach one another about the history of philosophy and the nature of their own existence, they theorize, test hypotheses, and reformulate their theories. This is similar to Hegel’s idea of the dialectic process, in which philosophers pose theories, disprove them, pose new ones, and so on. (Chapter 26)

2. Freud challenged people to think about the nature of their own minds, thoughts, and experiences, and how these have shaped their current experiences and worldview. Discussing Freud inspires Knox to attempt to infiltrate the major’s unconscious mind. (Chapter 31)

Chapters 32-35

Reading Check

1. Sophie (Chapter 32)

2. Start kissing Jeremy in front of everyone (Chapter 33)

3. They wind up in the real world with Hilde and the Major. (Chapter 34)

Short Answer

1. They escape by distracting the Major, which causes the party to devolve into absurdity. Once this happens, the Major is distracted enough to allow them to escape the book and arrive in the real world. (Various chapters)

2. The novel ends as Sophie and Knox are rowing the rowboat on the lake. Hilde spots the boat drifting away, and as she and her father head toward it, the novel ends with the question of what might happen when Sophie’s world and Hilde’s world collide. (Chapter 35)