Sophie and Her Mother Anonymous 8th Grade

In Jostein Gaarder’s philosophical novel Sophie’s World, Sophie learns about the history of philosophy, concluding with the truth about her own existence. Throughout this, many motifs are prevalent—the mirror, the boat, dreams, constant enlightenment. But the most important motif is that of Sophie’s relationship with her mother. As this motif develops and Sophie and her mother become closer as a result of the philosophy, only to be torn apart again, this eventually helps evince the theme of this novel: to live in the moment, because nothing is permanent.

In the beginning of the book, Sophie has a rather distant, if polite relationship with her mother. As Sophie is introduced, it is explained that although her mother sometimes called their house “a menagerie,” Sophie was “quite happy with [her menagerie]. It had begun with the three goldfish, Goldtop, Red Ridinghood, and Black Jack. Next she got two budgerigars called Smitt and Smule, then Govinda the tortoise, and finally the marmalade cat Sherekan. They had all been given to her to make up for the fact that her mother never got home from work until late in the afternoon and her father was away so much, sailing all over the world” (2). Gaarder’s profuse use of commas in these...