The Mirror

The Mirror

Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow.. 

1. ‘most of the time i meditate on the opposite wall

It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long

I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.

Faces and darkness separate us over and over. ’

I. How does ‘I’ meditate on the opposite wall?

‘I’ the mirror is fixed permanently on a wall. So it rests there day and

night and absorbing the pink wall that is opposite it. It seems that

since it is in this state so it is involved in contemplation or deep

thinking.

II. How has the wall become a part of the speaker?

The mirror is a permanent fixture on the wall. This close association

makes the mirror feel that it has become a part of the wall.

III. Explain: ‘But it flickers’

By ‘it’ the mirror means the wall on which the mirror has been fixed.

When people move past the mirror it is not able to see the opposite

wall so it says that the image flickers.

2. ‘She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.

I am important to her. She comes and goes.

Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.’

I. Why does ‘she’ come there often?

She comes there often to see her face reflected in the mirror.

II. What is her reaction on seeing her image?

She cries on seeing her aged face as she was a beautiful woman in

her youth. She knows that she cannot get back to being young and

beautiful again.

III. Explain ‘agitation of hands’

She moves her hands convulsively or wrings them in an effort to

control her anger, sadness and agitation.

3. ‘I am important to her. She comes and goes

in me she has drowned young girl, and in me an old woman

Rises towards her day after day like a terrible fish’

I. How is the mirror important to her?

The mirror is her constant companion.

II. Explain ‘in me she has drowned a young girl’

The woman has lost her youth and the beauty that is associated

with it.

III. Mention the figure of speech in the last line.

Simile

The woman who has lost her youth and beauty is compared to

dead fish. Just as dead fish rise to the surface and float so does the

fact that she has aged continue to barge her senses.

Answer the following (short answers). 

1. Why does the mirror appear to be a lake in the second stanza?

What aspect of the mirror is being referred to here?

The mirror appears to be a lake because it reflects the image of the

woman objectively like a mirror. The dispassionate and objective

reflection of the mirror is intensified in it because it has depth as its

third dimension. 2. How does the narrator convey the fact that the woman looking at

her reflection in the lake is deeply distressed?

The woman looking at her reflection has tears in her eyes and her

hands move agitatedly showing her feelings of distress. She turns

away from the reflection towards the dim light of the moon and

candles.

3. What makes the woman start crying?

The woman looks at her reflection in the lake. When she sees that

she has aged and is no longer as young and beautiful she feels

distressed. She feels upset because she knows that aging is an

irreversible process. She will never be young and beautiful again.

This reality hits her hard and she cannot accept it. Therefore she

starts crying.

4. In the second stanza why does the poet talk about the lake? What

is the poet trying to focus on?

in the second stanza replaces the mirror as a source of reflection

by a lake which reflects more than what is on the surface. This is

done to add a third dimension of depth to the reflection of the

woman. The poet wants to convey the idea that inner beauty is as

important as outward appearance.

5. What do you think the ‘terrible fish’ in the last line symbolises? What

is the poetic device used here?

The phrase ‘terrible fish’ symbolises the ugly reality of the loss of

youth or the inevitability of aging. It is difficult for a person to

accept this loss of beauty and vigour. The sadness of this reality is

depicted as a terrible fish.

C. Long Answers 

1. Imagine you are the mirror. Write a speech that you would like to

deliver to the humans who come to see their reflection in you.

I feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to express my

feelings and share my thoughts with you. As you know all my life is

spent in faithfully reflecting all that comes before my eyes.

I reflect exactly what comes before me. I am not a liar. I am always

truthful. I do not help any of you to romanticise about themselves.

Over the years i have seen many human beings growing old. I may

be tarnished a bit and speckled. These are signs of aging and are

akin to the wrinkles on the bodies of young men and women. Many

women have come before me. They have behaved very strangely.

They have tried to see in their faces what they once had. Not

finding the beauty of their youth they have shed tears of anguish. I

understand their sense of despair but i have always wanted to be

truthful. I’m not like the candles or the moon that hide the

blemishes of aging in their soft and muted light. I feel that human

beings must accept that they will age and their bodies will wrinkle

and lose the strength and flexibility over a period of time. When

they don’t accept this change they break up as individuals and

spend their lives grieving over the inevitable.