62 pages • 2 hours read
Nora RobertsThe Mirror
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Clover’s Playlist
Clover’s playlist is a key motif and symbol in the text, illustrating the themes of The Interplay Between Past and Present and The Power of Love and Courage. Throughout the novel, Clover, the “house DJ,” plays occasion-appropriate songs on devices. The songs serve many purposes, including acknowledging a character’s words or thoughts and delivering warnings. For instance, on one occasion Clover blares out “Thunder” by AC/DC to warn Sonya and the others that Dobbs is about to act up. At another point, she plays TobyMac’s “Love is in the House” to indicate that she likes Sonya and her friends filling up the house with love and laughter.
Clover’s DJ-ing provides whimsy and humor to the narrative as well as illustrating Clover’s love and benevolence for Sonya and the others. The music is Clover’s way of telling the living inhabitants that they are watched over and cared for by ancestral forces, and so it becomes, for Sonya and her friends, a symbol of comfort and protection. Further, Clover’s playlist is a counter to Dobbs’s spooky noises: the slamming of doors and the wheezing of winds. The music can be seen as Clover’s way of reclaiming the house and making herself heard: The sounds don’t just belong to Dobbs but to all the inhabitants of the manor. Clover’s songs act as a positive force in the house.
The Portraits of the Brides
The portraits are a recurrent motif in the series, linked with the themes of The Importance of Bearing Witness and The Interplay Between Past and Present. They are also symbols of truth, memory, and family connections. The first portrait Sonya discovers is that of Astrid Granville Poole, the first bride. It hangs in the hall of the main floor of the manor. The other portraits are brought to Sonya and Cleo by the manor, one at a time. Sonya and Cleo then hang up the portraits in the music room. By the end of The Mirror, the portraits of Marianne, Agatha, Lisbeth, Clover, and Johanna—the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh brides—have been discovered. The brides are mostly painted in their happy moments, often wearing wedding dresses. The paintings are by Collin and Drew, who saw the brides through the mirror and wanted to preserve their memory through art. Thus, the portraits symbolize the power of art and memory.
The portraits are also a way for Collin and Drew to connect. Poignantly, the twins never met in real life after being separated, but the narrative suggests they met through the mirror and saw the brides. The portraits allow them to connect and share their passion for art in a way real life could not. Painted in near-identical styles, the portraits illustrate Drew and Collin’s twin connection. Since Patricia did her best to sever this connection, the portraits show that the truth can never be hidden or silenced forever.
The Mirror
Large and oval with predators carved into its frame, the mirror functions as both a motif and a symbol in the novel. As a motif, it illustrates the themes of the interplay between the past and the present and the importance of bearing witness. Since the mirror allows Sonya and Owen to step into the past, it enables them to bear witness to complete truths behind the tragic deaths of the brides. The mirror also brings the past alive for the novel’s characters, showing them that the past never goes away—it lives, side by side, with the present.
The mirror frame features carved predators that snarl when the mirror comes alive, showing that the past has both a good and an evil aspect. Confronting the past can be dangerous because it involves acknowledgment and acceptance of the whole truth, but it is also necessary for a character to grow and transform. In this way, the mirror acts as a symbol not just of the past but also of the truth.
The mirror also raises connections to both fairy tales and the gothic romance genre. In art, culture, and literature, the mirror often functions as a portal into another reality, a means of communicating with another dimension, or the voice of truth. For instance, the magic mirror in the fairy tale of Snow White is a truth-teller, informing the queen that Snow White is the fairest in the land. In The Mirror, as in Snow White, the mirror is a truth-teller, no matter how uncomfortable those truths may be, revealing the full complex history of Poole Manor.
The Manor
Poole Manor is the novel’s setting and also acts as an important symbol in the text. A grand Victorian house built by patriarch Arthur Poole, the manor is located in Maine and borders the sea. It has several floors, large grounds, a widow’s walk, and a seawall. It has been inhabited on and off since 1794 and is steeped in history. Since seven brides of the Poole family died in the house, it has come to be known as the Lost Bride Manor.
The novel suggests that the manor is more than a building: It is a being with memory. In the Prologue, the manor is personified, with the narrator stating that “the manor remembered them all” (3). Cleo’s grand-mère Imogene observes that the manor is a “good, strong house” (382). Thus, the manor is portrayed as possessing its own power and being on the side of Sonya and her friends. This can also be inferred from the way the manor facilitates the movement of the mirror and the discovery of the portraits. In this way, the novel utilizes another gothic genre convention: In gothic novels, the house often plays an outsized role in the narrative, its atmospheric presence and seeming awareness making it nearly another character in the story.
Despite Dobbs haunting the manor for two centuries, the house itself is not affected by her evil. It proves a welcoming haven for Sonya and Cleo, and Sonya often notes that the manor is now her home, a place to which she loves to return. The fact that the manor offers her such comfort despite being haunted shows the manor’s latent strength, connecting to memory, sanctuary, and the power of love. The manor is inseparable from its people and its history, each dead bride infusing the manor with the power of testimony.
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