Reflections Through the Looking Glass Essay Example for Free

Reflections Through the Looking Glass Essay Gazing at who the world perceives me to be†¦..A hesitant glance, my mind is flooded with questions. Who am I? Is this reflection a true representation of me? The looking glass offers up an image. An image that I know not to be true. It is a temporary snapshot of, supposedly, who I am. Am I to believe that this blunt and uncomfortably â€Å"honest† silver artist truly portrays ME, and all those that make use of the looking glass? It occurs to me that maybe it is not what one sees in the reflection that defines who I am, but rather what I feel. Sadly the reflection can be misused. We so often search for not who we are but who we want to be. The looking glass can begin to form part of an addiction to some and just like all other addictions, it damages the user. This ritual becomes, in some ways the source of a self-inflicted pain. Instead of pain in a physical sense, it takes its toll on one’s self esteem. I think that we all experience this at some stage in our lives where we simply loath that which is reflected in the mirror and feel pressured to change our image so as to fulfil the supposed requirements of society. In Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Mirror’ she describes the arrogance of a woman’s mirror. In the last two lines she describes how the mirror has changed her self-perception and how she has aged. â€Å"In me (the mirror) she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman rises toward her, day after day, like a terrible fish.† I believe that Sylvia Plath’s poem addresses our concern with our outward appearance. However I think that, like in this poem, as in society, the most important aspect of one’s reflection is not made clear. We need to realise that our outward appearance is not all that the looking glass reflects, for indeed, if we look deeper, beyond the physical bonds of the looking glass, the heart becomes clear, for it is the reflection of our heart on the silver that truly defines who we are Don’t become a prisoner to the bondage of the looking glass. The only true facets of you are absent in the echo of the reflection. Shatter the glass with your inner truth and be liberated to see beyond the silver reflection – into your heart, where the Glory of God resonates the truth of who you are and let the shattered lies of the looking glass tumble into a heap of debris where they belong!