Mirror Imagery in "Surfacing" Anonymous 11th Grade

To truly delve into Margaret Atwood's Surfacing, a reader must understand the symbolic meaning of a mirror in the novel as well as on its function as an object of symbolisation itself implemented through the characters, their interrelations, and faculties of mind, such as memory and perception. After an examination of mirror as a physical object in the novel, this paper proceeds to provide an interpretation of its figurative meaning. By contrast, the second part of the essay attends to the abstract representation of mirror manifesting itself through the relationship between the main character and her partner as well as through protagonist’s own perception of herself. The final part of the present work aims to apply the conclusions made in the previous paragraphs of the analysis to the ending and title of the novel.

In their study on the role of duality in Atwood’s works, Constance Classen and David Howes make a remark of “her frequent references to mirrors”, which may be found in a variety of writer’s poems and novels [1] (par. 2). In Surfacing, the image, too, becomes incorporated into the plot, thoroughly imbued with a symbolic meaning. This becomes most evident at the end of the novel as the protagonist, at the peak of her...