The Lady in the Looking Glass

A looking glass is a mode of viewing a scene or a person and is an established metaphor in Western literature, representative of visions of the reflected or perceived self, both internally and externally. The English 1920s diction “looking glass,” as opposed to the US-usage/modern-usage “mirror,” speaks to its power as an image for seeing, and creates the conceit of the story.

The looking glass physically serves as a reflection and a vantage point from which the narrator can see part of a house, not only the room they are in but a glimpse of life outside that space. The narrator is irresistibly drawn to gazing into the mirror: “one could not help looking,” creating a suggestion of voyeurism. The looking glass is a springboard to negotiate the confines of the real and imagined: The story sets up as “real” those things that are viewed in the mirror and the room, and those things as conjectured that are outside its visible world. In the world of the narrative, however, the things encapsulated in the mirror are less revealing than the imagined world outside it, the rich possibilities of life’s experience that give the story its interest.