My question has to deal with Lacan's mirror stage concept and something that Professor Doane brought up in lecture on Tuesday. As the child looks at its image in the mirror, it cannot distinguish that this reflection is actually an image of itself. It takes the mother confirming that this image is in fact the child to create this sense of subjectivity. However, this does not fit in the mold of every family, so to speak, as there is not always a mother present in any given family structure to confirm things to the child. Is the mother a necessity in Lacan's argument? Or could any parental type figure do the same confirming action that the "mother" does?