The Blind Owl

Images that are reflected in altered forms in mirrors or as shadows are key symbols in The Blind Owl. The name of the novella itself is a reference to how the narrator sees his own shadow: “My shadow on the wall had become just like an owl” (74). The narrator’s self-obsession is further symbolized by his obsession with looking at his face in the mirror. He states in Part 1, “I am scared […] of looking at myself in the mirror, for everywhere I see the multiplied shadows of myself” (29, emphasis added). Oftentimes these reflections are distorted or altered, as when he describes his uncle/father as having an appearance similar to his own but reflected in an ayine-ye deq, a kind of cursed funhouse mirror. These multiplied reflections and shadow forms of the narrator reflect his isolation and increasingly fractured state of mind.

The symbolism of the mirrors, reflections, and shadows also signify the narrator’s feeling that all is an illusion apart from the ideal reality of death. Other people are essentially unreal to him: They are merely reflections in a mirror or shadows. He also sees himself blending into others, particularly into the figure of the old man.