Content Warning: This section of the guide features depictions of death by suicide, physical and emotional abuse.

Throughout The Mirror, characters practice courage and love to keep the forces of evil at bay. Cleo tells Sonya early in the novel that they must fill the house with solidarity and laughter. The manor is meant for “living, working, planning” (24), just like Sonya and Cleo are doing. If they were to stop doing these things, Hester Dobbs, the manor’s resident evil spirit, would gain an advantage over them and take ownership of the house. The novel sets up a binary between love and hate, friendship and isolation, and courage and fear, the positive emotion in each case the antidote to its bleak counterpart.

While Dobbs feeds on fear and grief, the characters use their friendships and love to fight their fears and Dobbs. Sonya and Cleo support each other unconditionally in their personal and professional lives, as when Cleo helps Sonya with her work presentation. Owen rushes into the mirror after Sonya without a thought for his well-being, because he is concerned for her. Trey is dependable and supportive not just of Sonya and his loved ones but even of his clients like Marlo.