Susan

The theatre is a world where you really do step into someone else's shoes. You examine how the character views herself and how she is viewed by others. My theatre professor suggests some questions for studying a character--What do other people say about my character? How do other people react to my character? These questions help examine how the character is viewed by others and, thus, create the "looking-glass self." To act the character you need to understand her "me" (the "looking-glass self"). This understanding of the character should allow the "I" to come naturally. The "I" is the spontaneous self, the source of motivation. It defies study, as when it is closely examined, it disappears.

Tim

In my bedroom there is a gold plated metal number 7 that I keep on my desk. It’s not worth anything, and now it has all these chips and scratches all over the piece of the metal. I actually took it from my old house back in Florida, the number 7 came from the street numbers posted on the front of the garage. Whenever I fidget or doze off at my desk, playing and looking at the number 7 always reminds of the memories and places I was able to visit and enjoy while living in Florida. All the beaches, amusement parks, and sunny days I left to come to Chicago. This goes along with the fact that we act toward things based on the meaning we assign to that thing. To me, that gold plated number 7 reminds me of my childhood and all the memories that came along with it, and whenever I look at it, it gives me joy. It’s a symbol of warmth and nostalgia to me, but to others it’s simply a worn out number 7.

Glenda

A ring. A class ring. A guy's class ring. In high school it was the ultimate sign of status, whether dangling from a chain or wrapped with a quarter inch of yarn. Without ever speaking a word, a girl could tell everybody that she was loved (and trusted with expensive jewelry), that she had a protector (and how big that protector was, based, of course, on ring size—the bigger the better), the guy's status (preferably senior), and his favorite sport (preferably football). Yes, if you had the (right) class ring, you were really somebody.

Erin

An example of being a looking glass to others: When my little sister was about five or six years old, she would still act like a baby because that was the way I treated her. After my mom figured out the cause and approached me about it, I began treating her more like an equal; she quickly changed her behavior and began acting her age, and even a little older.