Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews April 4, 2024 March 28, 2024
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
3. Yoda: “[M]y ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force flow around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, yes, even between the land and the ship.”
This quote appears in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. This is Yoda’s most impassioned exposition of the nature of the Force, and he delivers it just as Luke is doubting his own gifts. When Luke’s X-Wing fighter sinks further into the mire of Dagobah, Yoda encourages Luke to use his levitation skills to salvage the ship. Luke is daunted by the task, so much so that when he does try to move the ship, he fails. Yoda then explains that Luke is going about the problem the wrong way: “Size matters not,” he tells Luke. Rather than focusing on the relative differential in size between himself and the ship, Luke should open up himself to the Force as it flows around and through him. Once he does so, says Yoda, he will feel connected to the ship in such a way that the relative size of it will not matter. He encourages Luke here to see himself, others, and indeed the entire world in terms of spirit, life, and energy, not “crude” matter. However, Luke becomes frustrated and angrily turns away.
To prove his point, Yoda then extends his arm and, using the force, rather easily lifts the ship completely up out of the swamp and levitates it over to dry land. Stunned by this awesome display of skill and power, Luke stammers, “I don’t believe it.” “That,” Yoda replies, “is why you fail.” Yoda’s point is that when it comes to mental powers and the horizon of the mind, the only limits we have are those we choose for ourselves. Luke told himself that it was impossible to move the ship, and so it was impossible—for him. Once Luke begins to set aside his ingrained notions of what is possible and impossible, once he begins to “unlearn” what he knows (as Yoda puts it), his powers begin to grow. Eventually the young trainee who fails to move the ship will become a Jedi strong enough to defeat Vader without giving in to hatred and anger.
Please wait while we process your payment