No Exit

Mirrors are a natural extension of Sartre’s preoccupation with the Look and the conflict between the subjective and objective selves. Without mirrors, the characters lose their sense of identity. In life, Estelle had six mirrors in her bedroom to help maintain her self-image; in death, she lacks mirrors and questions her existence without them. She tells Inez her reflection is something she has “tamed,” but the reflection she gets from Inez’s eyes is going to be transformed into something frightening. This illustrates how mirrors represent the way we hone our subjective selves, and how the look of others endangers this.

A mirror allows a subject to stabilize their self-perception; it lets us see ourselves from a perspective similar to how other people can see us from the outside. This permits a subject to occupy the position of an outsider who views them as an object. Considered through the lens of the Look, a subject uses a mirror to stabilize and validate their internal sense of self as an objective reality. The lack of mirrors in the afterlife forces the characters to rely on the perceptions of the other two in the room. Because of their inability to reflect on themselves in a mirror, Garcin and Estelle’s internal images of who they are begin to erode, causing the two of them immense anxiety.

Inez calls herself a “lark-mirror,” implying that other people can function like a mirror. However, unlike an actual mirror, people can lie and impose their subjective desires as they reflect back. Sartre uses the metaphor of people as mirrors to demonstrate the power of the Look. The characters are at the mercy of one another because of their need for an external mirror—metaphorical or literal—to stabilize their sense of self.