Sophie's World

Hilde has breakfast with her mother and asks her when her father will be arriving in each city on his flights home. She is particularly interested in his Copenhagen arrival, having planned a few tricks to distract him from Sophie and Alberto. She goes back to her reading and finds Alberto and Sophie sitting in the cabin about to discuss Kierkegaard. Suddenly, a violent banging starts at the door. When Alberto finally gives in and answers, Alice in Wonderland is standing there holding two bottles. They ask her how she got here, to which Alice replies that Wonderland is borderless “like the UN” (370) and is thus everywhere. She gives Sophie what she calls philosophy bottles before running after the white rabbit. Sophie hesitantly drinks the first bottle and finds herself being whisked away into the world spirit, where everything feels like it is one single thing. All contrasts and differences are gone. When she drinks the second bottle, the opposite happens: She sees everything as its own unique world, apart from everything else, and full of infinite detail. She sees Alberto as an enchanted being and realizes she is unique. Alberto believes it is individualism in a bottle, which is Kierkegaard’s response to Hegel’s philosophy.

Sophie drinks tiny sips of each bottle until she feels balanced again. They begin their discussion, and Alberto explains that Kierkegaard was unsatisfied with Hegel and previous Romantic ideals, which he felt exalted people from responsibility. As he grew up, Kierkegaard became increasingly cynical and resentful of the society he was living in. He considered it vapid and believed that “Hegel had forgotten that he was a man” (375) along with most other people. Kierkegaard promoted the idea of seeking one’s own truth, rejecting Hegel’s idea of one overarching truth. The objective truths, such as math or the passing of time, were of no interest to Kierkegaard because these were not the things that mattered to people on an individual, fundamental level. Reason is inconsequential, but faith is essential to a person’s way of life. Trust in others and faith that tomorrow will come and in the existence of God are individual matters. Whether these things are objectively true is irrelevant; all that matters is whether it is true to the individual. Kierkegaard observed a widening trend to conform without questioning or deciding whether something was true for oneself, taking it as far as to say the majority is usually wrong. Lastly, Alberto explains Kierkegaard’s “stages of life” (378) or general ways of being that people adopted. Although people can go from one to another, many people never do. The first of these stages is the aesthetic stage, in which people live for the day and enjoy the beauties and pleasures of the sensory world. These people reflect the world back upon itself through art, philosophy, and culture. Kierkegaard proposed that someone must choose through their own volition to move to the ethical or religious stages that are of a higher level. This choice is usually propelled by existential dread. The ethical stage involves living through morality and duty. Some people may reach the third stage, the religious stage, whereby they make a leap of faith “into the open arms of the living God” (Kierkegaard, 380). For Kierkegaard, this stage was Christianity, but his teachings spread into other religions as well. Sophie realizes the time and dashes home before dark.

Sophie’s world was ahead of Hilde’s at first, but now it is still Sophie’s birthday in the book, and Hilde has moved ahead to the next day. Hilde is sure something strange is going to take place on Midsummer Eve, but she is not sure what. Hilde calls a family friend who lives in Copenhagen and asks for a favor to help trick her father. They oblige, and Hilde begins making preparations of her own. When she finally gets the chance to do some reading, it is already almost dark out. Sophie’s mother is still concerned about this philosopher she knows little about, but Sophie assures her he will be at the party. A piece of mail arrives for Sophie from the major, which reads: “What matters our creative endless toil / When at a snatch, oblivion ends the coil?” (382).

The next day, Joanna comes over to help plan the philosophy party. They decide upon a few activities, including a quiz with a book as a prize. Sophie wonders if “a book about philosophy for young people” (384) exists. Two days before the party and Midsummer Eve, Alberto calls to tell Sophie he has figured out a way to escape, but he regrets he cannot explain the details until it is time. He invites Sophie to come over, and on her way she sees Ebenezer Scrooge sitting at his desk in the middle of a field. She shakes her head at his wasting his own life, and then comes across a starving girl offering to sell her matches. She takes the girl back to Scrooge and demands he help her, but he denies her and says it is just a waste. Sophie complains that it is unfair for him to be so rich and this girl so poor, and Scrooge just lectures her about working for one’s own money. The girl begins lighting the forest on fire in revenge, and then both suddenly vanish as Sophie stamps out the flames. When Sophie finds Alberto, he explains that what she saw made perfect sense considering they are discussing Marx today.

With the philosophy of Marx came a change in how philosophy was seen and utilized. Instead of it being a mere interpretation of the world, it was also about how the world could and should be changed. Alberto calls this “philosophy of action” (388). Marx was a philosopher, sociologist, economist, and historian. He combined the knowledge from these areas to form ideas of how the world should be. Marx learned Hegel’s view of the world spirit driving all things and believed that it is instead material changes that propel society forward and cause spiritual change. Marx looked back on history and saw that because labor was dealt with by slaves philosophers and other people of the past did not see a need to innovate or change the way they lived. In this way, economic factors greatly shape the way philosophy is used. Marx believed that the “basis” (389) of society is made up of economic, social, and material relations. The “superstructure” (390) of society is made up of morality, science, philosophy, art, and other similar venues. The basic structures of society support and directly influence what happens in the superstructure. Alberto compares this idea to the Pantheon, which has a massive roof atop large columns. The basic level is divided further still, into conditions of production (what resources and environmental conditions are available to a specific society), the means of production (materials, tools, equipment, etc. used to process resources), and the mode of production (morals and values). Marx believed the ruling class decides the morals and values, but significant change usually comes from the basic structures. He also argued that conflicts between dominant groups exist throughout history and explains the problem of the working class (proletariat) being in constant conflict with the ruling class. The working class, says Marx, can only rise above through revolution. Marx went on to analyze the experience of working and how people both influence and are influenced by their work environment. He saw injustice in the way workers labored for someone else, being exploited and reaping only a small fraction of the fruit of their labor.

Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto based on these ideals, which brought fear into the bourgeoisie. Marx believed capitalism would eventually self-destruct through its own uncontrollable nature. The more efficient production becomes and the less workers are needed, the more people will be unemployed, and thus the system slowly turns in on itself. When this happens, the proletariat can overthrow the ruling class and transition into a classless society where the means of production is owned by the whole society. Following this period, socialism gradually became established in Western Europe while Leninism was established in the East. Alberto explains to Sophie that a just society would be one in which people were given equal and just opportunities. He then insists on ending the chapter on Marx, as they are running out of time. 

Hilde wakes up having dreamed of factories and of rich and poor people. She wonders what it would be like to wake up in a different point in history, before culture, and ponders what her thoughts would have been like. She begins to read again, and Alberto and Sophie are about to discuss the next chapter. The major sneaks in an interruption right away, bringing Noah to their cabin door. Noah hands Sophie a picture of all the animals he saved on the boat, and Alberto takes it from her, insisting they start from the broad before arriving at the narrow. While Marx was discovering and describing historical evolution, Darwin was doing the same with biological evolution. These men, as well as Freud who will be discussed next, believed in naturalism, or the idea that the material world is all that exists.

Darwin proposed two main theories: that all biological organisms currently existing descended from earlier ones, and this was done through a process called natural selection (the organism with the beneficial mutation survives and reproduces). Darwin was not the first person to propose evolution; he did, however, explain the process in a way others had previously failed. Fossils were being dug up all over the world that challenged the full separation of species from one another and their existence throughout all time. Inspired by Charles Lyell’s proposal of small changes causing massive shifts over time, Darwin went in search of answers to his questions. He found small variations in species across regions, such as in beak shape among birds on various Galapagos islands and “stratified deposits of fossils” (406). He concluded that the birds he observed must have adapted over time to the type of food available on the island, but he could still not reason how this evolutionary process occurred. Observing that people used artificial selection to breed desirable traits and get rid of undesirable ones, he wondered if nature used this same process in evolution. Darwin read on Thomas Malthus, who proposed the strongest would grow to adulthood and reproduce while the rest would die off. Darwin called this natural selection, and as this process continues through history, species improve over time. Those who are best adapted to a “particular environment” (410) will survive and reproduce. Variation within species also allows for more and more traits to present themselves, thus increasing the chances of improvement. Alberto points out that Darwin’s theories were rejected by the church and heavily criticized by scientists, but many believed God could indeed have created life that was capable of evolving. Darwin also proposed that people descended from apes after fossils of previous human species were discovered. It is while Alberto is discussing this that Adam and Eve suddenly appear and walk by, apparently having joined the world of fairy tales. People increasingly had to revise their beliefs in relation to God and their origins, as Darwin essentially “turned Man into a product of something as unsentimental as the struggle for existence” (413).

Alberto goes on to explain Neo-Darwinism, in which it is proposed that random mutations during the cell division process are what lead to variations within species. He then goes on to tell Sophie about the possibility that peoples’ complete lack of attention to “hereditary hygiene” (416) may lead to the deterioration of the human race through susceptibility to disease. On the other hand, humans are one of many species that has survived through the ages and thus must be at least better off than before. Darwin did not claim to know where life originated from, but he did propose a tentative theory that life started from inorganic matter. He called this a “hot little pool in which all manner of ammoniacal and phosphorous salts, light, heat, [and] electricity” were present, and formed a protein compound by interacting with one another. Alberto explains that modern scientists have found the earth formed and cooled, and before plants existed on it, the planet had no oxygen. It was precisely this lack of oxygen that allowed DNA to first form without being oxidized. It is also why no new life is formed today, and all life is descendant of previous life and possibly the same starting point. DNA has the ability to specialize and activate cells in different ways to form a functioning organism. The second piece of the puzzle, cosmic radiation, supplied the energy needed for macromolecules like DNA to form in the first place. Organisms and plant life began in the deep oceans of earth where they could be protected from the cosmic radiation that once formed them. As the oceans gained life and produced oxygen, the ozone layer formed, which allowed for organisms to begin stepping out onto land. What this all comes down to, explains Alberto, is the fact that this process that began as a “primal soup” (420) has, through evolution and philosophy, slowly become aware of itself. Sophie and Alberto ponder it all, and both believe it cannot be entirely accidental. It seems evolution has a purposeful direction toward improvement, and Alberto insists this is likely not coincidence. Alberto cites a poem by Thomas Hardy called Transformations, which describes the cycle of life and death and rebirth. Alberto tells Sophie they are the living planet itself, as well as “a ship sailing through life with a cargo of genes” (422). At that, Alberto says it is time for the next chapter, to which Sophie replies, “Oh, stop all that irony!” (422).

Hilde becomes overwhelmed and angry after reading the chapter on Darwin. She knows her father wrote these passages specifically for her, and she wonders what this means not only for Sophie and Alberto’s existence but for her own as well. Hilde feels she is more than just molecules and wants more than ever to teach her father a lesson. She begins reading again after a row across the lake and some breakfast with her mother. This chapter finds Alberto and Sophie in the cabin. They once again hear a knock on the door, and this time it is the Emperor in his New Clothes. He stands before them completely naked but his crown, and Alberto denies him entry. Sophie begins laughing, the emperor becomes ashamed and covers himself, and then he is gone.

Alberto begins his teachings on Freud, whose theory of the unconscious mind is “necessary to an understanding of what a human being is” (426). Freud explained that there is a conflict between a person’s inner drives, namely sex and power, and the expectations held by society. He challenged the rationalist idea that people were entirely reasonable, believing these drives led people to behave in all sorts of irrational ways. Freud developed psychoanalysis to dig into the unconscious and help people with their problems. Freud also proposed the three parts of the human mind: the id, or basic drives; the ego, which regulates these drives and develops over time; and the superego, which deals with mora dilemmas and keeps people in line with societal expectations. Desire and guilt conflict throughout a person’s life, and repression of past behavior that led to guilt can result in mental illness. This is because the guilt will find other ways to surface. Freud also proposed defense mechanisms people use to repress their guilt, such as rationalizing their behavior or projecting emotions onto irrelevant people or situations. These things are done subconsciously, and the unconscious mind communicates signals through dreams people can use to guide themselves back to a healthy mind frame. Dreams, Freud believed, contain motifs that can be interpreted both through a general and individual context.

Freud inspired people to think about their mind in new ways. This was seen in art (especially surrealism), culture, and psychologists who came after him. Once again, the boundaries between dreams and reality began to blur. People began to view the human mind as a wondrous tool that produced art and key insights through dreams as well as a mechanism that could store infinite information and memories. Alberto explains that this “lifting the lid of the unconscious” (436) allows a person to see through reason to a world of inspiration and creativity. In fact, letting reason prevail over the musings of the unconscious can result in its failure. Alberto tells Sophie an allegory about a centipede who danced beautifully, but when she was asked exactly how she did it, she could no longer dance. It was only when she did not think and allowed her unconscious to take over that she produced such art with her body. Alberto compares the thoughts produced by the unconscious to the mutations of Darwin’s natural selection, noting that ideas seemingly appear at random, and those that are useful remain while those that are not are tossed. Reason is only used to bring the imagination or inspiration to fruition in material reality. Alberto compares himself and Sophie to the major’s “dream images” (439), proudly telling Sophie that because the major is not aware of the unconscious side of his mind he does he understand the language of his own dreams. Alberto asks Sophie to keep the major distracted on her way home by keeping him in her thoughts and assures her he will be diving “down into the major’s unconscious” (440), and he will meet her there soon.