In “The Looking Glass” Kamala Das searches for self-identity in the male dominant society where a woman has to give up everything to satisfy the male ego by accepting masculinity as superior to femininity. The poem is an externalisation of her humiliations and frustrations, the woman in the poem is every woman who seeks love, the man, is every man that wants a woman to satisfy his desire.
This dialogue is gotten from a dramatic ballad initially written in Dogri language, which was interpreted in English by Shiv Nath and has been presented here as a prose lesson. The passing wind questions to various things from universe, for example, stars, moon, clouds, ocean, earth, and the young girl a similar question, that is, "What is life?" Everyone gives its very own definition about life as per their own understanding.