Sophie's Choice(S)

In life, one will make countless choices that determine the course life follows. Minor or major, some choices may change one’s life. Sophie’s Choice portrays just how significant certain decisions can be. Holocaust survivor, Sophie, is forced to make a lifetime tormenting choice in Auschwitz between her two young children. Nathan, Sophie’s lover, is equally distressed by his emotional and mental issues which manipulate the choices he makes. Stingo, although young, makes life changing decisions when moving to Brooklyn. The choices made by these characters determine their relationships and what will happen to them.
      Sophie must choose which of her children will live or die upon her arrival in Auschwitz. The officer explains to her that she is being given a privilege and if she does not decide, both of her children will die. Panicked, Sophie has her young daughter, Eva, taken to the gas chambers. Like any mother, Sophie would die in the place of her child but given the circumstance, Eva was in a sense, the closest thing to herself. The mirror image created between Eva and Sophie is crucial to understanding the root of Sophie’s destructive persona. Eva is portrayed as a spitting image of Sophie which is why Jan is selected to survive over her. Sophie’s choice to send Eva away represents her own emotional death because her daughter is a mirror image of herself.
      Stingo, arriving in Brooklyn, is a not a boy, not yet a man aspiring to write the next great American novel based on his life and experiences. Naive and untouched by the harshness of the city, he moves into the boarding house and meets Sophie and Nathan. He quickly begins to notice the dysfunction between the two lovers which becomes a concern of his own wellbeing. Despite the dysfunction, Stingo is infatuated with Sophie and in a sense is bound by his attachment to her. This relationship also created another crucial choice for Sophie to make because of her newfound connection with Stingo. Stingo is...