75 pages • 2 hours read
James McBrideA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Throughout the book, we see James spending hours staring at himself in the mirror. He even gives his reflection a separate persona with a name: “The Boy in the Mirror.” Reflect upon each of these mirror scenes in the text. What do the mirror and “The Boy in the Mirror” come to symbolize for James? As you tease out the answer to this question, consider the following:
Teaching Suggestion: You might want to have students reflect on the way in which James uses the mirror and the differences between his own identity and the one he attributes to The Boy in the Mirror. James uses the mirror to help make sense of his racial and cultural identity. As time goes on, James gives his mirror self a persona; the Boy in the Mirror, unlike James, never aches and has a Black mother. The Boy in the Mirror has a simple, straightforward identity, while James has a divided, complicated one. The Boy in the Mirror begins as a coping mechanism, but soon turns into a source of envy and self-hatred for James.
By James McBride
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