The novel does not parallel the traditional Arabic novel, for it focuses on the characters instead of the plot[1] in an attempt to create artistic images of people who were actual contemporaries of Mahfouz.

The reader initially thinks that they are all fictional; however, after closely reading they realize that they are all real characters stripped off their names and appearances.

It also includes the thug who relies on violence, the nationalist who grieves over the failure of the delegation with the departure of Makram Ebeid and Al-Naqrashi from the party, the student who was martyred in Cairo's streets defending Egypt's 1923 constitution, which was discontinued by Ismaʿil Ṣidqi, the imprudent woman who cheats on her husband with his friend, the woman searching for true love despite being in her 70s with a husband and kids, the revolutionary who's a member of the Free Officers Movement, the thinker who died fighting police officers whilst getting arrested, whose legend persists after his death, the sex-obsessed woman, the tough communist who only knows honesty and rigidness, the beautiful communist plastic artist, the trader who only trades in what is forbidden, and the pious religious character.

Also, Mahfouz's works, in general, and Mirrors, in particular,[3] led to the development of what is known as 'Adab Al-Talsin or (Gossip Literature), which is a term coined by the critic Faruq Abdelkadir to describe a literary style used by authors to settle personal matters with their enemies.

The novel offered an account of the Egyptian army officers after they took over the government and showed how they experienced a shift to bourgeois values and practices.