Reflection Of Sophie's World

In the story Mirror Image, I relate to Jenny the most. Jenny’s current relationship with her sister, Alice, is like my brother and mine. Whenever my brother and I argue, I respond the same way Jenny does. Jenny and I are awfully distant. Similar to Jenny restricting her sister from reading her diary, I also have expressed harsh “whatever’s” to my brother. Just as Jenny is, I am also passive-aggressive. Jenny showed that she’s quite upset with the “new” Alice by calling her “Gail”. In the same way, I have shown disgust by dropping hints like using one-word responses. Jenny is quite reserved as am I. Like Jenny keeping her diary from the “new” Alice, I keep my journal to myself. I can relate

     Sure, some of us have this great confidence within ourselves about looking great, but that does not hold true for everyone. I understand the pain or disgust, or even disappointment one feels when they look in the mirror and say, “I wish I could change this or that about myself”. Although this piece is written about the author’s life, it holds meaning and connects with for many people; one only has to dig deep enough to find one. For me, it was to realize what is important in life can change, adapt and that we must explore our inner selves and find our own path in life.

One of the most basic philosophical questions, as well as at the same time being the most complicated, in the novel Sophie’s World is the question, who are we? This question alone is what embarks Sophie, the main character in the novel, on a never ending journey of questions and through the world of philosophy. As it is shown in Sophie’s World, the concepts of philosophy have been in constant change all throughout history, philosophers contradicting one another in a constant battle to achieve greatness, and proceeding in a constant never ending cycle of philosopher contradicting philosopher. Because of this non-stop constant change in philosophy, Democritus, one of the earliest philosophers, would have a

The professor 's shield cracks, however, when her carefully designed worldview is upset by Stojan Sokolovic. His persistent questions and challenges to her book force her to confront her ethics and her understanding of the world

The language in Fires in the Mirror, by Anna Deveare Smith, is a microcosm for the way in which language creates reality in every community.

First, we start off with the main character named Sophia, she is in love with a man who not only beats her, but abuses drugs a lot. This man’s name is Nathan and is a bad influence in Sophie’s life. Later, we discover that Nathan is no longer abusive to Sophie, because he kills himself with Cyanide, the same drug used in the Gas chambers at death camps. At first, we see Sophie’s character as just a regular person that has bad taste in men. But, we realize later in the story that she has been hiding her secrets of her past from her friends all this time, which is hinted at, when we discover a blue number tattooed on her arm. We now know she is a concentration camp survivor that not only was abused sexually by Nazi’s, but is not even Jewish at all. She is actually Polish, and was not a labor worker at the camp digging and doing various physical demanding tasks. Sophie’s job at the camps was to translate things for the Nazi’s, which resulted in helping her not die from weather or weakness, like many victims went through. Although she is not involved with the killing of people, she does however still feel guilty because she helped her racist father make Pamphlets for how the Jews were pollutants. She also underwent the tragic event of being separated from her son after being admitted into the camp. Lastly, we see another major character named Stingo, he ends up being Sophie’s

Liesel discovers that by educating herself, she has the capability to allow herself to survive her desperate circumstances, while developing bonds with others. Liesel has gone through a lot and been in desperate circumstances. She uses her books as a way to persevere, she discovers the “book [with] silver writing on it,”(pg 21) it represents the end of a phase and a beginning of a new one. Liesel quickly adapts to reading, to mourn the loss of her brother, since she found the book where they buried her him. During the book burning, there is an opportunity for Liesel to retrieve more books, “the book thief [has] struck,” (pg 22) for the first time.

Doesn’t everyone wish they could grow up faster when they are younger, but when they actually start to grow up, they just want it to slow down? Aging is a unique experience to everyone and each person deals with it differently. This theme of aging and how people see themselves can be seen both similarly and differently in “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. These similarities and differences can be seen through each author’s tone, each poem’s structure, and each poem’s overall message.

Nonfiction is a genre of writing in which the author reflects on actual events in history. Lucy Grealy writes about an intense part of her life in a memoir. A memoir is written by the person it is about, usually written on the topic of something the author did or witnessed. Throughout this book, the author gives off vivid imagery and themes in order to help us understand just how difficult her life was. For example, in chapter 12, “Mirrors” on pages 207 to 208, Lucy describes just how a man loving her could change her view on life. Imagery, diction and setting also help to bring Lucy’s memoir together. Although this section seems to be about Lucy finding love, it is actually about the search and acceptance of self-identity as we can see from

In New York, 1991 a member of the Judaism lost control of his car, jumped the curb, and killed a seven-year-old black child. That led to a period of extremely high tension between the black community and the Jewish community. This event led Anna Deavere Smith to do many interviews with many people who involved in the conflict. Therefore, she wrote about this event in her play which called Fires in the Mirror. Smith induct many different characters each of whom provides different view on this situation. When I was watching the play, I was surprised because Smith acts in the role of each interviewee. She embodied any of those interviewers’ voice, movements. It was very unbelievable play, particularly, her ability to change her voice to make

mirror. Who are almost getting in the way so to speak of its life and

The novel also has very much to do with Buddhist thoughts, mostly about the idea of "no-knowledge." To achieve wisdom, the Buddhist must clear his head of any negative thoughts or distractions. This process is totally opposite to Western education, the education that Franny and Zooey live in, which is mentioned a lot of times in the book and stuffs its students with knowledge. Franny criticizes that the poets at her school does not describe anything beautiful in their work, but only get into her head. She is disappointed in herself, as well, for trying to save wisdom through the Jesus Prayer as others save knowledge. But what she does not know is that true "no-knowledge" cannot be saved.

In Douglas Crimp’s article the Photographic Activity of Postmodernism there are several terms that have been brought up over and over again. Presence is one of them, “presence that is only through the absence that we know to be the condition of representation.” It reminds me of one of my favorite photographers --- Francesca Woodman. She once said that “I allow you to see what you couldn’t see --- the inner force of one’s body.” She recreates a space that is simulating the relationship between the infant (the subject) and the mother’s body. The child was safe and content before the alienation, but a sense of lost and insecurity occurs after leaving the mother’s inner.

The author of "How the Other Half Lives", Jacob Riis, inscribes on the deplorable living conditions of the Progressive Era from a first-person perspective. Riis, an immigrant, police reporter, photojournalist and most importantly: a pioneer and social reformer, tells a very captivating yet appalling experience of the lower class life in New York City beginning in the 19th century. Migration and the standardization of establishments are the attributing factors to overpopulation distribution and overcrowding of living arrangements in the city.

In a way, they are all connected through Sophie's life experiences. There are forces behind all of the philosophy lessons, as well as in Sophie's life. These forces are able to influence and adjust how you view the world around you.