Mirror Image Compared to Alice in Wonderland

The universe is created for society to cherish all God’s creations; it could be anything to admiring nature to loving all animals. The expectations for the world are difficult to maintain, so unfortunately, society often leads to major destruction. There is unnecessary homicides, animal cruelty, toxic waste in the rivers and many more heart-wrenching actions that deteriorates the world. As a society, we have to turn a negative into a positive, but firstly, we have to change ourselves before we help others. Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”, exposes all of the humanity issues and suggests that we should fix the world by recognizing our flaws first. The theme of the song is about self-improvement and imagery, tone and repetition are the poetic devices that are used in the song.

In the story Mirror Image, I relate to Jenny the most. Jenny’s current relationship with her sister, Alice, is like my brother and mine. Whenever my brother and I argue, I respond the same way Jenny does. Jenny and I are awfully distant. Similar to Jenny restricting her sister from reading her diary, I also have expressed harsh “whatever’s” to my brother. Just as Jenny is, I am also passive-aggressive. Jenny showed that she’s quite upset with the “new” Alice by calling her “Gail”. In the same way, I have shown disgust by dropping hints like using one-word responses. Jenny is quite reserved as am I. Like Jenny keeping her diary from the “new” Alice, I keep my journal to myself. I can relate

This paper primarily explores Michael Jackson’s song, "man in the mirror." The song "man in the mirror" is inspirational about making a positive impact and personal redemption in the world. It was released in 1988. This catchy song tries to explain that changing the world is possible (Wallerstein 2). Many sociological concepts are displayed by Michael Jackson in the context of song’s lyrics. The band of the song tries to express their concerns with the actions and views of the world of the present day. Basically, the band reflects upon the world's realism as their question the mentality. This song is surrounded by the

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland written by Lewis Caroll was originally published on November 26, 1865. On the other hand, the movie version, directed by Clyde Geronimo, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske and produced by Walt Disney, was published in 1951. Carroll's book has twelve chapters and begins by describing a girl who named Alice that falls down a hole and finds herself in wonderland. In comparison, the movie begins with a scene not included in the book in which Alice sings about “her world,” foreshadowing wonderland. In the beginning, the versions are similar. Alice follows the rabbit because she is bored with her sister who only wants to read books with pictures. When she follows the rabbit, Alice finds herself in a different world. The difference is that in the book when Alice comes to the place, she finds the rabbit and follows him until she sees many doors. In the movie, however, the door talks to her instead.

At the mention of the name Alice, one tends to usually think of the children’s stories by Lewis Carroll. Namely, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are two classic works of children’s literature that for over a century have been read by children and adults alike. These two stories tell the tale of a young girl named Alice who finds herself in peculiar surroundings, where she encounters many different and unusual characters. Although Alice is at the centre of both stories, each tale is uniquely different in its purpose, characters and style.

I recently read a novel called Parrot in the Oven by Victor Martinez. The main character, Manny Hernandez, goes through a lot of changes and gets himself in some risky situations all to find out just who he really is. For me Manny’s narrative in Parrot in the Oven is extremely relatable because we have the same positive influence from our mothers, we’ve both had someone pass away recently, and we both have a strong sense of who we are and who we want to become.

"Man in the Mirror" was written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett and co-produced by Michael Jackson, and released from the album Bad on August 31,1987 and released as a single January 16,1988 (YouTube). Siedah Garrett had an idea about a man looking in a mirror in her head for quite some time and took her ideas to her writing partner Glen Ballard. Once Garrett shared her lyric ideas, Ballard added some soulful vocals to help make the song become more powerful, which helped make the lyrics even stronger. The straightforward lyrics about making a change to yourself first caught Michael Jackson’s attention for his album Bad he was working on. “His chemistry with Garrett was so strong that he invited her to duet with him on another Bad single” (Yahoo! Music). The uplifting lyrics of making a change to yourself first, with the combination of Michael Jackson’s voice took off on the charts in no time. “Even though it wasn't a song he wrote himself, it was a message that was strongly identified with him and reflective of his own philosophies, as demonstrated through his actions and expressed in some of his own lyrics” (YouTube). “Man in the Mirror” became a world-wide hit in the late 80’s helping to inspire people to make a change within themselves and to help others.

What would happen if someone lost their identity? In “The Glass Castle” the author of the story, Jeannette Walls, talks about how this happens to her and her family. The book “The Glass Castle” is about Jeannette Walls and how she goes through tough times growing up with her parents. She tells the readers about her and her family’s problems and how they solve it or how they try to make the best of the problem. Most times it just gets worse, but sometimes they find a solution about all those problems or the problem. Jeannette Walls develops the theme of staying true to oneself is the key by using setting, imagery, and figurative language.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story of a young girl’s journey down the rabbit hole into a fantasy world where there seems to be no logic. Throughout Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice experiences a variety of bizarre physical changes, causing her to realize she is not only trying to figure out Wonderland but also trying to determine her own identity. After Alice arrives in Wonderland the narrator states, “For this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people” (Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 12). This quotation is the first instance that shows Alice is unsure of her identity. The changes in size that take place when she eats or drinks are the physical signs of her loss of identity.

With the help of the Red Queen, Absolem, and the White Queen, representing the id, ego, and superego, respectively, the psychoanalytic theory can be utilized to portray the various levels of the human psyche. The id shows humans instinctual drives that are present at birth, such as how the Red Queen found pleasure in taking people’s heads off. The caterpillar was able to use his wisdom and practicality to make judgements about Alice in Wonderland, which shows hour the ego operates. The superego was portrayed by the White Queen, who knew the difference between right and wrong in Wonderland. In the human mind, all three are present in either a conscious or an unconscious state. In the film, Alice knows that her imagination has taken over, which was not admired of children during the Victorian

“Man in the Mirror” is about a man who believes that only by changing himself will he be able to change the world. The main focus of the song is a man’s struggle to improve himself morally after witnessing his inability to impact the lives of those in need. Michael Jackson reflects on how the world around him is suffering while he lives a life of comfort, and the guilt triggers his decision to change himself so that he can eventually help the world. . The song raises up questions such as,“What purpose does an individual serve in a community? How can we bring about positive changes to the world? How can one person make a major impact in the world? “Man in the Mirror” sends a very universal message, basically telling the world to improve themselves individually so that the whole improves as a result. The discussion will focus more on the symbolical lyrics because there is a lot of straightforward vocabulary in each verse.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland creates a warped reality, causing each character’s identity to become confused. An exception to this confusion of identity is the Cheshire Cat, who shows an uncanny awareness of his own madness, giving him considerable control over his presence and allowing him to occasionally leave only a grin behind. Alice, contrarily, is strewn all over as she loses herself in Wonderland. In Wonderland, all are “mad,” but to Alice this is preposterous, even as she fails to explain who she is – both to herself and to others. Carroll’s juxtaposition of the Cheshire Cat and Alice in their first meeting scene exaggerates Alice’s insecure identity and its development throughout her adventures in Wonderland.

The caterpillar in chapter five causes great confusion with his use of diction. He takes everything Alice says to him literally, "'I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, ‘because I'm not myself, you see.' ‘I don't see,' said the caterpillar.'" ‘What size do you want to be?' it asked. ‘Oh, I'm not particular as to size,' Alice hastily replied; ‘only one doesn't like changing so often, you know ' 'I don't know,' said the caterpillar"(Carroll 79). When Alice would say, "you know" or "you see" what she is trying to say was if the caterpillar understood. Her use of diction causes the caterpillar to not understand. This adds to the example of confusion between children and adults when conversations occur. Adults usually are annoyed by this nonsense talk and say to children to 'grow up.' Alice is thinking this way of the caterpillar, and the caterpillar thinks the same of Alice.

The concept of identity is highly related to an adolescent’s socio-emotional development. Many of the creatures in Wonderland asked Alice to identify herself, and some of them even before engaging in any sort activity with her. “Who are you? Said the Caterpillar” (Carroll, L. 2012 Chapter V page 18, Kindle edition). Carroll applies here a rhetorical device similar to the onomatopoeia (commonly used in the fables), where animals are a key element to the learning experience, since most kids and even adults can easily relate to them. The creatures in Wonderland represent the way grown-ups behave in real life, for them it is very important to know who they are dealing with before trusting anybode, while kids in their innocence are more likely to trust nearly anybody. Nevertheless, when a child reaches a certain age, sooner or later he or she will be confronted with the issue, that some people are not to be trusted. This is a defining moment in their lives, in which they grasp who they are outside their familiar surroundings, and where they learn how they should react when they are confronted with a difficult

In a way, they are all connected through Sophie's life experiences. There are forces behind all of the philosophy lessons, as well as in Sophie's life. These forces are able to influence and adjust how you view the world around you.