The Symbolism Of Mirrors In Patrice's Mad Shadows

Louise’s illusions all have a beginning stage. One of these delusions is the fact that she views the world in a superficial perspective, only connection self worth to beauty. An example of this, is seen when she is given the symbolic representation of a prostitute when she marries her first husband, seducing him with her charm and beauty. This provides background information about her character, stating that this superficial view has been a part of her since a young age. This twisted perspective also feeds into her other misconception, which is that her son, Patrice, must be intelligent because of his beautifully sculpted face and body, but, is in fact dumb. In the quote “Louise did not question the intelligence of her ten-year-old Adonis. He spoke very little, but she attributed this speechlessness, like the silence of the gods, to

It is significant, in the quotation's first line, that Louise wishes to “live for herself.” This has been generally understood to imply that she had hitherto sacrificed herself for her husband; however, there is no evidence for this in the text. Nor is there any evidence that her husband had done her living “for her,” whatever that might mean. It is an ipse dixit comment, arbitrary, without support, one of several she makes.

This newfound freedom is in effect a new motivation for Louise. Before experiencing such freedom, Louise was petrified of the thought of life being long; now however, she felt herself wishing, even praying for life to be long. This is evidenced with the following quote, "She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long." (15). This depicts an ever embracing Louise, finally liberated of the powerful institution of marriage. What is more, this quote serves to further support the idea that Louise indeed felt trapped, she was unhappy and yet, the thought of her husband dying hadn't crossed her mind, only the relief from her own passing was her wish.

After drifting in his meaningless secular Sunday, Meursault begins to query life. Hitherto the motif of reflection and light has been distinctly mentioned. Symbolising progression towards achievement of knowledge and faith, light is a frequently appearing motif. Meursault tends to rationalise his mood and tiredness with the presence of light, just as the first few starts appear, he could feel his eyes getting tired (pg.27). Meursault tries to “close his eyes” to not only reality but also to possibility and hope. Albeit Meursault may be trying to deny the truth that is shining above him due to his apprehension of both apparent and obscure truth. The last segment of chapter 2 introduces light as a form of reflection, through stars, shiny hair, silver bracelet and finally the reflection of the burning spirit lamp (pg.27 following). Camus ushers the concept of human’s incompetence to contain whole truth and knowledge. The mere reflection of the truth, being light, shows one side of this truth illustrating ambivalence of human life. The reflection of light is the throwing back of light without absorbing it. Ergo a mirror is merely capable of reflecting a sole side of an object. Furthermore a reflection is the process of things reproducing under the influence of other things. Thus an analysis of reflection in terms of the correspondence between phenomena and their essence is distortion of knowledge. A

The constant appearance of mirrors sheds light on superstition, helping us better understand Laura’s connection with Mrs. Dalloway. She contemplates life and whether or not it is worth living. Constantly thinking about suicide creates a dark gloom over her that only leaves when she becomes truly free. A lot of her reasoning behind not killing herself is because

Almost everyone has a moment in their life when the world ceases to turn, when the clouds still and the very breath of the soul stands frozen. Revelation, realization and inspiration all collide in an epiphany of tumultuous truth. A split second when one’s life is displayed, not as the guise so artfully rendered day in and day out, but in brutal, Technicolor honesty. The lies that bind so tightly unravel and leave you bare, at least to yourself. Some call it insight, I just call it ugly. Because that is all I saw when the mirror shattered my soul, leaving me metaphorically bleeding and bereft. There was no warm person asleep inside of me waiting to wake up, no golden intent I could draw on for comfort, or even a spirit guide caught beneath

The slim, white framed mirror positioned in the corner of my room glares back at me, projecting a transparent image of reality. The reflective glass reveals my hazel brown eyes, pale smile, freckled face and confident stature. Yet what lies beyond the perfection–beyond the seemingly faultless façade–is a tsunami of fear suppressing the strength I once possessed…

Grealy, the author of “Mirrors” starts her essay with memories of her childhood. As a child, her self-hatred started after needing half of her jaw removed results in her looking different from the majority of kids. She emphasizes that she enjoyed Halloween as a child because a mask could hide her abnormal face. Grealy only felt normal as “she breathed in the condensed, plastic-scented air under the mask” (Grealy). Her childhood was spent in grief and self-hatred knowing “no one would ever love her” (Grealy).

But some readers find Louise’s grief to be so short that they doubt she ever loved Brently. Cold and heartless. Too happy too quickly to have truly loved him. However, they are not being quite fair. Not seeing the whole picture. Chopin paints of Louise. Her first response is not joy. Immediately, a storm of tears. Then off to her room to be alone. A close reading of that scene shows Louise fights the realization at first. Of her freedom. She is afraid. But then, as she realizes what it means for her life. She finds joy.

Mirrors is about the way someone is feeling about life, themselves, and just trying their hardest to find some way to genuinely care about themselves after they lose themselves, and taking care of themselves even more than before, even if they are alone.

In the morning, Claire spied a mirror from her bed and asked one of the nurses to hand it to her. With the piece of reflective glass, she caught a glimpse of her own reflection. She hadn’t seen herself in so long. Her dark auburn locks were plastered to her abnormally pasty skin. The green of her eyes was barely visible because they were sunken back in her sockets. She looked like a hot

Louise faces herself when knowing everything to come in her life. As Louise begins to figure out the aliens’ purpose, she finds out that she sees her future. Louise finds out she will marry Ian and have a daughter with him that will die from a genetic disease which leads Ian into leaving her. In addition, Louise is having a debate with herself about how she wants her future to look like. Is she going to change anything that will happen in her future or let everything happen the way it supposed to? Louis still chooses to marry Ian and have a kid even though she knows her daughter will

In the morning, Claire spied a mirror from her bed and asked one of the nurses to hand it to her. With the piece of reflective glass, she caught a glimpse of her own reflection. She hadn’t seen herself in so long. Her dark auburn locks were plastered to her abnormally pasty skin. The green of her eyes was barely visible because they were sunken back in her sockets. She looked like a hot

The presence of the protagonist Louise’s husband Brently at the beginning and the end of the story seem to trap Louise within a metaphorical cage from which she can never escape peacefully. However, it is what Louise does within the cage that awards this story its reputation. As soon as Louise discovers that her husband is dead, she is left in disbelief and awe, which Josephine stereotypically assumes is grief from her husband’s death. She says, “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door - you will make yourself ill,” suggesting the politically correct thing for Louise to be doing was grieving, when ironically, she has been “ill” her whole life, and she is finally cured (Chopin). Louise is essentially trapped by the cagelike form of the story, but the reader gets a look inside her mind through this excursion into freedom. The only escape that Louise finds is through death, ironically of the shock that her husband’s arrival brings. The brevity of the poem emphasizes the same point, representing that her personality was always there and active, but merely masked by the societal pressure put on her to conform to her husband’s whims. Interestingly, such societal pressure extends past the page to Chopin’s publishing of the story itself. Had Louise not died, most

Louise began the movie by being a normal woman in the fifties. She cooked, clean, did the laundry, and ran household errands while her husband worked and provided for the family. This is her consciousness, she is the woman, the homemaker, and the caretaker. Louise however, goes through an absolute