Abstract
Mother Mirror is a novella length memoir that tells the story of a woman who finds herself stuck in an abusive marriage with a man who keeps his true self hidden from her until their wedding night. Then, he keeps it behind closed doors, well hidden from the rest of the world. Desperate to rid herself of his emotional and verbal abuse, the woman begins to question her faith. She begins seeking a way out of a marriage that keeps her trapped under the oppressive thumb of patriarchy delivered to her through the hand of her husband, condoned by the righteousness of the church and therefore bearing the stamp of approval from God.
The memoir follows the unique circumstances of the dissolution of their marriage, then highlights the lasting generational effects of religious trauma mixed with happily-ever-after programming through the third-person narration of the oldest daughter. It is inspired by retellings of fairytales such as Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House. It uses fairytale tropes to highlight themes of patriarchy, gender inequality, unrealistic societal expectations, mothering, divorce, generational guilt, and the lasting effects of religious dogma.
The narrative is also influenced by Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run with the Wolves, a profound collection of fairytales heard firsthand by Estes from all over the world. She expertly analyzes the stories through a psychoanalytical lens, favoring Jung’s interpretations of archetypes as windows to different aspects of our own psyche.
In Mother Mirror, the protagonist seeks to reconcile with her birth mother; to discover her spiritual mother; to transcend religious trauma and programming; to connect with her inner feminine; to let go of guilt; to run with the wolves; to join other women pulled by something invisible, something we can’t deny; to join women reclaiming the stories men tried to take away from us; to lay bare the stories they tried to change; to reveal the truths they tried to deny.