Lola in the Mirror

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use, graphic violence, death by suicide, and sexual violence and harassment.

Adolescent development involves grappling with identity, but Dalton shows that this process is more complex when trauma is involved. Lola demonstrates this via her quest to understand her past while surviving adversity in the present. Lola’s internal struggle is rooted in a past she knows little about. Lola does not know her name and plays the “‘Hey, Mum, What’s My Real Name’ game” (32). This conversation occurs often enough that it has its own title. In it, Lola calls out a name and its meaning. The girl also often asks other people who they are and contemplates her place amid the eight billion people on the planet. However, Lola seeks more from her past than just her name. When she believes she is Elizabeth Finlay, she turns to her magic mirror for help. The reflection advises, “All the answers are staring you right in the face […]. You know exactly who you are” (114). The woman in the mirror represents the girl’s conflict. Lola believes knowing her name and past will reveal who she is, but her reflection insists that she look inside herself.