Creative work is only an echo of life. Many art forms are inspired by events that take place in the real world. The experimental novel Pale Fire, written by Vladimir Nabokov, describes the many ambiguities of John Shade's life seen in perspective by commentator Kinbote. Kinbote is a professor at Wordsmith College in New Wye with John Shade, author of the poem “Pale Fire.” Kinbote claims to be King Charles exiled from his beloved homeland of Zembla, a distant northern land parallel to the present word. Although Shade may have had different intended meanings for his poem, Kinbote states that the premise surrounding "Pale Fire" is the events taking place in Zembla now encompassing the present as mere reflections of their current world. In his novel Pale Fire, Nabokov uses reflections, alter egos, and historical references to represent the theme of how art reflects reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay To reference the land of Zembla, Nabokov uses aspects of the poem Shades and commentary to explore art as the reality of appearances. Shade introduces his poem with "a pane of glass in which a mirrored sky, with its slightly darker hue and slower moving clouds, presents the illusion of continuous space." Shade writes about the mirrored glass and sky which metaphorically speak of a reflection of the land of Zembla. This relates to how Shades describes his furniture: his lamp, plate, chair, and bed are meant to hang above the snow-covered grass in the reflected sky. This makes it seem like Zembla is the Shadows' alternate world almost co-existing in a separate universe. Zembla's supposed existence is linked to the geographically asymmetric world of "Pale Fire". In conjunction with the mirrored sky, Shade compares the reflection to "this crystal land" which, according to Kinbote, is "an allusion to Zembla, his dear country." Many crystals have several different meanings. Some represent purity, strength, power, regeneration, new beginnings and purification. The “crystal land”, in relation to Zembla, symbolizes a different life. Perhaps Kinbote identifies his exile from Zembla with a new beginning; a renaissance where Zembla contains many aspects of the modern world. Zembla is derived from “sembla” in the word appearances. It is a land of close appearances of lookalikes and events that occurred before the events in the world of Shades. Shades' reality is an imitation of Zembla. Nabokov includes doppelgangers to show how art from Zembla's world intersects with the modern world. When King Charles of Zembla encountered a lake, he lowered his head to descend towards the water. In his limpid tintarron, he saw his scarlet reflection but, oddly enough, due to what seemed at first glance to be an optical illusion... it was accompanied by the reflection distorted by ripples... his double in a red sweater and with a red head turned and disappeared… on which a false king had just stood. Charles' reflection in the water is a mirage, an unreal version of himself. Just as some reflections in art are strange and out of the ordinary, his mirror image in the water becomes a self-determined figure that recedes. What Charles saw in his reflection was his alter ego, Kinbote, who exists in the world of Shades. In reference to art, the way it is perceived is illusory to life, as the reflection of a mirror shows objects inverted. Gradus, the assassin sent from Zembla, is ordered to kill the exiled King Charles of Zembla (later known as Kinbote). He locates where Kinbote is.