The Mirror

3 ideas

1. Jacobina's blurred reflection without uniform

   Jacobina, a poor 25-year-old newly commissioned as a National Guard ensign, stays at his aunt's remote farm, where everyone calls him only 'senhor alferes' and a grand mirror is installed in his room. When the aunt leaves and the slaves flee, he is alone for days, and his reflection appears vague, diffuse and incomplete, as if he were dissolving. Only when he puts on the ensign's uniform does the mirror show him whole again, so he dresses in it daily to sit before the glass and keep himself intact.

2. The exterior soul completes the self

   Every person has two souls: an interior one that looks outward, and an exterior one that looks inward from outside, located in a role, object, person or other people's regard. The two halves together make a complete human being. Losing the exterior soul can mean losing half of one's existence, and for some people all of it.

3. A social role can consume the person

   Constant external validation of a title does not just decorate a self; it replaces it. In Jacobina's case the ensign eliminated the man, so once the audience that sustained the role disappeared, nothing interior remained to hold his identity together. Self-worth that is outsourced to others' recognition collapses when the recognition stops.

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