essay on mirror reflection

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A personal blog for aad 250., personal reflection essay – looking myself in the mirror.

“Mirror, mirror! Is this the girl I really want to be? Am I in the right place? ” The mirror in my bathroom is not the magic mirror of the Queen in Snow White. It cannot give me a right answer, so I have to reply the questions by myself.

“Siyang, I think you are at least not ugly.” The “self” in the mirror says. I am satisfied with my appearance that my parents give me and make up by my BB cream, eyes shadow, dress and shoes. Thanks to people’s criterion about beauty, I pay more attention to my eating habit and health, so I have a normal body type. I’m a girl, a Chinese girl, a Chinese girl with big eyes and black straight hair. When I was a little girl, my mom told me, “Beauty is natural.” She doesn’t like making up too much, so I didn’t have any makeups until I was 19. My parents like clean and simple dressing style. In my mind, my father always wears business causal when he goes to company, and he has never messed up. Their standards of beauty influenced me a lot before I went to school.

In China, students have to wear uniforms from Monday to Friday when they go to school. What really surprised me is that I wore uniforms for 12 years. The time period covers elementary school, middle school and high school. I think people in other countries might not believe all of the students in a high school wear the same uniforms. Before I was 19, which is the year that I came to America, I think I didn’t know how to dress up myself and what kind of body adornment fit my style. We were not allowed to wear personal decorations such as necklace, earrings and bracelet in school. I only wore them when I went out with friends on the weekends or holidays. If I looked through the photos that I took in my high school, I must say, “Oh my god! I looked so stupid. Why did I choose that skirts?” I think the school rules in China prevented our creativity and freedom of perusing beauty. I even did not know my personal style until I went to America.

When I went to America, I started to lean how to dress up and make up. I realized a personal should have his or her style. The way of dressing will represent one’s personality, not every parts of personality, but the first impression is very important. In Eugene, I think most of us like to wear comfortable. I always wear T-shirts and jeans to school. If the weather is nice outside, I will wear skirts or dress. However, it really depends on where I will go and what people I will meet. If I have a presentation or meeting, I must wear business causal. It shows my serious and polite attitude to other people.

Do I have my own criterion of beauty? Yes. But I have to change it according to others’ values because most of the time, my appearance is showing to other people not to myself. For example, if I want to wear high-heel tomorrow, maybe I will give up because it would be weird in university class. “Siyang, you look tired but happy.” It is true. I choose my current life style and role by myself, so I am happy. Although sometime things could be hard for me, I have enough confidence to deal with them. “Siyang, you are not the little girl; you changed a lot. Do you like that?” Half and half. I feel busy and happy at most of the time because I am learning what I am interested in and doing what I want to do. However, when I live alone or have to face some challenges, I will miss my family and miss the past “simple and innocent” little girl. Choosing to study abroad in America and being a new comer, I have to learn how to suffer the problems and get used to others’ judgements. This society forced me to change and adapt. “Siyang, will you still persist in your current choices and style?” Definitely. This is the way I want to live; this is the person I want to be; this is also the way I want to exist in our society.

5 thoughts on “ Personal Reflection Essay – Looking Myself in the Mirror ”

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Looking in the Mirror: My Journey to Self-Love

A few months ago, for the first time in a very, very long time, I looked at myself in the mirror for more than a couple of minutes. I used to cry every time I saw my reflection, so I figured that it would be best for me if I just stopped looking. Every time I looked at my body, all I saw were my flaws. All I saw were the stretch marks I despised, the scars I longed to cover, the features I could never change.

Honestly, I probably never would have thought to try to learn how to love myself again, if it hadn’t been for my mom. One day, she asked me a very simple question, and yet this question managed to haunt me for months: “What is one thing you like about yourself?” I stayed up night after night, waiting for an answer to magically reveal itself. I realized that I could list a million things about myself that I disliked, things I so desperately wanted to change, but I couldn’t name a single thing about myself that I appreciated. I was really disappointed in myself. Was there not even a single thing that was lovable about me?

I thought about this question for five months straight before I found an answer. I was looking at my hands during class one day, and I realized that I liked the way my left wrist looked when I tilted it a certain way. When I got home that day, I rushed to my room and started a new page in my diary, titled “Things I Like About Myself”, and immediately added my discovery to my list. I was proud of my teeny, tiny list, and to my surprise, it grew faster than I ever could have imagined. Day after day, I found myself returning to my list and adding new traits and characteristics of mine that I took pride in; I started to love my eyes, my bravery, my stomach, my curiosity, my compassion, my wrists (both of them!!).

It hasn’t been an easy journey, and I’ll admit, sometimes it is a very, very difficult thing to do to look at yourself and see a person who deserves love- specifically, your own love. If you are someone who is struggling with your insecurities, I want you to know that you are not alone. But as much as I can tell you that you are beautiful (which you definitely are, you cutie!!!), I can’t force you to believe it. That’s up to you. That’s your choice, but I’m here telling you that you deserve to be loved by someone as amazing as yourself. You are beautiful; this I promise you.

One day, I hope to love every part of me. And every day, I work very hard to bring myself closer to that goal. Every day, I make an active choice to look in the mirror and see someone I love in its reflection.

I challenge you to do the same. Look in the mirror and don’t look away.

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The Mirror: A Reflection of Self

Our dynamics -- solitary or relational -- can be an opportunity for self discovery. We can view every encounter as a mirror through which to discover something important about ourselves and use what we discover as valuable information in the process of arriving at a deeper self-understanding.

It is through the other that we see our reflection; through the other we become conscious of what we are radiating or emitting - good bad or ugly - life will hold up a mirror. How this energy is picked up, translated and perceived determines the level of regard or disregard we receive. Yes, energy is impersonal. And it doesn't lie.

Everybody. Everything. In fact, all of our interactions can be an opportunity to see more deeply into who we are and how we operate, and on that basis we can begin to refine ourselves and thus become clearer and more appropriate in our behavior.

There are two kinds of mirrors - one reflects lack of awareness and the other depth of awareness -- it is up to you to discern which one you are dealing with. If you are currently dealing with a mirror who is selfish, irresponsible, cruel do not mistake the qualities of the other as your own. Or a commentary on your self-worth. This is not how it works. Begin to view the mirror, the reflection, and see what you are called to develop within yourself instead.

Using the other as a reflection of our consciousness process is fascinating and complex. And necessary. It is only through the other we come to know the contents of our inner world. Whether the contents are harmful or benevolent, mirroring is the means whereby we come to an increasingly deeper level of self awareness. Within a relational exchange, these contents will trigger and be triggered. And sometimes what is triggered will leave many of us hurt and stunned.

To question why we were the recipient of bad treatment may feel threatening because we don't want to acknowledge that we might somehow be the cause, that we might actually have a hand in soliciting and inviting, albeit unconsciously, the actions and reactions of others. But on some level, we are.

For example: If your boss mistreats you, puts you down, belittles you and ignores your hard work -- chances are you'll become offended, angry and complain what a horrible person they are. Instead of pointing fingers, be objective and choose to look closely at what they are reflecting. First why are you being treated in this manner, what or who within you is allowing yourself to be mistreated in the first place.

Your innermost thoughts, whether they originated from you or absorbed from others, contribute to your experiences. This is a hard pill to swallow because none of us want to accept we are responsible for inviting or allowing bad treatment. And we might even completely avoid, overlook, or deny our role in the dynamic. We fail to recognize that the people we have problems with may actually be mirroring for us the disowned parts of ourselves. We penalize and judge the other for the energies we refuse to own or express. But life will bring the mirror back in different forms until we choose to do so, until we integrate the very quality essential to our growth and development.

Whatever relational dynamic you find yourself in - learn to decipher its deeper meaning. Pay attention, become an observer of how you're energy impacts others and in turn what it inspires in them. Be mindful of who, what and how you are triggered and in what context. Never fear the reflection, instead use it to go deeper and deeper into the process of self-examination and self-discovery, go deeper still into the self, until eventually you discover or uncover the nature of your affliction.

Use the mirroring effect as a barometer of where you are, what you are radiating, what you are thinking on the deepest levels of your being. Use the other's reflection to unearth and develop your hidden strengths or to eliminate the culprits within that have been inviting unwanted attention, treatment and people into your life.

The next time something happens and you are tempted to get angry, offended or hurt by the other -- step back, take a deep breath and ask yourself: "What is being mirrored within my consciousness?" -- and I assure you will be rewarded with an answer.

The ultimate purpose of the other as a mirror is to remind us of our higher potential, to reveal who, in essence, we are. Through their reflection we discover the essential and transformative qualities we need to develop to become whole and fulfilled, to grow and expand. In other words, the other is key on our journey to self realization.

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Mirror: Reflections of Truth Essay

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“Mirror”: Reflections of Truth In Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror”, the reader takes a look into the messages presented and compares them with the reflections that are cast in a mirror and images in a lake. When reading this poem, we discover that the speaker is the actual reflection that gives the interpretation of its views. The first interpretation is shown as a mirror on the wall “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.” (1), second as the water in the lake because she states “Now I am a lake.” (10), and third through the eyes of an aging woman that is revealed in line 17 “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman/ Rises toward her day after day…” In the first stanza the reflection personifies the ability to …show more content…

Many descriptions make the reader see through the eyes of the mirror as if it were able to speak back to him or her. The reflection views its surroundings in a manner of a small child who has the ability to take in or ingest whatever information is presented without regard . Visual imagery plays an important role in this poem and the descriptions make the reader immediately understand the truths within a mirror. In the water, the reflection portrays the shadow of a woman as she soul searches for who she really is in life. “Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness” (16), because she can not find exactly what she is looking for in what she sees through the reflection. As a result, she reminisces about the lies that were told to her in the past, thinks about brief sensations with a flicker of doubt, and gazes through the shadows of the moon while she wanders about passing time aimlessly. She’s been faithful in her visits to the lake , because the candlelight and the moon shades and hides the appearance of her age and blemishes; the reflection has seen the young girl go away and now it sees an old woman. So in reality, does the truth lie in the reflections that are cast through your own interpretation of what you see or from a mirror image? With careful consideration, a reflection can be manifested through one’s own image, and even though an image gives back the truth, the reflecting surface can be deceiving to one’s eye.

Gregory Crewdson "Beneath the Roses"

The mirror on the bedroom wall examines the public perception of her private life. Looking only at its reflection, the audience cannot tell the room is in a mess; the rosebush and the dirt trail are not apparent to the audience. In the mirror, only the back of woman’s head is evident. Her face and her emotions are hidden from the mirror. It appears as if she is doing an ordinary task; she could very well be sitting on the bed, reading a book. She turns her back to the mirror and denies it a true reflection.

Personification In The Yellow Wallpaper

A reflection is a recreation and counterpart of an image; something that is identical in an opposite way. As the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, stares into the walls of her isolated room, she begins to find a woman hidden among the patterns. She becomes invested in what these patterns mean and slowly starts to mimic the movements of the woman in the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her. The narrator’s so-called “nervousness” advances into insanity throughout the story as she becomes lost in this imaginary reflection she sees in her room. Gilman uses a progression of personification while describing the yellow wallpaper to show that the narrator is seeing a reflection of her own mental state, and attempting to

Analysis Of Insomnia By Elizabeth Bishop

The imagery in the poem, specifically natural imagery, helps use the reader’s senses to develop a vivid depiction of the speaker’s connection to nature and dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality. The speaker’s continued use of the “moon” reflects her attribution of feminine identity and idolistic character to the moon. As opposed to referencing herself and her personal insomnia, she uses the imagery of the moon “beyond sleep” to convey her internal struggles with insomnia and her reality. Throughout the poem, the speaker also refers to shining, reflective surfaces, such as “a body of water or a mirror”, to describe the inverted reality in which the speaker experiences reciprocated love. Reflective surfaces often invert the image that is projected into them, seemingly distorting the true nature and reality of the projected image. The speaker’s reference to this reflective imagery highlights her desire to escape the burden of a patriarchal society and assume an independent and free feminine identity. Specifically, the use of natural imagery from the references to the “moon” and “a body of water” convey the speaker’s desire to take refuge within the Earth or in the feminine identity of the Earth, Mother Earth. Feminine identities are often related and associated with aspects of nature due to the natural cycle of the menstrual period and the natural process of procreation. The speaker takes advantage of these connotations to suggest Earth and natural imagery as an escape from the man-made terrors of male dominated society. In the second stanza, the speaker uses extensive imagery to develop metaphors conveying the speaker’s experience of jealousy of the moon

The Power Of Reflection By Stephen Fleming Essay

Metacognition is a complex notion that encompasses numerous mental processes in all areas of life. It is often simplistically described as “thinking about thinking.” However, there is no commonly recognized definition of metacognition. In his article “The Power of Reflection”, Stephen Fleming, a well-respected cognitive neuroscientist, agrees with the definition of metacognition given by John Flavell in 1970 as “our ability to evaluate our own thinking” (2). Fleming also accepts Flavell’s proposition that metacognition is “key to educational success”; indeed, the development of metacognitive thinking is vital in learning processes (1). Metacognition is a teachable concept, and has been proven to be crucial in education.

Analysis of the Poem Women by Nikki Giovanni Essay

The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.

Narrative Analysis : ' Frame ' An Epistle '

Emerson starts the poem off with a list of items that where hand made by someone that the speaker has a close relationship with. The speaker explains that they gave away most of the gifts to people who would enjoy them and never know the hours invested into them, except for a mirror surrounded by a hand carved wood frame. Then the speakers starts to describe the mirror and how the reflection allowed the mirror to stay in the speakers position; explaining that the reflective surface makes the mirror a backward window. Finally, the speaker depicts a time when they did notice the mirror, not because of the reflection, but darkening wood that the frame is made of, where Emerson reveals the theme of the poem.

Sylvia Plath 's The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath is known as a profound writer, depicted by her lasting works of literature and her suicide which put her poems and novel of debilitating depression into a new perspective. In her poem “Lady Lazarus,” written in 1962, her mental illness is portrayed in a means to convey to her readers the everyday struggle of depression, and how it affects her view of her world, herself, and even those who attempt to tackle her battle with her. This poem, among other poetry pieces and her novel The Bell Jar, identify her multiple suicide attempts, and how the art of dying is something she has become a master of. Plath’s “Lady Lazarus,” about her trap of depression and suicide attempts, is effective and thought provoking because of her allusions to WWII Nazi Germany and the feelings of oppression and Nazism that the recurring images evoke.

Essay On Sylvia Plath

In 1963 on a cold winter day of February 11th, Sylvia Plath ended her life. She had plugged up her kitchen, sealing up the cracks in doors and windows before she was found with her head inside of her gas oven inhaling the dangerous fumes. She was only thirty years old, a young woman with two small children and an estranged ex-husband. A tragic detail of her life is that this is the second time she had tried to commit suicide. Plagued with mental illness her whole life, which is evident within her poetry. She would write gripping, honest portrayals of mental illnesses. Especially within Ariel, the last poetry book she wrote, right before she took her life. Although it’s hard to find a proper diagnosis for Sylvia Plath, it is almost definite that she at least had clinical depression with her numerous suicide attempts and stays in mental hospitals undergoing electroshock therapy. Sylvia Plath is now famously known for her writing and the more tragic parts of her life. Such as the separation from her husband, Ted Hughes, mental illness, etc… Plath may not have intended for her life and art to become inspiration to many people but that has become the end result. Sylvia Plath writing shows symptoms of her suicidal thoughts. To study specific moments in Sylvia Plath’s life, it can be connected to certain writing’s of her’s, such as “Daddy”, The Bell Jar, and “Lady Lazarus”.

Sylvia Plath 's Poetry And Her Sanity

Sylvia Plath was an American Poet who was renowned for poetry mostly in the United States. She, however lived a difficult and depressing life which led to a few futile suicide attempts, but ultimately led to a successful suicide attempt leaving her children to live on without a mother. This end result was due to a multitude of issues in her life from Sylvia’s sanity. She wasn’t the most stable child. Her marriage also played a role in her suicide. Her successes weren’t acclaimed until after her death, when a majority of her work was released. There were two major aspects to her life: her poetry and her sanity. These three combined make up a majority of Sylvia’s life.

Essay Sylvia Plath's Mirror

is. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her

Ted Hughes Birthday Letters

Introduction: Conflicting perspectives are different points of view expressed and influenced by ones context and values. “Birthday Letters” by Ted Hughes is an anthology of poems challenging the accusation that he was responsible for his wife, Sylvia Plath’s death. The three poems The Minotaur, Your Paris, and Red are an insight into Hughes justification of the death of Plath using a very subjective and emotive poetic form. The poems possess many deliberate techniques such as extended metaphors, connotations, diction and juxtaposition to encourage the audience to accept his argument that he was not the one to blame for this world renown tragedy. The poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath also displays conflicting perspectives of the

Essay on An Analysis of “To The River___” by Edgar Allan Poe

These three lines are perfect examples of the imagery within the poem because they contain an image of a river with its small peeks and waves trembling and glistening in the afternoon sun. All the while it equates the natural beauty of the river to the beauty that the young man sees in the youthful maiden.

Bell Jar Sylvia Plath Essay

By just reading Sylvia Plath’s works of writing, it is apparent that she had an infatuation with portraying negative and brutal thoughts. For example, her poem “Daddy,” she clearly expresses her rage towards her deceased father. The poem is full of contradiction and the interpretation is up the reader. Pieces like this gives insight into Sylvia’s mental sanity, which was questioned at times. In her early

Essay on Morning Song Analysis

The next stanza moves on to talk about how Plath's apprehension stops her from bonding with he child with these lines: "I'm no more your mother / Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow / Effacement at the wind's hand." Here Plath (the cloud') is resenting giving birth to her image as it reminds her of her own inevitable mortality. The child is the mirror, which reflects the dissipation of the cloud.

Essay On Reflection

What concepts, principles, or ideas that you have learned, do you think you will remember the most after you leave this class?

How to Write a Reflective Essay

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29th August 2018

If you think that a “reflective essay” is a college paper written on a mirror, this post is for you. That’s because we’re here to explain exactly what a reflective essay is and how to write one. And we can tell you from the outset that no mirrors are required to follow our advice.

What Is Reflective Writing?

The kind of “reflection” we’re talking about here is personal. It involves considering your own situation and analyzing it so you can learn from your experiences. To do this, you need to describe what happened, how you felt about it, and what you might be able to learn from it for the future.

This makes reflective writing a useful part of courses that involve work-based learning . For instance, a student nurse might be asked to write a reflective essay about a placement.

When writing a reflective essay, moreover, you may have to forget the rule about not using pronouns like “I” or “we” in academic writing. In reflective writing, using the first person is essential!

The Reflective Cycle

There are many approaches to reflective learning, but one of the most popular is Gibb’s Reflective Cycle . This was developed by Professor Graham Gibbs and can be applied to a huge range of situations. In all cases, though, it involves the following steps:

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Description – You will need to describe your experiences in detail. This includes what happened, where and when it happened, who else was involved, and what you did.
Feelings – How you felt before, during, and after the experience you describe.
Evaluation and Analysis – Think about what went well and what could be improved upon based on your experience. Try to refer to ideas you’ve learned in class while thinking about this.
Conclusions – Final thoughts on what you’ve learned from the experience.
Action – How you will put what you’ve learned into practice.

If your reflective essay addresses the steps above, you are on the right track!

Structuring a Reflective Essay

While reflective essays vary depending upon topic and subject area, most share a basic overall structure. Unless you are told otherwise, then, your essay should include the following:

Introduction – A brief outline of what your essay is about.
Main Body – The main part of your essay will be a description of what happened and how it made you feel . This is also where you will evaluate and analyze your experiences, either as part of the description or as a separate section in the essay.
Conclusion – The conclusion of your essay should sum up what you have learned from reflecting on your experiences and what you would do differently in the future.
Reference List – If you have cited any sources in your essay, make sure to list them with full bibliographic information at the end of the document.

Finally, once you’ve written your essay, don’t forget to get it checked for spelling and grammar errors!

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10 of the Best Poems about Mirrors and Reflections

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Poems are often reflective pieces of writing, and on occasion they have considered actual reflections – mirrors and mirror-images and the like. Below, we’ve selected ten of the finest poems about mirrors and reflections.

William Shakespeare, ‘ Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest ’.

One of the earliest sonnets in Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence – it’s third in the sequence, in fact – ‘Look in thy Glass’ sees Shakespeare trying to convince the Fair Youth to get married and have children, so as to multiply and preserve his own beauty. Appealing to the Youth’s own high self-regard, he begins by directing the beautiful young man to look in his mirror at his own lovely face:

Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest Now is the time that face should form another; Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest, Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother. For where is she so fair whose uneared womb Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry? Or who is he so fond will be the tomb Of his self-love, to stop posterity?

Follow the link above to read the full poem.

Walt Whitman, ‘ A Hand-Mirror ’.

Hold it up sternly! See this it sends back! (Who is it? Is it you?) Outside fair costume – within, ashes and filth, No more a flashing eye – no more a sonorous voice or springy step …

What do you see when you look in the mirror? In this poem, America’s nineteenth-century pioneer of free verse discusses how the mirror can throw back some unpleasant realities …

Christina Rossetti, ‘ Passing and Glassing ’.

All things that pass Are woman’s looking-glass; They show her how her bloom must fade, And she herself be laid With withered roses in the shade …

In this poem, the great Victorian poet Christina Rossetti (1830-94) describes how the passing of time and the fact that ‘all things must pass’ is particularly galling for women, since it reminds them how their beauty must fade. The whole world, in a sense, is a mirror holding up a woman’s transient beauty to her.

Thomas Hardy, ‘ I Look into my Glass ’.

I look into my glass, And view my wasting skin, And say, “Would God it came to pass My heart had shrunk as thin!”’

In this poem, Hardy (1840-1928) looks into his mirror and laments the fact that, whilst he remains young at heart and with a young man’s passion and romanticism, his body hasn’t aged as well …

Robert Louis Stevenson, ‘ Looking-Glass River ’.

As well as writing Treasure Island and Jekyll and Hyde , Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) also wrote the perennially popular A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885), a collection of poems for younger readers including this lovely poem about gazing into the reflective waters of the river:

We can see our coloured faces Floating on the shaken pool Down in cool places, Dim and very cool …

Mary Coleridge, ‘ The Other Side of a Mirror ’.

I sat before my glass one day, And conjured up a vision bare, Unlike the aspects glad and gay, That erst were found reflected there – The vision of a woman, wild With more than womanly despair …

In this poem, the great-grand-niece of Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes a speaker’s confrontation of a strange image in her mirror – an image which is some dark version of herself, possessed of ‘womanly despair’…

H. D., ‘ The Pool ’.

To be honest, this poem doesn’t mention mirrors, and may not even be about reflections. But reflection is one of the interpretations of the poem that have been proposed – namely, that the short imagist masterpiece ‘The Pool’ describes the poet coming face-to-face with her own mirror-image in the surface of the water. A cryptic imagist poem thus becomes a poem about ‘self-reflection’ in both senses.

Elizabeth Bishop, ‘ To Be Written on the Mirror in Whitewash ’.

Like Plath’s mirror poem below, this (altogether shorter) poem is spoken by the mirror itself, announcing that it stands between the spectator and their eyes and ‘collects no interest’. The shortest poem on this list, and a nice companion-piece to Plath’s.

Elizabeth Jennings, ‘ Mirrors ’.

Jennings (1926-2001) deserves a wider readership than she currently enjoys. In this short poem, she uses the image of a mirror at a party, throwing back at her the half-familiar sight of her own self, as a way of pondering the relationship between love and self-love.

Sylvia Plath, ‘ Mirror ’.

A poem, bordering on dramatic monologue, in which a mirror speaks to us , addressing the reader in a matter-of-fact tone, reflecting the flatness of its surface and its inability to do anything other than reflect back to us what it ‘sees’. In summary, the mirror tells us that it has ‘no preconceptions’: it is ‘exact’, with the implication that it simply shows us what it ‘sees’.

This is not some hall of mirrors at a fairground, which deliberately distorts faces and body shapes: whatever we see when we look in the mirror is what the mirror was accurately and faithfully ‘swallowed’. It transmits whatever it receives. But for Plath, the mirror doesn’t merely reflect: it somehow sees people, too.

3 thoughts on “10 of the Best Poems about Mirrors and Reflections”

This is not a poem about mirrors or reflections but the topic reminded me of it. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50448/shadows-in-the-water

I loved these! The first poem that came to mind when I read the title of your post was “The Lady of Shalott”, but I guess that one is less about mirrors than it is about an entire specific legend.

That almost made it onto the list actually! I mean, ‘The mirror crack’d from side to side’ is such a memorable line (and a turning-point in the poem) :)

Mirror Image: Reflection and Refraction of Light

When people look into a mirror, they see an image of themselves behind the glass. That image results from light rays encountering the shiny surface and bouncing back, or reflecting, providing a "mirror image." People commonly think of the reflection as being reversed left to right; however, this is a misconception. If you face north and look straight into a mirror, the east side of your face is still on the east side of the image, and the same is true for the west side. The mirror does not reverse the image left to right; it reverses it front to back. For example, if you are facing north, your reflection is facing south.

The reflection of light rays is one of the major aspects of geometric optics; the other is refraction, or the bending of light rays. Geometric optics is one of two broad classes of optics, the field that "deals with the propagation of light through transparent media," according to Richard Fitzpatrick, a professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin, in lecture notes for a course in Electromagnetism and Optics . (The other class is physical optics.)

Geometric optics

Geometric optics treats light as continuous rays (as opposed to waves or particles) that move through transparent media according to three laws. The first law states that light rays move through similar transparent media in straight lines. The second states that when a light ray encounters a smooth, shiny (or conducting) surface, such as a mirror , the ray bounces off that surface. The third law governs how light rays behave when they pass between two different media, such as air and water. For example, when you look at a spoon in a glass of water, the submerged part of the spoon appears to be in a different place than expected. This happens because the light rays change direction when they go from one transparent material (air) into another (water).

Sir Isaac Newton laid down the foundation for geometrical optics in his classic 1704 work " Opticks ." The principles he described are still used to this day to design eyeglasses, telescopes, microscopes, eyeglasses and camera lenses.

In a reflecting telescope, light strikes the primary mirror and bounces back to a secondary mirror, which diverts the light to the lens in the eyepiece.

Reflections from flat surfaces are fairly easy to understand. A reflection appears to be the same distance from the "other side" of the mirror as the viewer's eyes are from the mirror. Also, when light is reflected from a mirror, it bounces off at the same angle in the opposite direction from which it hit. For example, if the light hits a flat or "plane mirror" at a 30-degree angle from the left, it will bounce off at a 30-degree angle to the right.

However, if the surface of the mirror is curved, the angles of reflection are different at different points on the surface. The most common curved surface used in optical devices is a spherical mirror . If the mirror is convex, or curved outward, it will reflect a wider area, in which images appear smaller and farther away than those from a flat mirror. These mirrors are often used for outside rearview mirrors on cars and for keeping large areas under surveillance in stores.

If the surface is concave, or curved inward, a group of light rays from a distant source is reflected back toward a single location known as the focal point. This generally produces a magnifying effect, such as that seen in a makeup mirror. The radius of curvature of a mirror determines its magnification factor and its focal length.

Newton used a concave spherical mirror to make his reflecting telescope , a design that is still popular with amateur astronomers due to its simplicity, low cost and high degree of image quality.

In a Newtonian reflecting telescope, light rays from distant objects, which are essentially parallel (because they come from so far away), strike the concave main mirror at the same angle. The rays are then reflected back up through the telescope tube toward the focal point. However, before they reach the focal point, they strike a secondary, flat mirror that is tilted at a 45-degree angle. The secondary mirror diverts the light out through a hole in the side of the tube. The eyepiece lens then focuses the light. This produces a magnified image. Also, the image appears much brighter than it does to the naked eye because the mirror gathers and concentrates the light.

The shape of a spherical mirror affects the image that is reflected. Light striking near the edge of the mirror does not focus at the exact same spot as light striking nearer to the center. This results in what is called spherical aberration. This phenomenon is often corrected by using a combination of lenses, or in the case of large telescopes, by using parabolic mirrors, which are shaped like rounded cones that focus all the light from a source to a single point.

Refraction is the bending of light rays. Normally, light travels in a straight line, and changes direction and speed when it passes from one transparent medium to another, such as from air into glass.

In a vacuum, the speed of light , denoted as "c," is constant. However, when light encounters a transparent material, it slows down. The degree to which a material causes light to slow down is called that material's refractive index, denoted as "n." According to Physics.info , approximate values of n for common materials are:

Vacuum = 1 (by definition)
Air = 1.0003 (at standard temperature and pressure)
Water = 1.33 (at 68 degrees Fahrenheit or 20 degrees Celsius)
Soda-lime crown glass = 1.51
Sapphire = 1.77
71-percent lead flint glass = 1.89
Cubic zirconia = 2.17
Diamond = 2.42

These numbers mean that the speed of light is 1.33 times slower in water and 2.42 times slower in diamond than in a vacuum.

When light passes from a region of lower n, such as air, through a surface into a region of higher n, such as glass, the light changes direction. This means its path is closer to perpendicular, or "normal," to the surface. When the light passes from a region of higher n to the region of lower n, it bends away from the "normal" direction. This is what causes the submerged part of a spoon in a glass of water to appear to bend when you put it in water.

In a lens with a curved surface, parallel rays bend at different angles depending on the angle of the surface where the rays enter the lens. Parallel rays entering a convex lens converge on a point on the other side of the lens. However, when parallel rays enter a concave lens, they diverge, or spread out, on the other side of the lens. They are said to have a "virtual focal point" at the spot where the diverging rays would meet if they were extended backward to the near side of the lens.

Lenses can also be formed with a cylindrical surface, either convex or concave, which will magnify or reduce, respectively, an image in only one direction. These lenses are often combined with a spherical shape to produce a toric or spherocylinder lens. Such a lens is shaped like the surface of an inner tube, i.e., it has more curvature in one direction than another.

This shape is commonly used in eyeglasses to correct for astigmatism , a condition that causes blurred vision due either to the irregular shape of the cornea, the clear front cover of the eye, or sometimes the curvature of the lens inside the eye, according to the American Optometric Association. If you hold a pair of these eyeglasses away from your face and look through one lens as you rotate it, the astigmatic lens will cause the image to change shape.

Geometric optics does not cover all areas of optics, however. Physical optics covers topics such as diffraction, polarization, interference and various types of scattering. Quantum optics addresses the behavior and property of photons, including spontaneous emission, stimulated emission (the principle behind lasers) and wave/particle duality.

Jim Lucas is a freelance writer and editor specializing in physics, astronomy and engineering. He is general manager of Lucas Technologies .

Additional resources

Electromagnetism and Optics: An Introductory Course (Richard Fitzpatrick, University of Texas at Austin)

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How to Write a Reflection Paper in 5 Steps (plus Template and Sample Essay)

by Kaelyn Barron | 15 comments

how to write a reflection paper blog post image

If you’ve been assigned the task of writing a reflection paper on a book you’ve read, film you’ve seen, or an event you’ve attended, you may be wondering where to start.

After all, there are few rules when it comes to writing a reflection, since it’s basically just your reaction and thoughts on the material—and all that creative freedom can be intimidating at first! But even with this lack of structure, there are steps you can take to write a reflection paper that adds value to the discussion.

What Is a Reflection Paper?

A reflection paper is a type of essay that requires you to reflect, or give your thoughts and opinions, on a certain subject or material. This type of essay is often assigned to students after they’ve read a book or watched a film.

However, it can also be written in a professional setting, often by those who study education or psychology, to reflect on an individual’s behavior. Or, you can write a reflection paper for your own purposes, to work out your thoughts and feelings on a personal subject.

If you’re a student, in most cases, you’ll be given a prompt or question to guide your reflection. Often, these assignments are completed in class, so the reflections are generally under 1,000 words. The good news is that there are on wrong answers!

However, there are things you can do to write more effective reflections that will give you (and your teachers, if applicable) more insight to your views and thought processes.

How to Write a Reflection Paper

Use these 5 tips to write a thoughtful and insightful reflection paper.

1. Answer key questions.

To write a reflection paper, you need to be able to observe your own thoughts and reactions to the material you’ve been given. A good way to start is by answering a series of key questions.

For example:

What was your first reaction to the material? Was it positive, negative, or neutral?
Do you find the writer (or director, presenter, etc.) to be credible?
Has the material changed your mind in some way?
Which issues or questions does the material fail to address?
What new or remaining questions do you have after reading/viewing the material?
What have you learned from this material?
Does it remind you of any personal experiences, or anything else you’ve seen or read?

Answering these questions will help you formulate your own opinions, draw conclusions, and write an insightful reflection.

2. Identify a theme.

Once you’ve answered a few basic questions, look at your responses and see if you can identify any common themes .

What’s the main takeaway? If you could summarize your thoughts on this piece in one sentence, what would you say?

Think about what you’ve learned, or how the material has affected you. Be honest about how you feel, especially if the material incites any strong opinions or reactions from you.

3. Summarize.

Your reflection paper should not be just a mere summary of the material you’ve read or studied. However, you should give a recap of the most important aspects, and offer specific examples when necessary to back up any assertions you make.

Include information about the author (if you’re writing about a book or article). If you’re writing about a work of fiction, very briefly and concisely summarize the plot. If writing about nonfiction, share the author’s thesis, or the main argument they’re trying to make.

Just be careful to not overdo the summary—you don’t want to reproduce or offer a play-by-play of the original work, but rather offer enough context so readers can appreciate your reflection and analysis.

4. Analyze.

Your reflection paper is a great place to practice your critical thinking skills , which include analysis. The questions in Step 1 will offer you a good start when it comes to thinking more analytically.

Once you’ve offered enough context for your readers by including a brief summary, analyze the

the overall tone of the work
the credibility of the writer (or producer of the content)
potential biases
the intended purpose of the material

If you’re writing a reflection paper on a work of fiction, be sure to check out our guide to writing a literary analysis.

5. Make connections.

Does the material remind you of any personal experiences you’ve had, or other books or films you’ve encountered? Can you connect it to any current events or real-world examples?

Then, zoom out and try to see the bigger picture. What do these connections have in common? Can you point out a larger, more universal theme?

The more of these connections you can tie in to your reflection to create a cohesive picture, the better.

Reflection Paper Template

Reflection papers don’t really require a rigid structure—the most important thing is that you communicate your ideas clearly and effectively. (Of course, if you received specific guidelines from your instructor, you should stick to those.)

The following is a loose outline that you can use to guide you through your reflection paper:

Include: Title, Author Name (or Director, Photographer, etc.).
Briefly summarize the work and its main themes.
Write a thesis that states the work’s overall impact on you.
When relevant, include specific quotes or examples to support your claims.
Explore your main reactions and thoughts after reviewing the material.
Build connections to personal experiences and other works you’ve encountered.
Show how the ideas from your body paragraphs tie together to support your thesis.
Summarize the overall effect the material had on you.

Reflection Paper Example

The following is an example of a reflection paper I wrote for a university course in response to an academic article on conflict resolution, found in the book Managing Conflict in a World Adrift :

In “Understanding the Gendered Nature of Power,” Oudraat and Kuehnast explain how peace theorists have fallen short in their analyses of the role of gender (and of women especially). Because gender roles are a reflection of power dynamics within societies, they can also serve as valuable indicators of dynamics within conflicts and post-conflict processes.

The authors emphasize the importance of using international intervention wisely. Although postconflict reconstruction might seem like an opportunity to rethink gender norms and roles, it seems that postconflict programs tend more often to reproduce gender norms that “no longer contribute productive approaches to society and escalate social tensions.” While I think we should always strive to bring more opportunities to women and eradicate gender biases, I agree with the authors that international actors must “be attentive to the gendered nature of the societies in which they intervene.” We have seen many cases where international intervention, although well-meaning, can end up hurting a community even more by meddling without truly knowing the conditions of a local situation.

One example of such misguided help is the campaign for “clean stoves” in African villages, based on the idea that women are assaulted when they look for fuel and water outside their camps. Providing clean stoves does nothing to address the root of the problem (sexual violence), and in fact further confines women to their homes, while many studies show that times of collecting water or other supplies are often critical opportunities for women to communicate, socialize, exchange ideas, and so on. In many cases it is the only time they will leave the home or village that day. The solution proposed by the clean stoves campaign reminds me of the culture surrounding sexual violence in the United States, where rather than working to attack the root causes of such crimes, we instead teach women that it is unsafe to go out late, or to dress in a certain way.

In order to make any progress, I agree with the authors when they suggest we need qualitative data that capture the changing nature of societies coming out of war. We must first identify the information we lack in order to move forward wisely and effectively.

Writing a Reflective Essay

Whether you’ve been assigned a reflection paper for school or simply want to write one for your own exercise, these tips will help you get the most from the experience.

Remember that when you’re consuming any type of media, it’s good practice to reflect on what you’ve absorbed and ask critical questions so you can draw your own conclusions.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:

19 Books That Make You Think: A List of Thought-Provoking Reads
Why You Should Keep a Reading Journal: Tips for More Reflective Reading
How to Write a Literary Analysis: 6 Tips for the Perfect Essay
How to Summarize a Novel: 4 Steps to Writing a Great Summary

As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.

15 Comments

Very helpful, thanks a lot!

Thankful for this! Thanks to you!

we’re glad you found the post helpful! :)

In my understanding, this post helped me to guide my students while I was teaching them how to write effective reflection paper. In addition to this, I had time to correct my past through this post. Thanks a lot!!!

I’m so glad you found this post helpful for your students! :)

I believe I understood the steps and instructions on how to write a reflection paper and it makes lots of sense to me now than before . What I was really hoping for was that you could give us an example of a text or an article written followed by a reflection that was done on that article . Maybe I`m asking too much. Thank you though!!!!

Hi Larry, I’m glad the article was helpful for your reflection paper! I tried to provide an example of one of my own papers, but I couldn’t find the full text of the article I wrote on (it was from a textbook). I’ll try to find another example though :)

am very empress with this information. it really helps me to write an effective reflection papers

thanks Benjamin, we’re so glad you found it helpful! :)

This is very helpful as I am preparing for my portfolio defense. Many thanks Mark

I’m so glad you found it helpful, Mark!

Very informative.

Thanks Sara, I’m glad you found the post helpful! :)

Many thanks for this information,,very needed today for my final exam.

You’re very welcome Lyn, I hope it helped for your exam! :)

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Scientist has determined that the most beautiful celebrities have the most facial symmetry. The beauty of people is also based on how they act as it is to looks. The best looking people become hideous if they act that way and vice versa. That is a fact that anyone can anyone can agree to, but beauty is not just in people. Beauty to me is enjoying things that are heard, seen, or read, something that leaves an impression.…

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Through my high school career I’ve always felt like I️ had to succumb to Eurocentric beauty. Straightening my, naturally curly, hair had become a daily routine. I️ often forgot how much I️ loved my curly Afro, because I️ was too worried about trying to match the models in the magazines. In magazines there’s rarely ever and Black women, and when they’re seen you can tell that they’ve altered their faces with makeup and photoshop. With this altering the magazine company has taken away the true features of an African American person. While reading and looking at these pictures I️ look at myself in the mirror. “Why can’t my nose be small and button like, like the women in the magazine?” “Why can’t my lips be smaller?” These were the questions I️ asked myself,because I️ felt like I️ wasn’t beautiful. One thing I️ failed to realize is that all people aren’t made the same, and African Americans tend to have the fuller lips, bigger foreheads, and wider noses. That’s what makes us so beautifully different.…

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The La Belle Époque era erupted a series of self-reflecting questions such as the ones mentioned above. A prominent symbol of the La Belle Époque era, mirrors sought to bring forth the answers. Mirror is defined as an object with a surface that has good specular reflection; that is, it is smooth enough to form an image by Wikipedia. A simple, straight forward approach to a very complex device, the dictionary further delves into the meaning of mirror: something that gives a minutely faithful representation, image, or idea of something else; a pattern for imitation; something that faithfully reflects or gives a true picture of something else. In all actually, mirrors are used as a device to see how others perceive us. However, they are deceptive, misleading. Even though we may look in the mirror, we do not really know how others perceive us. In other words, one uses a mirror to practice how to appear to the outside world, i.e. facial expressions, smiles, posture, etc. It essentially enables us to learn about ourselves. Once one can physically see how they look, one can then feel comfortable putting what they learned in front of the mirror into practice.…

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The new yorker writer’s collection of essays offers penetrating insights on feminism, identity, and the internet..

“I am always confused,” Tolentino confesses in the introduction to her first book, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion , “because I can never be sure of anything, and because I am drawn to any mechanism that directs me away from that truth. Writing is either a way to shed my self-delusions or a way to develop them.” Trick Mirror is a collection of essays, pieces that consider such subjects as drugs, religion, celebrity culture, and the wedding industry, but all of them wrangle with the challenge of arriving at an organic self in an age of pervasive, technology-facilitated phoniness.

A staff writer for the New Yorker since 2016, Tolentino previously worked as a deputy editor for Jezebel. Once, that site had been a freewheeling intellectual clearinghouse for young feminists, but under the influence of the online culture she expertly dissects in Trick Mirror , Jezebel felt like it was stiffening into something a lot like agitprop. While Tolentino wrote a lot of short, goofy, amusing posts there, when she really dug in , her ambivalence and her affinity for complexity and contradiction were at odds with Jezebel’s drift toward the predictable and reductive.

In other words, Tolentino is a classical essayist along the lines of Montaigne, threading her way on the page toward an understanding of what she thinks and feels about life, the world, and herself. Some of the pieces in Trick Mirror feature more autobiographical material than others, and Tolentino’s life itself is a nest of pleasingly tangled influences: The child of Filipino immigrants, she had a largely happy childhood in the embrace of an evangelical megachurch in Houston, until she became disillusioned with the institution’s many moral failings. A prodigious reader— Trick Mirror references thinkers ranging from Erving Goffman and Donna Haraway to Anne Carson and Julian of Norwich—she was also a cheerleader in high school and a sorority sister at the University of Virginia, college years she enjoyed “easily and automatically,” only to learn later of the university’s long history of tolerating sexual violence.

Even that awakening had its Tolentino-esque switchback. It was triggered by the infamous 2014 Rolling Stone feature based on an account of a fraternity gang rape at UVA that was later discredited. “There’s a part of me,” she writes of the accuser and the writer of that piece, “that feels as if Jackie and Erdely inadvertently sentenced me to a life of writing about sexual violence—as if I learned to report on a subject so personal that it imprinted on me, as if I will always feel some irrational compulsion to try to undo or redeem two strangers’ mistakes.” Although in 2017 Tolentino herself declared “the personal-essay boom is over,” in truth, she only meant the once-commonplace exploitative confessions cranked out by what Slate’s Laura Bennett dubbed “ the first-person industrial complex .” For her part, Tolentino doesn’t have much in the way of private trauma to process. The pleasure in reading her work comes in following her mind as she figures things out—or, as often as not, admits that she hasn’t quite figured it out yet. “The last few years have taught me to suspend my desire for a conclusion,” she writes, “to hope primarily that little truths will keep emerging in time.”

The strongest pieces in Trick Mirror have to do with the commodification of the self. Tolentino recalls appearing in a short-lived reality TV show when she was 16. (She really is a case study in mediated identity, a fact she concedes—sometimes cheerily, sometimes not so much.) The cameras satiated her ravenous teenage desire “to be seen” and at the same time capsized her into a boundless ocean of self-consciousness that ceased to bother her simply because it had swallowed the whole world. Rewatching some of the episodes, in which she was cast as the priggish smart girl who refused to make out with anyone, Tolentino “can’t tell if, on the show, I was more concerned with looking virtuous or actually being virtuous—or if, having gone from a religious panopticon to a literal one, I was even capable of distinguishing between the two ideas.” It was, in short, “useful, if dubious, preparation for a life wrapped up with the internet.”

In her big opening essay on that inexhaustible subject, “The I in the Internet,” Tolentino’s insights are sterling. Dissecting the profile as the basic building block of social media, she writes, “The everyday madness perpetuated by the internet is the madness of this architecture, which positions personal identity as the center of the universe.” The ubiquity and fury of trolls, she believes, is in response to the internet’s exultation of the ever-appealing, overexposed self, the creation of which is a skill central to traditional femininity—in other words, an ability women have been trained in from an early age. “This legitimately unfortunate paradigm, inhabited first by women and now generalized to the entire internet, is what trolls loathe and actively repudiate.” While Tolentino’s depiction of the earliest days of the internet as a wholesome band of helpful Usenet newsgroups is overly rosy (trolls have always been with us), she pinpoints why the transition from the internet as a kind of communal tool to Web 2.0’s marketplace of personality has been plagued by such a torrent of online misogyny.

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Tolentino also laments how the internet encourages its users to conflate the expression of an opinion with meaningful action in the world. “It’s so easy to stop trying to be decent, or reasonable, or politically engaged—and start trying merely to seem so,” a condition that dovetails unsettlingly with Tolentino’s experience of early adolescence, when she obsessed about the idea of “Jia” as a character she had created and needed to plausibly maintain, instead of a self she effortlessly embodied. This disturbs her, particularly because her own career consists of expressing her opinion on the internet, and she has benefited from the way it “collapses identity, opinion, and action.”

She’s particularly fun to read when she’s bemused by the absurdity of all these performances, stopping just short of outright cynicism. She contemplates a scenario in which a bunch of trolls target her with threatening emails. “The economy of online attention would suggest that I write a column about those trolls, quote their emails, talk about how the experience of being threatened constitutes a definitive situation of being a woman in the world.” If trolls exaggerate the power of women in the world, sometimes women, she gently suggests, find it useful to exaggerate the power of trolls. “I could go on defining myself in reference to trolls forever, positioning them as inexorable and monstrous, and they would return the favor in the interest of their own ideological advancement, and this whole situation could continue until we all died,” having squandered their lives in a vaporous battle.

The less penetrating essays in Trick Mirror —a consideration of literary heroines and a critique of the wedding industry—are solid enough but cover well-trodden ground. The former reminded me of the essays of the great second-wave feminist memoirist-critic Vivian Gornick. Gornick and Tolentino share a restlessness, both of them forever in search of a clear vantage point from which to see their own lives. Both writers tend to view the female characters in books as demonstrating possible ways to be in the world, models to be taken up and then (usually) discarded as inadequate. For Tolentino, this assortment of potential avatars includes celebrity personas, that bizarre semi-communal popular art form that has reached its full potency in the 21 st century. “Celebrities have been the primary teaching tools through which online feminism has identified and resisted the warping force of patriarchal judgement,” she writes, and this, as she sees it, has been a mistake.

The essay in which Tolentino considers how popular feminism has used celebrity and vice versa, “The Cult of the Difficult Woman,” is magnificently sharp as it points out the dangers of “adjudicating inequality through cultural criticism.” The practice is tempting because talking about celebrities and how feminist (or sexist) they are is much more fun than discussing the erosion of reproductive rights or the uphill fight for state-subsidized child care. And sometimes celebrity provides just the wedge that’s needed, as when the allegations of famous actresses about Harvey Weinstein ignited the #MeToo movement. Women who generate controversy and upset existing power structures “can almost always,” Tolentino writes, “be reinterpreted as good. Women claiming the power and agency that historically belonged to men is both the story of female evil and the story of female liberation.” The reactionary attacks leveled against such women typically resort to insults about how they fail to live up to conventional feminine ideals by not being attractive or demure enough. As a result, “female celebrities are now venerated for their difficulty—their flaws, their complications, their humanity,” which, in addition to proving what badass feminists they are, is perceived as giving ordinary women permission to possess the same. Any criticism based on those nettlesome traits can then be branded as sexist.

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion

Essays by Jia Tolentino

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However, the opponents of equality soon figured out how to deploy this tactic to their own ends. The defenders of the Trump administration have used accusations of sexism to deflect condemnations of women like Kellyanne Conway, Hope Hicks, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Melania and Ivanka Trump. (Although Tolentino doesn’t mention it, this move also allows conservatives to claim that liberals and progressives are so hypocritically selective, targeting only their political enemies, that their charges of sexism deserve to be automatically discounted as mere partisan mudslinging.) At the same time, women who seek fame without making a display of “difficulty”—lifestyle bloggers, wellness mavens, and “generic influencers with long Instagram captions and predictable tastes”—attract devout online anti-followings, the weird intensity of the hatred directed at them hinting at their abiding power.

“The freedom I want,” Tolentino writes, ever so sensibly, “is located in a world where we wouldn’t need to love women, or even monitor our feelings about women as meaningful—in which we wouldn’t need to parse the contours of female worth and liberation by paying meticulous personal attention to any of this at all.” That freedom—the freedom not to regard the doings and statements of famous women as sanctioning the parameters of your own behavior—is one of the few freedoms available to any woman who wants to take it. No one must read lifestyle bloggers, or keep up with the Kardashians. Contemporary celebrity is the apotheosis of all the maddening social changes that Tolentino surveys in Trick Mirror , the logical extension of the belief that simply to appear in an especially marketable fashion is not only worthwhile, but the very best of goals. We are the market that makes such a choice viable, and we keep buying. I’m pretty sure this is the sort of thing Tolentino means when she writes about being “drawn to any mechanism that directs me away from that truth.” If she can find a way to escape it, I’ll follow her wherever she leads.

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From “Facing the Mirror: An Essay”

SELF-SEPARATION IS A MIRROR WITH WHAT HAVE I DONE.

In many cases, people with severe dissociative disorders experience

discomfort and disorientation when they look at themselves in the mirror.

They are unlikely to see a predictable reflection due to the mutability of

self-image in multiple personality disorder 1 .

What the subject sees in the mirror is susceptible to consciousness.

What we see is consciousness made visible.

My reflection haunts, always eager to mute my|my gaze.

The s|bject objectifies herself. Even verbs split the I, reflexive: subject|

object. What we|we hear: simulacra. The Eye in

Iconography, staring.

The changing nature of the face and the body means the mystery

evolves. Like a shadow, the s|bject is always on her heels.

Unseen: the ocean beyond the dyke. Unseen: this work of

containing.

It’s a crisis to constantly manage one’s face. The subject|object meets

our gaze. The s|bject is briefly lucid. The object shines.

Before the trifold mirror outside the fitting rooms of a department store, a

toddler delights in her image. She dances and waves her|her arms,

giggles and spins.

Children beg parents for something again, again—but before the mirror,

she|she is her|her

own engine of again. Or the mirror is. They grow indistinguishable.

My|My therapist suggests I|I see my|self as a child, have patience with

her when she’s tired and sorry. In the mirror, the s|bject eyes the object.

This childseeing means admitting to fracture, admitting the failures of

sight, admitting

At night when I|I stare in the bathroom mirror, I|I sometimes turn on the

faucet to sound like more than looking. How many baths we|we could

have taken in those years of water. How many cut glass bowls she

could have rinsed clear.

How clean all could be.

If I|I’d been born in a time before glass. Would I|I still be this broken.

Would I|I still find a way to fracture. I|I want to tell her she is hurting me.

Eye or I. But we|we already see.

If the s|bject knows anything, she|she knows light emanates from

destruction and destruction and.

Magnifying mirrors are a cosmetic accessory said to be necessary to

elegance and bathroom comfort. Magnifying mirrors seek to close the

gap between the s|bject’s pores and the s|bject’s gaze. The farther I|I

stand from the mirror, the larger our image. I|I cannot escape the

cratered surface of our|our face.

Mirrors as necessary to comfort—comfort, from the Latin confortare ,

meaning to strengthen. Of the many methods for strengthening, some

involve great discomfort.

Glass seems stronger in its molten state than at room temperature. How

uncomfortable, the potential for shatter.

The difference between etch and pierce is but a film, a skin. Both

Words reflect one another, windowpanes coated with sound like a slick

of mercury. Each inside its own frame, wanting out—

In 1902, American sociologist Charles Cooley theorized what he called

“the looking glass self,” that we|we do not know ourselves as a result of

others’ perceptions, but how we|we perceive others perceiving us. We|

We look out at looking. We|We project a reflection. Everywhere, our|our

loves’ eyes shine us|us back in.

My|My desire, reflected, becomes shame. The mirror is my|my tool of

disloyalty. Eye|Eye refuse to be

The presence of a mirror elicits shame 2 . Shame is a self-separation. In

giving this face back to me|me, the mirror takes my|my loneliness. I|I am

self, this mirror

“A true citizen of planet earth closes their eyes and says what they are before the mirror.” –Joshua Jennifer Espinoza, “Things Haunt”

I|I don’t know that I|I’m a true anything, regardless of how the mirror

hears me|me. I|I exhale to speak. My|My exhale fogs the mirror, blurs

this|this face, haunts my|my want in looking.

LIGHT IS A MIRROR WITH NATIVITY.

In one room of the Museum of Senses in Prague, there is a panel

containing several horizontal strips of mirror with space between. A

plaque on the wall asks the subject to stand before the panel, and her

love to stand behind. When they line up perfectly with one another, half

of one body becomes

the other. The bodies are vertically interchangeable—one chin, another

nose; one breast, another belly. The illusion is broken by one. Breath.

If the saying seeing is believing is to be believed, and seeing is subject

to the s|bject’s subconscious, then I simply see what I|I want.

Blindspots. Their circular edges fuzz, a gentle transition to lightlessness.

I|I’m lying. I|I’ve never seen a blindspot.

A mirror reflects even its own surface. The gap is an illusion of distance

doubled. Not just space between the surface and its backing, but all that

seen twice, light coursing through it all again.

Everything in this universe caught up in a lag. Expanded time. Swell of

space across which light waves.

The moon knows her luminous face. She watches it glide over oceans.

Her|Her yearning tugs at every ocean’s weight, fractures it to waves.

It is not loneliness that calls out her|her longing—it is seeing her|her

light, and having no way to hold

Time has a way of making the s|bject feel like she gets to etch herself

into what’s left of before. There is a way to be present without being the

absence of what’s already here. It is the way of light.

Light’s handprints are everywhere. They weigh more nothing than

Call into being all everywheres. No where

without light.

Light travels and this is a miracle. The unrelenting push and pull of

bright. Light takes up space. Light takes. Light shines through

dimensionality and in its directional shine calls into being the stretch

of time. One lightyear is the circumference of 236 million Earths

unwound, outstretched.

Seeing is the world haunting the body. If only it were this clear: Sight so

precise we call it a line.

1 Richard Gregory’s Mirrors in Mind , Penguin UK, 1998.

2 C. Dylan Bassett’s The Invention of Monsters / Plays for the Theatre , Plays Inverse Press, 2015.

Katherine Indermaur is the author of the chapbook Pulse (Ghost City Press, 2018). Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Bad Pony, Calamity, Coast|NoCoast, Entropy, Frontier Poetry, Ghost Proposal, Muse /A Journal, Oxidant|Engine, Poetry South, Sugar House Review, Voicemail Poems, and elsewhere. An MFA candidate at Colorado State University, where she won the 2018 Academy of American Poets Prize, she is the managing editor for Colorado Review. www.katherineindermaur.com

Essay on Literature As The Mirror Of Society

Students are often asked to write an essay on Literature As The Mirror Of Society in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Literature As The Mirror Of Society

Introduction.

Literature is a significant part of our lives. It’s like a mirror that reflects society. It shows us the life, culture, and beliefs of people from different times and places. Just like a mirror shows our image, literature shows us the image of society.

Literature and Society

Literature and society are closely connected. Writers use their works to express their thoughts about the world around them. They write about what they see, feel, and experience in society. This is why we can learn a lot about society from literature.

Reflection of Culture

Literature reflects the culture of a society. It tells us about the customs, traditions, and values of people. By reading literature, we can understand how people lived in the past and how they live now.

Understanding Human Nature

Literature helps us understand human nature. It shows us the emotions, desires, and struggles of people. By reading about these, we can better understand ourselves and others.

In conclusion, literature is a mirror of society. It reflects the life, culture, and human nature of different times and places. By reading literature, we can learn a lot about society and ourselves.

250 Words Essay on Literature As The Mirror Of Society

Literature often acts like a mirror, reflecting the society we live in. It is a powerful tool that shows us the world and its people in a unique light.

What is Literature?

Literature is a collection of written works like poems, novels, plays, and essays. These works are more than just words. They are creative expressions that capture the emotions, thoughts, and experiences of the people who write them.

How Does Literature Reflect Society?

Literature can give us a clear picture of society. Writers often use their works to show what’s happening around them. They write about real people, events, and issues. This gives us a chance to see and understand different aspects of society.

Examples of Literature Reflecting Society

For example, the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee reflects racism in American society. The play “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen, shows us the status of women in the 19th century. These works help us understand the social issues of their time.

Why is it Important?

Literature as a mirror of society is important because it helps us learn about different cultures, histories, and experiences. It can open our minds and make us think about things in new ways. By reading literature, we can gain a deeper understanding of the world around us.

In conclusion, literature is a powerful mirror that reflects society. It helps us see the world from different perspectives and understand it better. So, let’s keep reading and learning from the mirror of society – literature.

500 Words Essay on Literature As The Mirror Of Society

Literature is a vital part of human life. It is like a mirror that reflects society. It shows us the past, the present, and even the future. It helps us understand how people live, think, and feel. This essay will explore how literature acts as a mirror of society.

Literature is a form of art that uses words to express ideas and feelings. It includes books, poems, plays, and other writings. These works are often about people, their lives, and their societies. They show us what is happening in the world around us. For example, a story about a poor farmer may show us the problems of poverty and inequality.

Reflecting Social Issues

Literature can also bring attention to social issues. Many writers use their works to highlight problems in society. They write about things like racism, sexism, and corruption. These stories can make us think about these issues and encourage us to find solutions. For instance, the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee shows us the problem of racial injustice.

Showing Cultural Values

Literature also reflects the values and beliefs of a society. It shows us what people think is important. This can be seen in the way characters act and the choices they make. For example, in a society that values bravery, the heroes of stories are often brave and courageous.

Changing with Society

As society changes, so does literature. New stories are written that reflect new ideas and experiences. This can be seen in the way literature has changed over time. In the past, most stories were about kings and queens. Now, many stories are about ordinary people and their lives. This shows how society has become more democratic.

In conclusion, literature is a mirror of society. It reflects the world around us, showing us both its beauty and its flaws. It helps us understand other people and cultures. It makes us think about social issues and encourages us to find solutions. By reading literature, we can learn about society and our place in it. So, let’s read more and understand our world better.

This essay is a short journey through the wide world of literature and its connection with society. It only scratches the surface of this deep topic. There is so much more to explore and learn. But hopefully, it has given you a good start. So, keep reading, keep learning, and keep exploring. The world of literature is waiting for you.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Essay on Light Pollution
Essay on Light Bulb’s Impact On The World
Essay on Lifestyle Diseases

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

'I married myself in £4k wedding ceremony - trolls call me a narcissist but I'm just confident'

Body positivity influencer Danni says she is 'not going to apologise' for loving herself or showing off her wedding - where she spoke vows to her reflection in a mirror

Body image coach and influencer Danni, from Florida, spent thousands on a wedding to marry herself

11:16, 4 Apr 2024
Updated 11:25, 4 Apr 2024

Meet the woman who is so confident and unapologetically happy with who she is, that she spent thousands on a wedding to marry herself.

Body image coach and body positivity influencer Danni, who lives in Los Angeles, US , had a traditional wedding ceremony in many ways - inviting her family and friends, held a bouquet, and read out vows - but, when she got to the end of the aisle she looked into a large mirror, ready to make a marriage commitment to her reflection.

Danni insists she "dreamed" of marrying herself since being a little girl; she never understood the idea of a man walking you down the aisle and told YouTube's Love Don't Judge that weddings were all about the bride. The Florida-born woman, who spent $4,000 [£3,159] on her wedding to herself, insists she is not a narcissist but is "just confident" - despite what people think.

Danni said before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she wanted to marry herself for the wedding and a marriage - but after the difficult period she found it had a deeper meaning - self love. She went on a "journey of self love" and made decisions to improve her wellbeing - from quitting drinking to seeking therapy.

Danni explained: "I spent a lot of quality time with myself, taking myself on dates. Just really finding out what I like." She came up with the idea to marry herself before Covid but didn't have her ceremony until 2022. She added: "My wedding was all about releasing the things that stopped me from loving myself. I am not hurting anybody."

"When I got to the alter it was super emotional," she said. The bride, who was walked down the aisle by her nephew, had a a mirror placed at the end of the aisle which she looked into as she said her vows, then shared a kiss with her reflection. Her supportive family and friends celebrated with her.

However, her unusual ceremony has been met with a lot of critcism after she openly shared it online and spoke out on TV. One commenter said: "This is the dumbest, most narcissistic c*** I've ever seen!" Danni said: "The most hurtful comment I experienced online was people saying that I had to marry myself because no one would want me.

"What messages are we sending people of size that they are unlovable, that they are unworthy? That's not true, I can get married to a man tomorrow!" But Danni chooses to focus on herself, and the inspiration she can give to others."

Danni, who describes herself as a "fly girl", has admitted that being in a romantic relationship with someone is very different to being in a self-love relationship with yourself. "I have dated in the past but none of those people lived up to those expectations," she admitted.

She hopes to also have a romantic marriage someday and has been going on dates. For now, her main goal is to inspire others to love themselves.

"I love myself and I am not going to apologise for it," she added. "I will continue to inspire women and show little girls that loving themselves is the most beautiful thing they can do."

Do you have a relationship story? Get in touch via [email protected].

MORE ON Marriage Relationships Special relationship Weddings Body image

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What the Mirror Can Teach You About Yourself: Advice from a Mirror
1. Set the space and intention. Choose a well-lit distraction-free space where you can position a mirror so that it's freestanding and you can see into your eyes without straining or leaning forward. Sit on a meditation cushion or on a chair with both feet on the ground. Set a timer for 10 minutes.
Personal Reflection Essay
It cannot give me a right answer, so I have to reply the questions by myself. "Siyang, I think you are at least not ugly.". The "self" in the mirror says. I am satisfied with my appearance that my parents give me and make up by my BB cream, eyes shadow, dress and shoes. Thanks to people's criterion about beauty, I pay more attention ...
Essay on Mirror for Students
100 Words Essay on Mirror Mirror: A Reflection of Reality. A mirror is a smooth surface, typically glass coated with a metal amalgam, that reflects light. It gives us a clear, exact image of ourselves or any object placed in front of it. The Magic of Mirrors. Mirrors are magical! They can make a room appear larger, brighter, and more open.
Reflection Of A Mirror
The reflection in a mirror changes the instant life does, it blinks so fast that you can't catch it, it stares only when you look at it, and turns its back on you the moment you do. The mirror only holds life when someone stands before it, without oneself it serves no purpose, its one and only purpose was to tell you, through reflection, what ...
Looking in the Mirror: My Journey to Self-Love
You are beautiful; this I promise you. One day, I hope to love every part of me. And every day, I work very hard to bring myself closer to that goal. Every day, I make an active choice to look in the mirror and see someone I love in its reflection. I challenge you to do the same. Look in the mirror and don't look away.
The Reflection of My Mirror
Featured Essays Essays on the Radio; Special Features; ... If you look at yourself as a reflective transparent MIRROR, you will come to a better understanding of who you are. If you approach others as you would approach yourself in your own shower, your reflection of who you are has now been revealed and opened to those who can now see inside ...
The Mirror: A Reflection of Self
The ultimate purpose of the other as a mirror is to remind us of our higher potential, to reveal who, in essence, we are. Through their reflection we discover the essential and transformative qualities we need to develop to become whole and fulfilled, to grow and expand. In other words, the other is key on our journey to self realization.
Mirror. It's Not Just A Reflection. It's Your Reflection
Mirrors are a powerful tool for self-reflection. They are tools for generating compassion and love. As we spend more time alone and on our devices, we are missing out on this aspect of mirrors.
Mirror Reflection
This reflective essay will be adopted from Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper's (2001) reflection model. ... The reflection in a mirror changes the instant life does, it blinks so fast that you can't catch it, it stares only when you look at it, and turns its back on you the moment you do. The mirror only holds life when someone stands before it ...
Mirror: Reflections of Truth Essay
Mirror: Reflections of Truth Essay. In Sylvia Plath's poem "Mirror", the reader takes a look into the messages presented and compares them with the reflections that are cast in a mirror and images in a lake. When reading this poem, we discover that the speaker is the actual reflection that gives the interpretation of its views.
How to Write a Reflective Essay
How to Write a Reflective Essay. If you think that a "reflective essay" is a college paper written on a mirror, this post is for you. That's because we're here to explain exactly what a reflective essay is and how to write one. And we can tell you from the outset that no mirrors are required to follow our advice. Mirrors are for kittens.
10 of the Best Poems about Mirrors and Reflections
Below, we've selected ten of the finest poems about mirrors and reflections. William Shakespeare, ' Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest '. One of the earliest sonnets in Shakespeare's sonnet sequence - it's third in the sequence, in fact - 'Look in thy Glass' sees Shakespeare trying to convince the Fair Youth to ...
Mirror Image: Reflection and Refraction of Light
A mirror image is the result of light rays bounding off a reflective surface. Reflection and refraction are the two main aspects of geometric optics.
My Reflection in the Mirror: A Short Story
Natural light entered the attic from a small window. As I worked, a burst of sunlight broke through the grey clouds and hit the mirror. Something sparkling on my sweater in my reflection caught my eye. I looked closely and saw to my amazement that my reflection was wearing an opal brooch edged with gold.
Personal Essay: Mirror, Mirror On The Wall
Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all? Day in and day out, I would ponder and contemplate this question. I would stand in the mirror, my reflection glaring back at me. I scoured every inch of my face, doting on big pores or an oily patch. I was consciously aware of my stance, my face, and the way I looked at each given moment.
Mirrors and reflections: Nathaniel Hawthorne
All the mirror images and reflections are used to reveal the character's true intentions and magnify their imperfections. This stresses the topics of sin, evil, humanity, and the Puritan society. Roger Chillingworth's transformation, Dimmesdale's helplessness, and the exaggeration of the scarlet letter all present the themes of evil and sin.
How to Write a Reflection Paper in 5 Steps (plus Template and Sample Essay)
Use these 5 tips to write a thoughtful and insightful reflection paper. 1. Answer key questions. To write a reflection paper, you need to be able to observe your own thoughts and reactions to the material you've been given. A good way to start is by answering a series of key questions. For example:
Mirror By Sylvia Plath: Free Essay Example, 1311 words
Topic: Literature Review, Poetry, Sylvia Plath. Pages: 3 (1311 words) Views: 2023. Grade: 4.8. Download. "Mirror, Mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all?" was asked by the Evil Queen in the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty. The Evil Queen uses the mirror to assure herself of her beauty. Mirror symbolizes ritual reflection, image ...
mirror reflection
The La Belle Époque era erupted a series of self-reflecting questions such as the ones mentioned above. A prominent symbol of the La Belle Époque era, mirrors sought to bring forth the answers. Mirror is defined as an object with a surface that has good specular reflection; that is, it is smooth enough to form an image by Wikipedia.
Jia Tolentino's Trick Mirror, reviewed: a penetrating book of essays on
The strongest pieces in Trick Mirror have to do with the commodification of the self. Tolentino recalls appearing in a short-lived reality TV show when she was 16. (She really is a case study in ...
From "Facing the Mirror: An Essay"
SELF-SEPARATION IS A MIRROR WITH WHAT HAVE I DONE. In many cases, people with severe dissociative disorders experience discomfort and disorientation when they look at themselves in the mirror. They are unlikely to see a predictable reflection due to the mutability of self-image in multiple personality disorder1. What the subject sees in
Essay on Literature As The Mirror Of Society for Students
In conclusion, literature is a mirror of society. It reflects the life, culture, and human nature of different times and places. By reading literature, we can learn a lot about society and ourselves. 250 Words Essay on Literature As The Mirror Of Society Introduction. Literature often acts like a mirror, reflecting the society we live in.
'I married myself in £4k wedding ceremony
Danni said before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she wanted to marry herself for the wedding and a marriage - but after the difficult period she found it had a deeper meaning - self love.