Books are mirrors

“Books are mirrors: you can see through them what you
already have inside.” are the words of Carlos Ruiz Zafón, a man
who has figured out the fact that you can find the words to
express yourself on the pages of a book.
A book never means the same thing for two people. Be it a
character, a quote, or even an entire story line, books offer a
window of opportunity to anyone who wants to feel
understood. Each book has the purpose of speaking to
someone, especially if that someone lacks the words to say
something that they feel or want. Reading is like building your
home, your refuge, when life gets complicated. It’s your very
own universe that embraces you and makes you feel like you’re
not alone. You’re right there with the characters, with the
book’s environment, and you can’t help but make them your
own; that’s why it’s said that books are mirrors.
Literature transforms the human experience and reflects it
back at us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and
experiences as part of the larger human experience. Thus,
reading becomes a means of self-affirmation, cancelling that
certain feeling of alienation that we can’t help but have
sometimes.
Not only do books help us on getting to discover
ourselves, but they also have the important role of getting us to
see our peers and culture better. It’s not until we know the
stories of each other that we embrace our humanity. When you
know the stories of the people around you, that’s when you
become human yourself.
So, while it is true that books are mirrors, there exist
two other purposes they have: they are windows, offering
views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or
strange, and they are even sliding glass doors, through which
any reader can walk into the author’s world, and even
transcend space and cultural differences.