Berk: Development Throught the Lifespan

Sofie's Story

Sofie Lentschner was born in 1908, the second child of Jewish parents who made their home in Leipzig, Germany, a city of thriving commerce and great cultural vitality. Her father was a successful businessman and community leader. Her mother was a socialite well known for her charm, beauty, and hospitality.

As a baby, Sofie displayed the determination and persistence that would be sustained throughout her life. She sat for long periods inspecting small objects with her eyes and hands. The single event that consistently broke her intense focus was the sound of the piano in the parlor. As soon as Sofie could crawl, she steadfastly pulled herself up to finger its keys and marveled at the tinkling sound it made.

When Sofie entered elementary school, she was an introspective child, often ill at ease at the festive parties that girls of her family's social standing were expected to attend. She immersed herself in her schoolwork, especially in mastering the foreign languages that were a regular part of German elementary and secondary education. Twice a week, she took piano lessons from the finest teacher in Leipzig.

By the time Sofie graduated from high school, she spoke English and French fluently and had become an accomplished pianist. Whereas most German girls of her time married by age 20, Sofie postponed serious courtship in favor of entering the university. Her parents began to wonder whether their intense, studious daughter would ever settle into family life.

Sofie wanted marriage as well as education, but her plans were thwarted by the political turbulence of her times. When Hitler rose to power in the early 1930s, Sofie's father feared for the safety of his wife and children and moved the family to Belgium. Conditions for Jews in Europe quickly worsened. The Nazis plundered Sofie's family home and confiscated her father's business. By the end of the 1930s, Sofie had lost contact with all but a handful of her aunts, uncles, cousins, and childhood friends, many of whom (she later learned) were herded into cattle cars and transported to the slave labor and death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In 1939, as anti-Jewish laws and atrocities intensified, Sofie's family fled to the United States.

As Sofie turned 30, her parents concluded she would never marry and would need a career for financial security. They agreed to support her return to school. Over the next 3 years, Sofie earned two Master's degrees, one in music and the other in librarianship. Then, on a blind date, she met Philip, a U.S. army officer. Philip's calm, gentle nature complemented Sofie's intensity and worldliness. Within 6 months, they married. Over the next 4 years, two daughters and a son were born. Soon Sofie's father became ill. The strain of uprooting his family and losing his home and business had shattered his health. After months of being bedridden, he died of heart failure.

When World War II ended, Philip left the army and opened a small men's clothing store. Sofie divided her time between caring for her children and helping Philip in the store. Now in her 40s, she was a devoted mother, but few women her age were still rearing young children. As Philip struggled with the business, he spent longer hours at work, and Sofie often felt lonely. She rarely touched the piano, which brought back painful memories of youthful life plans shattered by war. Terrifying images of the Holocaust—of arrests, of family members torn apart, of unpredictable shootings, and of cattle trains, gas chambers, and crematoria—made Sofie unduly anxious about her own children's security. When they dawdled with playmates after school and arrived home late, she became frantic with worry. Her sense of isolation and lack of fulfillment frequently left her short-tempered. Late at night, she and Philip could be heard arguing.

As Sofie's children grew older and parenting took less of her time, she returned to school once more, this time to earn a teaching credential. At age 50, she finally launched a career. For the next decade, Sofie taught German and French to high school students and English to newly arrived immigrants. Besides easing her family's financial difficulties, she felt a gratifying sense of accomplishment and creativity. These years were among the most energetic and satisfying of Sofie's life. She had an unending enthusiasm for teaching—for transmitting her facility with language, her firsthand knowledge of the consequences of hatred and oppression, and her practical understanding of how to adapt to life in a new land. She watched her children, whose young lives were free of the trauma of war, adopt many of her values and commitments and begin their marital and vocational lives at the expected time.

Sofie approached age 60 with an optimistic outlook. As she and Philip were released from the financial burden of paying for their children's college education, they looked forward to greater leisure. Their affection and respect for one another matured and deepened. Once again, Sofie began to play the piano. But this period of contentment was short-lived.

One morning, Sofie awoke and felt a hard lump under her arm. Several days later, her doctor diagnosed cancer. Sofie's spirited disposition and capacity to adapt to radical life changes helped her meet the illness head on. She defined it as an enemy—to be fought and overcome. As a result, she lived 5 more years. Despite the exhaustion of chemotherapy, Sofie maintained a full schedule of teaching duties and continued to visit and run errands for her elderly mother. But as she weakened physically, she no longer had the stamina to meet her classes. Gradually, she gave in to the ravaging illness. Bedridden for the last few weeks, she slipped quietly into death with Philip at her side.

The funeral chapel overflowed with hundreds of Sofie's students. She had granted each a memorable image of a woman of courage, vitality, and caring. One of her three children is the author of this book.

Extending the Websketch

Chapter 1

The lifespan perspective, described on pages 7–10 of your text, emphasizes that development varies greatly from one individual to the next. One reason for this diversity is that nonnormative influences affect people's lives in powerful ways. Cite nonnormative factors that affected Sofie's development, and explain how they contributed to the uniqueness of her life story.
Development is profoundly affected by history-graded influences—forces that are unique to a particular historical era. Cite history-graded influences that contributed to Sofie's development. Next, imagine that Sofie had been born with the same determination, persistence, introspection, and talents described in her story, but in the very year, family circumstances, nation, and culture in which you were born. Write an imaginary description of Sofie's lifespan development in this alternate historical context. When compared to Sofie's websketch, your story should illustrate the impact of cohort effects on the life course.