Man’s tendency to dismiss the inevitable truth about his
declining age and waning attractiveness is the central idea in the poem
“Mirror.”
The mirror reflects the true image of the woman
to her, but she is not ready to accept that she is no longer an attractive young girl,
but an aged woman. “Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon” to look at
herself in their borrowed glow.
Still, the mirror reflects
her face “faithfully.” When her attempts to disprove the truth of her age fail, she
breaks down in tears of frustration.
It is human nature to
dismiss the truth about the ugly and unpleasant aspects of our lives. We often indulge
in useless attempts to deceive ourselves, as the woman does in the poem, and it brings
us nothing but frustration.
The mirror may be further
explained to stand for anything that acquaints us with the hard truth. The moon and the
candles might too be interpreted as anything through which we try to disown reality. But
the truth never subsides or changes.
Thus, the poet seems
to be suggesting to us to come to terms with the reality of our lives. Doing so, we'll
be able to make better decisions for the future and overcome unnecessary frustration.
This is the central idea of Sylvia Path's poem "Mirror."
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