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  • Essay / Review of Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder

    Gaarder's work reads like a suspenseful and mysterious novel from start to finish; However, Sophie's story contains an easily understandable and well-explained discourse on the progress of Western philosophy through time. The story of the work begins when Sophie Amundsen – a typical fourteen-year-old Norwegian girl – discovers two notes in her family's mailbox, each containing a seemingly simple question: the first asks "Who are you?" and the second asks “Where did the world come from?” (Keep 9). If initially unimpressed, Sophie quickly becomes perplexed by the notes and the numerous questions that arise from her reflection: “Why was it so difficult to delve into the most vital and, in a certain way, the most natural of all the questions? (Keep 13). Sophie also receives an inexplicable birthday card for a girl named Hilde Møller Knag (who shares Sophie's birthday) before stumbling upon the first of many lessons from a mysterious philosopher named Alberto Knox (Gaarder