Connection: Sophie and Alberto + Martin Luther King Jr.

         One thing we began to discuss to kick off second semester was Martin Luther King Jr. and challenging the status quo and some of its criteria. By reading the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," we studied many different aspects of challenging the status quo. From annotating and pointing out these aspects, not only did I learn a lot from the activity, I began to draw a connection to "Sophie's World." 

         The main focus of "Sophie's World" was to discuss and inform the readers about the many famous and well known philosophers who impacted the world. What I did not discover till our activity in class with the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" activity was "Sophie's World" also focuses on challenging the status quo. 

         Fulfilling their role as fictional characters of Jostein Gaarder's book, Sophie and Alberto played along at first because, well, they had no idea they were mere ideas and thoughts of Knag. However, once they discovered the fact they were fiction, they began to challenge the status quo of the world, or Sophie's world at least. 

         The status quo of the characters were to fulfill their fictional roles and play along, however Sophie and Alberto could not just stand around and do nothing after they realized their so called life was nonexistent. They came up with many plots to bust their escape; they eventually did. 

         Yes, I do realize that in the end Sophie and Alberto were still mere fictional characters, but their determination and bravery was not any less real than Martin Luther King Jr's courage in my opinion. One might call this rather odd, but this is my belief. These three really motivate me to attempt to fight the trends and  status quo of not only high school, but for the rest of my life. Sophie and Alberto, although fiction, motivate me just as much as MLK does; isn't that all that matters, fiction or non-fiction?