The themes of this short story include jealousy, obsession with narcissism and the emergence of another identity. In this short story, jealousy is displayed when Monica has the narrator choose between the real her and the Monica in the mirror. In the story, “Once, she said, “You know, sometimes I think you like me better there”—she pointed to a mirror—“than here”—she pointed to herself. She said it teasingly, with a little laugh, but in her look was an anxious question.” The Monica in the mirror was described in this excerpt: “a fresh Monica, a vibrant Monica, a Monica with a glow of pleasure in her face. She was dressed in clothes that no longer seemed a little drab, a little elderly, but were handsomely understated, seductively restrained.” The real Monica is depicted in the excerpt “Not for a moment did the mirror make her look young, or beautiful, for she was not young and she was not beautiful. But it was as if some inner constriction had dissolved, some sense of her drifting gradually into unhappiness.” Jealousy is what drove the…
The useful may be trusted to further itself, for many produce it and no one can do without it; but the beautiful must be specially encouraged, for few can present it, while yet all have need of it. Beauty does not lie in the face. It lies in the harmony between a person and his or her industry. Beauty is expression. Lucy Grealy’s book Autobiography of a Face takes a deep look at the societal stereotypes and perceptions. At the end of her book she writes “Society is no help. It tells us again and again that we can most be ourselves by acting and looking like someone else , only to leave our original faces behinds to turn in ghosts that will inevitably resent and haunt us” (pg. 222). This passage is in the conclusions; because through her experience she was face with the social and cultural expectation Grealy’s life after her cancer was filled taunts and stares from strangers. These judgments made Grealy very concerned with the perception of how others saw her.…
No matter one’s career choice, family life, ethnicity, or culture, finding and owning one’s personal identity is a persistent struggle that can last an entire lifetime. One is surrounded by media and messages feigning “the perfect life” which begin to consume one’s thoughts with “what if’s” or “if only’s”. Lucy Grealy struggles with defining her self-image in her autobiography, Autobiography of a Face. Throughout Grealy’s accounts of her battle with cancer, bullies, and her self-esteem, readers get a raw, painful, yet incredibly relatable look into the elements that can contribute to self-image. In writing Autobiography of a Face, Grealy leaves readers with a chilling lesson: only readers themselves, not family, peers, the media or society, can choose how to define their lives. One must choose wisely and continually combat the world’s messages, for self-image can set the stage for one’s entire life.…
Ronald Takaki is one of the foremost-recognized scholars of multicultural studies and holds a PhD. in American History from the University of California, Berkeley. As a professor of Ethnic Studies at the same university, he wrote A Different Mirror: a History of Multicultural America as a fantastic new telling of our nation’s history. The book narrates the composition of the many different people of the United States of America.…
This interview with Thalia Zuniga compose of ideas of how makeup is expressive of a person’s individuality, how makeup is introduced, its relations with insecurities, and if it is considered an artistic form. In addition, she comments that makeup is a perfect way to express yourself differently, she believes that it helps boost a person’s confidence, and she argues that makeup is composed of a mixture of a lack of confidence and an artistic talent. The overall point of Ms. Zuniga is that makeup is both an art and a cover up of insecurities and that it is a confidence booster. Nevertheless, Ms. Zuniga provides a strong belief of makeup being both an art and a lack of confidence and the thought of it being an expressive act of showing the world…
Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror is about as entertaining as a history book can get or should be. Tuchman is a captivating storyteller and the quality of her history of France in the 14th century speaks for itself as the book has remained in print after 25 years. Famous for her engaging, narrative style that makes history flow like a thrilling novel, Tuchman presents a comprehensive review of 14th century Europe (via France, the dominant European power of the Middle Ages). She emphasizes three main events that dominate the lives of Europeans in the 14th century: the Plague, the Hundred Years' War and the Papal Schism. Despite this large-scale vision, she also succeeds in bringing this "distant mirror" as close to the reader as possible.…
The protagonist of the story, Connie, is a vain, “typical” teenage girl, looking for attention, especially from the opposite sex. Constantly “…craning her neck to glance in mirrors” (614), she often considered her appearance and how she looked to others to be a matter of extreme, if not most, importance.…
Appearance is the first sign of identity and personality that a person shows. The majority of the people are used to judge by appearance instead of personality, but what happens when our personality and appearance are directly connected? Most of us would think that our body and our identity are somehow contradictory, but the reality is another. Our body and identity are both shaped by the media and influenced by some other elements of our society: friends, place, and education. We reflect what we think it is correct in the opinions of others. This idea is expanded and explained in two essays: "The Story of My Body" written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, and "Never Just Pictures" by Susan Bordo.…
At first, it may seem shallow to care a whole lot about one’s appearance, but according to Daniel Akst’s essay “What Meets the Eye”, we learn that in many ways, appearances actually serve as a source of inequality. In his expository piece, Akst probes into the importance of appearances in our society today; he explores the role that beauty plays in everyday life and and how it influences society. Akst makes numerous interesting discoveries on the role of appearances in society, but several of his arguments don’t seem to be well-argued.…
From this asymmetrical preservation of values, arises the most endangering form of despairing nihilism wherein man desperately clings to non-being, as a valueless relic of “an old interpretation that has become incomprehensible, that is now itself only a sign”(604), out of a subconscious fear of contradiction, even though it necessarily results in their own annihilation. Nihilism ends up becoming the ultimate sacrifice for the law of non-contradiction: “the belief in … aim- and meaninglessness, is the psychologically necessary affect once the belief in God and an essentially moral order becomes untenable … one interpretation has collapsed; but because it was considered the interpretation it now seems as there if there were no meaning at all in existence, as if everything were in vain”(55). It is for this reason that “not being able to contradict is proof of an incapacity, not of "truth"(515). Conserving this dead language, man can only speak in devalued, hollow words or in negations. In a world view where becoming is unintelligible, and the categories of “being” and “non-being”, or non-existence, form a mutually exclusive exhaustive ontology under which may be subsumed all existing entities, the…
I’ve tried to run, I’ve tried to hide To run and hide is all I’ve tried But with nowhere for me to go This lonely life is all I know I’ve tried to hide this lonely life By telling everyone these lies It is dark and lonely so I run From all I wish I could become…
Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define it for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life. (191) Your new identity will protect you from the world precisely because it is not “you”; it is a costume you put on and take off. You need not take it personally. And your new identity sets you apart, gives you theatrical presences. Those in the back rows can see you and hear you. Those in the front rows marvel at your audacity. (195)…
Society can take over the way people see themselves. In Marge Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll,” a young girl was judged for her looks and being herself. Due to this young girl’s strong mind set, she tried to stay true to herself, but could only handle so much pressure. Throughout her entire life, she was being compared to a symbolic perfect Barbie Doll who had the beautiful cosmetic fixed face that everyone imagines girls to be, and the irony of how pretty everyone thought she was on her deathbed demonstrated how the standards in society make people second guess who they really are.…
Purpose: I have chosen to write this because this topic proposes a serious problem in my generation, which is continually debated and scrutinized by the media, as our perception of appearance becomes distorted, so does our perception of reality.…
“Our preoccupation with fame is at least partly explained by our immersion in a media-saturated world that constantly tells us, as Braudy described it, “we should [be famous] if we possibly can, because it is the best, perhaps the only, way to be.””(Chaudhry 635) While a lot of people are fascinated by the self-expression and democracy facilitated by the new technology that is constantly being developed in society today in this new blogger democracy, Lakshmi Chaudhry published an article titled “Mirror, Mirror On the Web” to argue how the medias have rapidly evolved into tools for one to become famous. She is worried that self-expression has fallen effortlessly into self-promotion. The media culture made people; especially the young people’s appetite for being seen and getting renowned become stronger than ever before.…