55 pages • 1 hour read
Anna Deavere SmithFires In The Mirror
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
Mirrors
Mirrors act as a major symbol in this play, as evidenced in the title. Smith plays with the idea of art as a kind of social mirror, reflecting the experiences of people concerning one specific event. In this case, the play is meant to act as a mirror of the Crown Heights incident, reflecting back a variety of experiences through the interviews of the characters. Smith also plays with the idea of mirrors and reflecting in how the play is constructed, as many acts mirror one another in number of speakers. Similarly, the oscillation between Jewish and black perspectives can be seen as a mirroring of sorts, although one might construe them as a mirroring of opposites, much like how when one’s face is reflected in a mirror, one actually sees the opposite of what they are used to. This opposition represents an important aspect of mirrors, as they only serve to reflect back what appears. In this way, the reflection is not the same thing as the event itself, and the reflection might indeed differ from what one expects. The reflection is then ultimately influenced by perception, as we cannot separate our perception of events from our own experiences. Therefore, instead of her play acting as a reflection of the event itself, it would seem more accurate to say that her play is a reflection of the perceptions of people who have varying degrees of intimacy regarding the subject.
Perception
Perception plays a key role within the play, as these interviews can be seen as nothing more than a collection of varying perceptions regarding a certain event. In essence, these interviews are literal perceptions; that is, they are perceptions made into words. More importantly than the collection of perceptions, however, is the conflicting nature with which these perceptions are set against one another. Henry Rice alludes the conflicting perceptions evident concerning the Crown heights incidents: “The next day / more violence: / fires, / cars being burnt, / stores being broken into, / a perception that Black youth / are going crazy in Crown Heights / like we were angry over / nothing” (93). After Rice almost gets arrested for advocating nonviolence, he speaks with incredulity about the perception that black youth had nothing to be angry about. In this way, Rice demonstrates the disconnection between experiences that creates dissonant perceptions regarding reality. Under the weight of such divergent perceptions of reality, it makes sense that tensions would arise, eventually bubbling out of control.
Rage
Rage appears throughout the interviews, especially in regard to the way in which the youth are dealing with these systems of oppression. Rage—and the rage of predominantly black youth—is repeatedly acknowledged as being the source of the violence and rioting. It is something that no one can seem to control because it is larger than any one person. Rather, it is a group of young people who are so angry at these injustices they rail blindly against them. In this way, many of the characters admit that there is no way of controlling this rage while also acknowledging its inevitability. Richard Green says, “But they weren’t turning those youfs on and off. / Nobody knew who controlled the switch out there. / Those young people had rage like an oil-well fire / that has to burn out” (117). Green maintains that the systems of oppression in place create this all-consuming rage that burns like a fire. In this way, the rage of the youth is connected to the title of the overall work: the youth are the fire, inevitable and needing release from their rage.
Insult
In contrast to the rage that is associated with the youth, much of the older generation is associated with insult. Black and Jewish community leaders alike believe that the incidents that occurred in Crown Heights represent insults to themselves. When Sharpton speaks about the Rebbe’s response to this situation, he speaks in terms of insult: “And he’s supposed to be a religious leader. / So it’s treating us with absolute contempt / and I don’t care how controversial it makes us. / I won’t tolerate being insulted. / If you piss in my face I’m gonna call it piss. / I’m not gonna call it rain” (116). This is completely different from the rage seen enacted by the youth. Whereas the youth’s rage is associated with violent destruction, the insults the adults feel they must suffer are usually mitigated through legal means.
