Imagery: Imagery is the ability to form mental images of things or events. It is words or phrases that create a vivid image in the readers mind. Authors use imagery to try to get readers to see what the author sees. Example: “The woods were no longer woods and every little tree now seemed like a world in itself. The tiniest twig was like a fairy-tale world about which a thousand stories could be told” (375-376). Gaarder, Sophie’s World

In the book, Sophie’s World, a girl named Sophie, who is the main character, and her philosophy teacher, Alberto, are in “the Majors” cabin in the woods near Sophie’s house. Alberto is talking to Sophie about philosophy. Jostein Gaarder uses imagery when he explains what Sophie sees when she drinks some mysterious bottles that she got from a fairy tale person. When Sophie drinks the blue bottle that she got it represents individualism.

After Sophie drank the blue bottle the author says, “The woods were no longer woods and every little tree now seemed like a world in itself” (375). You can see imagery in this quote because while you read this quote you imagine to yourself what the character Sophie is seeing. You see how much larger the world is when you read this quote. The author uses certain things around Sophie to describe how the bottle affected her view and even the reader’s view of the scenery. The author said, “Just take another sip from the red bottle…. he drank a little from the red bottle and things began to merge together again” (377). When he says this it makes Sophie and you to change your view back to normal. This example really moves the reader and really gives a great image back to the reader. Jostein Garrder uses imagery a lot in his book Sophie’s World because he knows how successful this literary device can be because it makes his readers imagine what is going on in his story and this literary device also gives the readers a great experience in reading his book.