Reflecting on Reflections -- by Jane Kelley

 

Somewhere in this image is my reflection.

My husband and I were in Chicago's Millennium Park, standing under the Bean –- an enormous stainless steel sculpture designed by Anish Kapoor. He named the piece Cloud Gate. But since it's shaped like a bean, that's what people call it. Perhaps he thought people would marvel at how it reflects the sky. Instead, everyone stands under the Bean in the omphalos to see how their image is warped by the concave chamber. 

It's often said that books can be mirrors, windows, or doors. Stories provide a way we can see ourselves, see others, or enter a new world.  

But what if the image we see is distorted? Seeing ourselves in a new way can be fun. We've all laughed at the fun house mirror's ability to stretch us or squish us. Seeing a distortion of ourselves can also be disturbing, especially if we don't know that the mirror has been bent.

As I reflect on reflections, I wonder if the mirror of fiction is always altered. A telescope uses a concave surface to gather light from a large area and bring it to a point the human eye can see. The best writers do something similar to help us peer more deeply into places we can't see.   

JANE KELLEY is the author of many middle grade novels in which she twisted reality.