Some of Edgar Lee Master’s characters fail to understand themselves and do not admit their flaws, while others develop complex theories to explain their position in life. Ernest Hyde describes his mind as a mirror, or at least it used to be a mirror. Mirror’s reflect what they see and do not absorb anything, like someone who does not commit to anything or believe in something specific. I think that a mirror is an appropriate analogy for a young naive person’s mind. Then as Ernest Hyde matures and develops his own opinions the mirror accumulates scratches.
“Great scratches were made on the mirror, letting the outside world come in, and letting my inner self look out.” (52).
A mirror with scratches no longer reflects an image and it allows people look inside of it. The cracked mirror could mean that Ernest became vulnerable or more easily influenced. He mentions the sorrow and virtue attributed to a cracked mirror, the positive is that you know understand the world and the negative is that truth silences you. An interesting connection that is drawn, is the one between the young boy and a functional mirror and an adult and a broken mirror.
