Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful of them all

A psychoanalytic reflection on narcissism, the ego, Lacan's mirror stage and cultural identity

Abstract

In the stories of Snow White, Narcissus, and other such tales, we see brilliant examples of identities based on imaginary features. These turn out to be narcissistic and ego-centred identities. The question for the psychoanalyst and therapist is, are there any other forms of identity? A close reading of Freud, informed by the psychoanalytic teaching of Lacan, shows us that there are. Using a Lacanian orientation in psychoanalysis in conjunction with a reading of the Samoan author Albert Wendt's book Sons for the Return Home, we see that there is a subjectivity that is also a cultural identity that is not based on a 'Westernized' idea of a strong ego.