Sophie’s World: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Sophie walks down the path away from her home. She notices a small lake that she’s never seen before. As if in a trance, she walks to the lake, where she finds a small boat. She paddles across the water, sitting in the boat, and arrives at a cabin. Boldly, she enters the cabin, where she finds a table, a typewriters, and a painting of a man, titled, “Berkeley.” There’s also another painting of a white house, captioned, “Bjerkely.” Sophie notices a large brass mirror hanging on the wall. When Sophie stares into the mirror and winks with one eye, her reflection winks at her with both eyes, much to her surprise.

Sophie explores the cabin. She finds hair on the floor that matches the color of Hermes’ fur. She realizes that Hermes and Alberto live in the cabin. Sophie notices a wallet lying on a table. It contains a school ID for a girl named Hilde Møller Knag. She also notices an envelope, addressed to her. Suddenly, Sophie hears Hermes barking—quickly, she grabs the envelope and rushes out of the cabin’s back door.

Rushing away from the cabin, Sophie opens the envelope, and finds a set of questions, including, “What came first, the chicken or the “idea” chicken?”; “Are we born with innate ideas?”; “What is the difference between a plant, an animal, and a human?”; “What does it take to lead a good life?”

Sophie returns to her house, where she’s surprised to find Mom standing outside. Mom has been frantic—she was going to call Joanna to find Sophie. Sophie says she’s been walking in the woods. Mom nods, and asks if she was with her crush. Sophie begins to cry—she doesn’t like to see her mother like this. She tells her mother about the boat and the cabin, but not the envelopes. She also admits she has no boyfriend. She starts to tell her mother that a philosopher lives in the cabin, but Mom cuts her off. Mom explains that the cabin Sophie visited is called the Major’s Cabin—a crazy old military man used to live there, years ago.

Sophie writes Alberto a letter in which she admits that it was she who visited the cabin. She admits that she’s unsure if she likes Plato, and doesn’t know if he was right to believe in an immortal soul. She likes this idea, however, because it makes her feel better about her dead Granny. Finally, Sophie apologizes for rowing Alberto’s boat without pushing it back to the other side of the lake.

Having finished her letter, Sophie begins thinking about the questions in the last letter she received. She’s unsure how to answer any of them, though she suspects that the difference between a human and an animal is that a human can think about philosophical matters. She sends her own letter by placing it near herden with a lump of sugar on top.