Nature of Human Transformation

Human Nature has continued to startle and amaze the world, ever since the beginning of mankind. Humans have transformed from apes to whom we are today. Alice, a character from the short story Mirror Image written by Lena Coakley is a good exemplar of the fascinating nature of human transformation. In the short story, Alice has to face several dramatic obstacles, because she had her brain and body transplanted to a new body, due to a deadly accident she had faced before. As Alice recovers from the transplant to her new body, she finds herself not either being accepted by others or by herself. As the plot in Mirror Image deepens, we find the clues of human transformation, adapting to the new situation, forgetting the past cherished memories, and accepting the physical or mental change confronted by the characters.

The adaptive power of human’s are one of many qualities of Human transformation, in Alice’s case, she finds herself being portrayed as a total different person to her family and even to her older twin sister. In fact, Alice struggles to portray the “old Alice” that her family and friends had known once. A great example of Alice’s struggle to portray her old self is when she would wear sunglasses to school, since she did not want anyone to see her new face. She does this to avoid seeing her reflection, in order to remind herself of change and try to hide and continue with her old “Alice.” Alice starts to adopt to her new situation and to her new body seen near the end of short story, when she meets Mr. Jarred, the father of Gail, Alice’s new body. We realize that Alice has accepted the new situation because engraves her initials “ACS” on the umbrella which Mr. Jarred had given her. Alice’s ability to adapt to a new setting, after having her brain transplanted to a new body, in order to survive the fatal accident is dramatic.

Forgetting the past is one of the factors of is one of the factors of human transformation, that Alice and her family struggle with. Jenny faces the most difficulty in forgetting the past, because she shared her memories with her younger twin sister for “14 years,” now she feels Alice is no longer her mirror image (twin). Because of Jenny struggles to accept Alice they start to argue constantly, how Alice has changed from the “old Alice “past experience. A good example of jenny’s and the Mothers struggle can be found in the scene where they celebrate the