I could easily relate to a lot of what the final chapter was saying to my life. First and foremost, I love learning about the entire universe and our solar system. I am currently in astronomy class and I find it very interesting. When Albert was telling Hilde about how incomprehensibly vast the universe really is, it reminded me of how a few days ago in Astronomy, we watched a video where a couple of friends went to the desert and created the first scale model of our solar system to demonstrate how large it really is, considering how images of our solar system never depict its true size.
I also loved when Alberto mentioned on page 512, “When we look up at the sky, we are trying to find the way back to ourselves. I loved when he said this, because I find myself a lot of the time not being the person that I want to see. I think that a lot of people also feel this way, and I believe that if we came from the Big Bang, it makes so much sense on how we seem to always be unconsciously fascinated with the sky and how people are always searching for meaning. To explain what I mean and also to summarize the end of the book, I think that there generally is no real meaning to anything, because life is just what you make of it. The quote, on page 511, “Yes, we too are stardust,” explains this notion, because for me, it is comforting to know that your life only has meaning when you give it meaning, but in reality, we are nothing, or stardust, compared to the entire universe. Our own world is so small compared to all that goes on in the other galaxies, just like Sophie’s world. Sophie’s world is so miniscule and nonexistent to Albert and Hilde in comparison to their own realities, but Hilde gave them meaning because she chose to. We each have our individual lives that we are so focused on, but it’s up to us to give our lives the meaning of our choosing, that they deserve.