VL-IV: Chap7- Prairie at the mirror

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Surrounded by all the heavy-handed family-ness of the Wayvone affair,  Prairie takes refuge in the bathroom, staring into the mirror.
She's looking for her mother, but finds DL instead.

Some thoughts:

1.  Staring into the mirror:  "Who's the fairest of them all?"  Not her interest or intent.  More of an Alice in Wonderland metaphor.  She wishes she could step in behind the mirror and join her mother, wherever she is.  DL appears and seems ready to grant this wish.

2.  Iceland spar imagery.  Prairie's own reflection splits into two:  Frenesi and DL.  Both potential aspects of Prairie's character.  Frenesi, and her fascination with fascists; DL, a tough, independent and principled babe.

3.  Prairie recounts her understanding of the Frenesi story, as supplied to her by Sasha and Zoyd.  Here's Sasha compromising her own principles.  She groaned when she watched Hollywood movies distorting the truth, turning bad guys into good guys.  Now she rewrites Frenesi as a good-guy for Prairie's easy consumption.
DL doesn't yet have the heart to tell Prairie the real story, the mirror image of the Frenesi-as-good-guy story.  In a way, Prairie will have to travel through the looking glass to find her real mother, the bad-guy (or at least not-good-guy) Frenesi.

Laura