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Untitled edit
--189.13.84.105 16:32, 6 July 2007 (UTC)the most incredible and wonderful book from Jostein.... better then Sophie´s World!
Untitled edit
Definitely. Actually, I've read somewhere (can find the source later) that Gaarder himself considers this his favourite work (this statement may be well-known among some of Gaarder's fans). Shouldn't that be included in the article?201.37.64.244 05:01, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
WikiProject class rating edit
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 04:30, 10 November 2007 (UTC)
WP:OR removed from article edit
The following material was in the article but without any supporting citations is simply OR. Feel free to add it back with suitable support. Chiswick Chap (talk) 15:44, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
Philosophical themes edit
The book encompasses several philosophical themes; the obvious ones which are covered in the overall plot, but also little snippets here and there. Hans Thomas's father is a smoker but doesn't like to smoke inside his car, and so on their long journey across Europe, they are forever stopping for cigarette breaks, and the father is talking philosophically with his son. These bite-size chunks of philosophy are far easier to swallow than the weighty lectures in Sophie's World, but are nonetheless potent.
The nature of existence edit
The nature of existence is a theme which runs throughout, especially the miraculous nature of life itself. The book explores the question of whether it is possible to imagine something into existence. This theme is also found in Australian aboriginal myth, where elders claim that the world was dreamt into existence.
It seems unimaginable that we can make something happen just by wanting it to happen, yet the placebo effect has been well documented in psychology, and many psychic healers and suchlike will claim that you need to have faith in order for something to work.
Religious themes edit
The Christian concept of the creator living within his creation is explored. The seemingly perfect creation is soon destroyed by the Joker, during the "Joker Game" sequence, which is arguably an intended parallel with the Garden of Eden.
Destiny edit
The fact that the cards in the sticky bun book predicted the goings on between Hans Thomas's family decades later gives the book a strong theme of destiny: the idea that some things are going to happen no matter what - it is fate.
Fate as a concept also has many supporters; those who believe that some things (or the more stronger claim, that all things) have been pre-planned from long ago—perhaps from the dawn of time. This is a main theme running through theology as well as more pseudo-scientific disciplines such as tarot reading and palm reading.
It certainly seems possible (though highly improbable) that the cards could have predicted the goings-on in Hans Thomas's young life, but the unlikelihood of it all only adds to the mystery and wonder of the story. The sentences being jumbled up and making no sense in the joker's game could be seen as our way of looking at world and the universe; on the surface it may look and seem chaotic and non-sense. However, the joker is able to see the message in the chaos and makes sense of all the sentences, "Only a lonesome joker sees through the delusion", he is the only able to make sense of the jumbled messages.