Virginia Woolf--The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection p1224

This reading was fascinating to me because it held so much truth in it. The first sentence really caught my attention: “People should not leave looking-glasses hanging in their rooms any more than they should leave open cheque books or letters confessing some hideous crime.” From this sentence, I could tell that this was not going to be about looking in the mirror and seeing only the outward appearance….the clothes, the makeup, or the hairstyle; But this looking-glass was one that would look within and see the heart and soul of the individual.
The beginning of the passage begins with just setting the scene; describing some of the things that are around in the room. This really made me kind of anxious…because I wanted to know who would be the one that would appear in the looking glass, and what will they see. But I think that setting the scene was important for a few reasons. For one, it allowed to reader to know that this was not an ordinary place, but seemed to be a house of someone wealthy, someone who had it all (at least all the material things). It seems like an empty place, because up to this point, no one has been seen. Then we are told where the occupant of the house is:

“Half an hour ago the mistress of the house, Isabella Tyson, had gone down the grass path in her thin summer dress, carrying a basket, and had vanished, sliced off by the gilt rim of the looking-glass. She had gone presumably into the lower garden to pick flowers.” (p1225)

After her introduction, then we begin to learn more about her. She is a rich woman who has many friends (or so it seems). She probably enjoys all the finer things in life. So first it seems like there is nothing more this woman could as for.

“She was thinking, perhaps, that she must order a new net for the strawberries; that she must send flowers to Johnson’s widow; that it was time she drove over to see the Hippesleys in their new house. Those were the things she talked about at dinner certainly. But one was tired of the things that she talked about at dinner…At the mention of those words it became obvious, surely, that she must be happy. She was rich; she was distinguished; she had many friends; she travelled—she bought rugs in Turkey and blue pots in Persia.” (p1227)

This woman is able to put on a smile and have superficial conversations with her friends over dinner.
But when she is alone is when we find out who she really is and how she really feels:

“At last there she was, in the hall. She stopped dead. She stood by the table. She stood perfectly still. At once the looking-glass began to pour over her a light that seemed fix her; that seemed like some acid to bite off the unessential and superficial and to leave only the truth. It was an enthralling spectacle. Everything dropped for her—clouds, dress, basket, diamond—all that one had called the creeper and convolvulus. Here was the hard wall beneath. Here was woman herself. He stood naked in the pitiless light. And, there was nothing. Isabella was perfectly empty. He had no thoughts. She had no friends. She cared for nobody. As for her letters, they were all bills. Look, as she stood there, old and angular, veined and lined, with her high nose and her wrinkled neck, she did not even trouble to open them. People should not leave looking-glasses hanging in their rooms”

I think that this narration was really powerful. It really illustrates how materials things can’t buy happiness. It also shows how easy it is to pretend to be happy on the outside, even though that’s not the real feelings on the inside. I felt like I could really relate to this story on that part. Sometimes I’ve had to go out in public and put on a smile when I didn’t want to. I can really imagine how hard it was for this woman to go through everyday pretending not to have a care in the world, when inside there was something missing. Overall, I think that it really spoke to me that I should always examine myself at the end of the day—to peer into the looking-glass and see what’s inside, and if I’m happy with what I see.