Maleeka’s Mirror Symbol Analysis

Maleeka’s plastic hand mirror symbolizes her self-acceptance. Maleeka’s dad gave her the mirror prior to his death three years before the events of the novel. One day, after Maleeka has gotten a haircut, she’s disheartened by other students making fun of her—even though she knows that she looks good. She goes to cry in the bathroom, and as she looks at herself in the bathroom mirror, she feels that she’s lost the confidence she had in the hair salon. In this way, the school bathroom mirror represents how the other students see Maleeka, and how they project their own insecurities so that she, in turn, becomes insecure.

Then, Maleeka pulls out her hand mirror and recalls her father’s words: “You got to see yourself with your own eyes. That’s the only way you gonna know who you really are.” The hand mirror thus represents how Maleeka’s father saw her—that is, how much he loved her and how beautiful he thought she was—and how she should see herself in turn. By looking at herself not in the bathroom mirror but instead in the hand mirror, Maleeka understands that the only approval she truly needs is her own. Maleeka walks confidently out of the bathroom after this, which underscores how seeing herself for who she is, rather than how others see her, fosters self-acceptance.