So in the last three weeks, I have been thinking about Divergent, Lent, and “Snow White” a lot. [Your probable reaction: Wait, what? What do they have in common?]
Self-reflection.
The human condition.
Sin.
Well, being a superficial person myself at times, I ended up fixating on the idea of mirrors as regards all of these concepts. My main questions are what mirrors mean to us, how we use them, and what they reflect about us—in the literal and figurative senses both. Also, because I am a literary nerd, I wanted to know how these ideas are reflected in literature. (See what I did there?) In this post, I will analyze the use of mirrors in Divergent.
If you have read Divergent, you might remember that mirrors play a fairly important part—specifically because they don’t. (Read on, and I promise that that sentence will make sense.) The main character, Tris, is originally from the Abnegation faction, which is generally characterized by selflessness. One of the things that is especially distinctive about her faction is that the members are only allowed to look in the mirror when they get their hair cut—about once every three months, I think.
This aspect of the book is really emphasized in the movie (which is extremely well done, by the way). In the movie, Tris’s simulations—induced hallucinations that create situations to which Tris must respond in order to learn to conquer her fears or behave in specific ways—are characterized by mirrors, and because she is from Abnegation, Tris always knows when she is in a simulation because she doesn’t like to look in mirrors. In fact, mirrors essentially don’t exist in her world because she has basically rejected the selfishness that her faction has associated with mirrors. Now, the book doesn’t connect mirrors and simulations in this way, but what it does emphasize is Tris’s selflessness. She is sometimes selfish, of course, but her defining characteristics are generally bravery and selflessness, and that is what the entire series builds up to. (That is, in fact, why I love the third book so much—but if you haven’t read it, you should do so, because I’m not giving the most epic spoiler of all time here!)
If you take both the book and the film interpretation of the book side by side, you get an interesting juxtaposition of mirror ideas. In the book, mirrors symbolize selfishness because the viewer is looking at himself or herself to the exclusion of others. A mirror’s reflection is simply a superficial reflection because it reflects one’s external appearance, which in Abnegation is worth much less than the strength and selflessness of one’s character. Abnegation’s purpose is to project outward give. In contrast, mirrors tempt us to compare ourselves with others or to lose ourselves in our own appearances.
In the movie, these same things are indicated, but in Tris’s simulations, the mirror triggers Tris’s recognition that “this isn’t real.” Now, if we take this phrase in the sense that her hallucination/simulation is not real, that is very true; the hallucination is induced by a serum which she has injected into her body. However, since the simulation reflects Tris’s mind truly, isn’t she basically saying that her fears and, by extension, her very mind and individuality are not real?
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| "This isn't real..." Retrieved from http://www.divergentfans.com/profiles/blogs/final-chance-for-divergent-empathy-study Originally from the 2014 film Divergent |
This idea of recognizing the simulation as “not real” brings up an interesting line of discussion about internal versus external appearances. For the Abnegation, external appearance means very little. Everyone tries to look the same (haircut, clothing, etc.), everyone tries to meld with the group, and everyone tries to be unselfish and giving at all times. This presents a sharp contrast with the Dauntless, who try to push the envelope with external appearances—hair dyes, clothing, and tattoos, among other things. They also tend to be cruel, though, because selfishness is encouraged—especially through the initiation process when initiates are ranked and the lowest-ranking initiates are made factionless (which basically means that they are forced into homelessness, hunger, and the worst jobs of the city).
But neither the Abnegation nor the Dauntless have the right idea, because the Abnegation reject any external differences while the Dauntless reject any internal differences (as evidenced by the way that the Divergent are mysteriously killed once they are discovered). Ideally, the mind and the body should both be important, but in different ways. After all, one of the things that makes Tris special—Divergent, actually—is that she is able to embrace more than one quality out of the five major qualities in the book (honesty, bravery, selflessness, intelligence, and kindness). So in essence her fundamental rejection of mirrors in the movie reflects her ability and even eagerness to look outward toward others and to become virtuous, even when she makes major mistakes.
Thus, one of the things that Divergent teaches is the contrast between external and internal reflection, especially as regards how we see ourselves and others because of the different kinds of reflection, and the book/movie also encourages discussion about values and priorities. The way that we reflect—whether we use self-reflection by dint of soul-searching or whether we use mirrors to show us our external appearances—shapes how we see others as well as how we see ourselves. Abnegation was the only faction of the five to forgo the use of mirrors most of the time, and all of the others were characterized by pride and selfishness next to their particular strengths/virtues.
Such an analysis of a world in which some characters try to live their lives without mirrors also prompts the question of what happens in a world that is essentially ruled by a mirror, though—such as the world of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which I will discuss in next week’s post.
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