Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion

Tolentino's combination of first-person narrative with larger social analyses highlights that politics and social movements have profound effects on the individual. Tolentino does this in three ways. First, as in "Reality TV Me," she presents a primary personal narrative, which she then contextualizes within larger social trends. Second, as in "Ecstasy" and "I Thee Dread," she uses her personal experience as a starting point from which she analyzes wider movements. Finally, as in "The Story of a Generation in Seven Scams," she focuses primarily on events and the contexts that led to them, weaving in her own experience as illustration.

The inseparability of these spheres appears in the forms as well as in the content of the essays: notably, Tolentino's discussion of how individuals react to trends, ideas, and policies that affect women and American society as a whole. In "We Come from Old Virginia," for example, the broader discussion of campus rape centers around Jackie's story and the forces that might have compelled her to fabricate parts of it. At the same time, Tolentino is careful to explore how the same issue affected other women differently: notably Liz Seccuro, but also Frances and others. 

Tolentino builds on this theme by elaborating on her own experiences extensively.