Mirror Sylvia Path Analysis

Sylvia Path’s poem “Mirror” is about a woman maturing with time, and the mirror is the self-reflecting proof to her into finding the truth. She is faced with life’s inconsistencies and the mirror is the only thing to her that does not hide the truth, but actually reveals it to her, even though she may not want to face it. The second stanza portrays the mirror as a lake. The woman sees herself aging, and does not like what she sees. The overall representation of the poem is that the mirror only gives a reflection, and the person being reflected is the only one who is judging. Women are proven to be more appearance driven because of the harsh judgmental society. Many studies have shown that women are more judgmental of appearances then men. William …show more content…
In the last half of the poem she becomes insecure because she knows she is getting older and does not like where she is at in life. When a person is insecure about something they tend to hide the thing they are insecure about. Humans also avoid certain things so their insecurities are not shown. Humans are great at picking out other people’s insecurities because we can notice if someone is avoiding or trying to hide something. It all comes from the appearance of an individual and what they do under certain circumstances. When she looks at her reflection through the lake she realizes she is getting older and no longer the young girl she once was. The verse “she rewards me with tears and agitation of hands”(Path, 579) shows that she did not turn into the woman she wanted to be. Time went on and she does not like her older appearance. A reflection is the only way for an individual to see them as others see them. She believes that the mirror gives the only realistic view of who she is. The mirror points out her insecurities just like another person would which makes her …show more content…
Facial expressions are the main key into finding out the emotion of another person. The woman is extremely saddened by the fact she is no longer the young beautiful person she used to be. Sylvia Path gave the mirror humanlike characteristics in the poem, which made it seem like another human was judging the woman. “Its humanlike traits give the woman a reason for trusting in it for self-reflection” (Tucker, 1). The woman got upset to the point of tears because of the humanlike traits of the mirror. The mirror noticed the emotional status of the woman and knew why she was upset. The actions of an individual are also observed into telling what type of mood a person is in. The reflection showed that the woman was crying, and an “agitation of hands” proved that the woman was nervous because of what she saw in her reflection. If an individual is yelling, then they are probably angry. The woman cried and put up her hands shaking with anxiety because she was sad and nervous that she is not the young beautiful girl she used to