TY - JOUR T1 - “O espelho” JF - Luso-Brazilian Review JO - Luso-Braz Rev SP - 93 LP - 105 DO - 10.1353/lbr.0.0059 VL - 46 IS - 1 AU - Alcides Villaça Y1 - 2009/06/01 UR - http://lbr.uwpress.org/content/46/1/93.abstract N2 - In “O espelho,” the main character takes the narration up and explains, through a fact in his life, his ambitious theory on the “two souls.” The authoritarian pragmatism of the narration serves, however, to prove a monist perspective: the “exterior soul” ends up absorbing the “interior soul”, thus the identity of the subject totally depends on the “sight that comes from the outside.” Therefore, we ourselves would be identifiable only by means of what we exteriorize. Through this functionalist perspective, the soul confuses itself with the person’s status, and the subject’s interiority expresses itself with nothing but a vague critical acidity, which is the fragile haven for the ironic conscience. ER -