What It Is
The mirror is the object in which Vitangelo Moscarda seeks what he does not find: the stranger others see in him and that he has never seen. There is the street mirror, in which he is surprised walking and does not recognize himself; the wardrobe mirror in the bedroom, where he conducts the experiment with his eyes closed; the mirrors of the whole house, in front of which he makes faces while waiting for his wife to leave; Anna Rosa's little mirror, in which Anna Rosa studies smiles; and, at the end, the mirror he stops looking for. The novel begins with a mirror, in which the nose is observed, and ends with his refusal of it. In between, the object changes function: an instrument of investigation, a partner in play, a lesson for another person, a thing to avoid.
Where It Appears
In ch. III of Book I, wanting to be alone, Vitangelo notices that there is no mirror in the study and that he needs one: he wants neither company nor silence, he wants an object in which to look.
Nel mio scrittojo non c’erano specchi. Io avevo bisogno d’uno specchio., there were no mirrors in my study. I needed a mirror.
In ch. IV of Book I, walking and talking with Firbo, he is suddenly surprised by his own reflection in a street mirror, does not recognize himself, and sees a stranger walk by, talking. He then discovers that in front of any mirror spontaneity comes to an end.
Quando mi ponevo davanti a uno specchio, avveniva come un arresto in me; ogni spontaneità era finita, ogni mio gesto appariva a me stesso fittizio o rifatto. Io non potevo vedermi vivere., whenever I stood before a mirror, something like a halt came over me; all spontaneity was over, every gesture of mine appeared to me fictitious or redone. I could not see myself live.
In ch. V of Book I he makes faces in front of every mirror in the house, to catch himself being natural, and discovers that real emotion would cease the instant he saw it. In ch. VII of Book I, with his eyes closed and his hands out in front of him, he goes to the glass of the wardrobe to present the body to the mirror as if it were a stranger's, and formulates the method the novel uses to state the problem:
Il mio sforzo supremo deve consistere in questo: di non vedermi in me, ma d’essere veduto da me, con gli occhi miei stessi ma come se fossi un altro: quell’altro che tutti vedono e io no., my supreme effort must consist in this: not to see myself in me, but to be seen by myself, with my own eyes but as if I were another: that other whom everyone sees and I do not.
The body that appears, after the cry at the reflection, belongs to no one:
Chi era? Niente era. Nessuno. Un povero corpo mortificato, in attesa che qualcuno se lo prendesse., who was it? It was nothing. No one. A poor mortified body, waiting for someone to take it for himself.
In ch. II of Book IV the madness that the experiment gives him is described with the image of the object: fresh and clear consciousness, lucid and precise as a mirror. In ch. III of Book VI, the morning after the shove to Dida, Vitangelo winks at the Moscarda in the wardrobe mirror and sees him wink back. A moment later the reflection is already another, for him too:
Mi guardai allo specchio dell’armadio con irresistibile confidenza fino a strizzare un occhio per significare a quel Moscarda là che noi due intanto c’intendevamo a maraviglia. E anche lui, per dire la verità, subito mi strizzò l’occhio, a confermare l’intesa., I looked at the wardrobe mirror with irresistible confidence, to the point of winking one eye to tell that Moscarda there that the two of us, for the time being, understood each other wonderfully well. And he too, to tell the truth, immediately winked back, to confirm our understanding.
In ch. VIII of Book VII Anna Rosa studies a pitying, tender smile in her little mirror and remakes it for him. Vitangelo reacts by saying it is not her mirror, and teaches her what the object cost him:
Lei non vuole che il suo sentimento sia cieco. Lo obbliga ad aprir gli occhi e a vedersi in uno specchio che gli mette sempre davanti. E il sentimento, subito come si vede, le si gela. Non si può vivere davanti a uno specchio., she does not want her feeling to be blind. She forces it to open its eyes and see itself in a mirror that she always holds up before it. And the feeling, as soon as it sees itself, freezes within her. One cannot live in front of a mirror.
In ch. IV of Book VIII, in the almshouse, he no longer looks at himself in a mirror, and it does not even occur to him to want to know what has happened to his face.
Non mi sono più guardato in uno specchio, e non mi passa neppure per il capo di voler sapere che cosa sia avvenuto della mia faccia e di tutto il mio aspetto. Quello che avevo per gli altri dovette apparir molto mutato e in un modo assai buffo, a giudicare dalla maraviglia e dalle risate con cui fui accolto., I have not looked at myself in a mirror since, and it does not even cross my mind to want to know what has happened to my face and to my whole appearance. What I had for others must have seemed very changed, and in a rather comical way, judging by the astonishment and laughter with which I was greeted.
What It Means
The mirror is the machine that reproduces the novel's thesis: no one sees himself live. Before it, life stops, the gesture becomes a pose, and what appears is a body that could belong to anyone, waiting for someone to take it. What makes it a symbol and not merely an object is Vitangelo's changing relationship with it. At first it is desire (he needs one, ch. III of Book I), then a tool (faces, the experiment, ch. V of Book I and ch. VII of Book I), then complicity (the wink, ch. III of Book VI), and finally lesson and abandonment (ch. VIII of Book VII and ch. IV of Book VIII). At each step, what the mirror gives back is the same thing seen from another angle: the fixed image that Identity demands, and that Appearance and reality shows not to be the person.
The mirror is also the object of Solitude and isolation: Vitangelo seeks it to be alone, and he is alone precisely when he looks. The novel's ending, in which he never looks at himself again, can be read in two ways. In one, it is the end of fear: the man no longer needs proof that he still has a form, and he lives. In the other, it is the refusal of any proof, and the life that remains is that of someone who no longer answers for a face. The text supports both. Anna Rosa's scene (ch. VIII of Book VII) links the mirror to the life not lived, and the one in ch. IV of Book VIII shows it in reverse: whoever does not look at himself also does not fix himself.
Relationships
- Standard themes: Identity, Appearance and reality, Solitude and isolation.
- Themes in the work: Identity, Appearance and reality, Solitude and isolation.
- Characters: Vitangelo Moscarda, Anna Rosa, Firbo.
- Related symbols: the nose, which the mirror reveals, and Gengè, which the mirror undoes.