Carry it Forward: Organization Principle

Dumbledore says to Harry in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire that he keeps some of his thoughts in a pensieve because sometimes it just feels like he has too much going on in his head.  At first Harry cannot relate to this, but after he learns about some complicated past events and ideas, he can no longer tell the top from the bottom. 

Sometimes reading books in English feels exactly like this.  When the book begins to get confusing, it becomes hard to make sense of what you are reading, which makes it harder to analyze, and even hard to remember!  During The Shadow Catcher we talked about organizing principles, which is basically using a single object or idea that can relate to most of the concepts, characters, or events in the story, making it easier to handle.

In Sophie's world, it is hard to pick an organizing principle because there is so much material.  Sure, everything relates to Sophie, but somehow I don't think that it would simplify anything, seeing as you could just put down all the lessons Sophie has.  Instead we have used many organizing principles to deal with the story.  Sometimes there are two opposing view points, and even though all those organizing principles have to be remembered, it is nice to have everything mapped out in your head, instead of a tangle of information.

This is something that, when I take the time to do it, will help me so much.  Not only will it help me with school work, it will also help me sort through my thoughts on other issues.  If I'm in a fight with somebody, it'll help to find what started it all, and see how it branches out from there.  Once thoughts are organized they can be heard, instead of having every pent up thought come rushing out at somebody, making no sense and solving nothing.  It will also help me plan things out, be more productive, and feel less like my head is exploding when I'm busy.

Even though an organizing principle can't apply to everything, it is easy to apply a few different ones to vastly different things, and then connect it from there.  Dumbledore's pensieve would be nice, but an organizing principle may be the next best thing.