The title of Lucille Clifton’s “What the Mirror Said” resembles a parallel to the story of Snow White. The Evil Queen constantly looks into her mirror and asks it whom is the fairest in the land; the answer usually points to her, but one day it mentions that a younger woman that is even more beautiful. This poem may take the form of either the Evil Queen, having her self-confidence snatched away from her after years of assurance or of Snow White, a woman who was deemed because of both her appearance and behavior to be the fairest in the land. In lines seven through nine, the narrator states, “Listen, somebody need a map to understand you.” The mirror is likely reflecting a woman’s typical thoughts of herself; women are generally seen as indecisive
