Concluding Thoughts

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This was by far the best college classroom experience I’ve had thus far.

I was a little nervous about starting this semester. I had no idea what a course about mermaids in literature would entail. I had never been interested in the subject, and I had no idea how enthralled I would become by it. I believe that if the class had been given by another professor, I would have missed the underlying relevance of these stories. Professor Pressman did an excellent job of making the class an engaging one to be a part of, and this was the first class in which I actually wanted to participate. Getting to know the text with you all has been fantastic, and it’s a shame it’s coming to an end.

One thing I didn’t expect from a Literature and Environment course was to learn so much about myself and my views. I didn’t anticipate to delve as deeply into human history as we did, and my perspective on the world changed as a result of our global studies of human values. This class, like any other history course, taught me to look at topics like sexism, religion, and capitalism from different perspectives. A quote I frequently thought about during these readings came from Detective Rust Cole in season 1 of True Detective, who says, “Certain linguistic anthropologists believe that religion is a language virus that rewrites the pathways in the brain, dulls critical thinking.” I believe this remark, while pessimistic as hell, accurately captures the mental state that many of these readings have put me in. Religion has spread many of our outdated beliefs, and religious populations have had the same societal framework for millennia. I’m rambling a lot, but I just wanted to highlight how deeply this class struck a chord with me, and I’m thankful I got to share this experience with you.

Thank you everyone!

Week 15: We Are Mermaids

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“You don’t have to be use-

ful. You are not required 

to come up with something to say

You can spend your life benthic, or brackish,

subsisting and even thriving where a fingertip

comes away saline and still refreshing, 

exploring the estuary, the submerged lip 

and congeries of overlapping shores 

on the green-black water, the harbor, the bay. 

You can live with your doubt, 

and that’s why it’s yours.”

I like this second half of the poem. The idea of not having to be useful, not having to say something when prompted, feels very different than how our Western society operates. There is a lot of pressure to be useful, to contribute and make a meaningful impact on society, but this poem presents the idea that nature, in its purest form, does not feel these pressures. If we are truly part of nature, then why do we feel these pressures to perform, to contribute, to be useful. It is also interesting when she says “you can live with your doubt, and that’s what it’s yours”. I wonder what this doubt is. Is it about how society works? Is it about the existence of mermaids? Is it commenting on the general state of worry our country lives in? But it also makes the doubt personal, through the use of the word ‘your’, and the following line of “that’s why it’s yours”. It’s yours because doubt is a subjective experience, based on belief systems and experiences. 

There is also a strong use of imagery in the second stanza of this quote. It transports the reader to a place where they are the being underwater, giving the reader a glimpse into what it would be like to be an aquatic being, with no worries or pressure to be useful. Instead, they are simply exploring their surroundings, being one with nature. 

Week 15: Stuck at the Bottom

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I really enjoyed reading Stephanie Burt’s poem, We Are Mermaids. The poem is ripe with brilliant imagery and metaphor that do a great deal to describe the internal struggle of being a transgender person.

The ocean is presented almost like a landscape in the poem, which hones in on terracentric language to describe those who subscribe to beliefs and lifestyles they are familiar or comfortable with. The full potential of the waters between the surface and the ocean floor are ignored, with the speaker often reassuring the reader that they do not have to leave the water they are comfortable in.

“You can spend your life benthic, or brackish,

subsisting and even thriving where a fingertip

comes away saline and still refreshing,

exploring the estuary, the submerged lip

and congeries of overlapping shores

on the green-black water, the harbor, the bay.” (Burt Pg. 1-2, 24-29)

This is followed by the sentiment that it’s okay to be scared to go into the vast, open ocean; the rest of us will be all right out here.

I think this poem has two target audiences. One is transgender people who are afraid to embrace their true identity – in which case the poem is a kind and welcoming invitation to a better, more belonging life. The other is people who are transphobic and who are choosing to keep out of the issue of transgender rights. Either way, the poem paints the ocean (or this more free way of living, unrestricted by the rules and patterns of the land) as a sanctuary thats in reach and ready for you to embrace it.

Embracing the mermaid as a symbol of transgender people is a beautiful way of showing someone who comes from the constraints of land (society) and has embraced the water and turned it into their home (identity). This was a really powerful piece to end the semester with.

Conclusion

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As a transfer student, especially coming out of Covid-induced online learning, I missed a lot of opportunities to meet people and interact with professors in classes. When I first came to SDSU, I thought most classes were going to be interactive the way this class has been. I was a bit disappointed when this was not the case, but I feel lucky that I took this class despite it not tying into my major directly. This class taught me to question what I would never think to question, as nothing is as it seems. In other english classes, I’ve learned to take an authors message and analyze it, but never have I learned to truly “close read” by considering every word, literary device, and grammar/punctuation as intentional. It was a fairly new concept to me but I believe it is an extremely useful analytical skill. On top of learning to close read, I have also learned to consider how different tellings of folklore and fairy tale can use the same story to teach things differently.

Overall, my favorite aspect of the class was my interactions with the class. When doing small group discussions, I felt like I was given completely new perspectives that I didn’t consider during my initial reading of the assigned reading for the week. Small group discussions also gave me the opportunity to see if people could build off of my ideas and help me further my understanding of the text. I have never been one to enjoy reading fiction, as I feel like I gravitate towards memoirs and non-fiction reading, but this class has taught me that I can learn a lot about the world through reading fiction. I like non-fiction because it is a clear indicator of history, but I never considered how fiction can also teach history. This is the last english class I ever have to take, and while it was challenging at some points, I am extremely happy that I got to end with this class, as I feel like it gave me an extremely important skill that is overlooked in a lot of other english classes.

Week 15: We Are Mermaids

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I enjoyed reading this poem, especially the ending because it made me reflect on the acceptance of doubt in my own life. It is comforting to recognize that doubt doesn’t necessarily have to be solved or fixed, but I can coexist and live with it. For part of my blog, I wanted to focus on the line, “You don’t have to be useful. You are not required to come up with something to say.” The author presents a powerful message here as it is okay to sit in silence sometimes and embrace those moments. It frees ourselves from constant need to impress or perform for other people. It speaks to the idea of releasing oneself from the societal pressure to always be productive or constantly feel the need to have something to contribute. It emphasizes the value of simply just existing and being present in the moment without feeling the need to justify yourself. One’s worth is not contingent on their ability to verbalize and I think embracing the idea that we don’t have to always be useful, we are able be more present in life.

The ending of the poem also caught my attention as it read, “You can live with your doubt, that’s why it’s yours. Some of us are going to be okay.” It’s possible to live with doubt and be okay. Doubt is not a weakness or flaw, but it is a natural part of being a human. Our doubts are unique to us and our experiences and we can learn to coexist with them. The ending offers a shimmer of hope as there is always room for growth and healing despite the challenges. The author sends a message of resilience and optimism when faced with uncertainty. Doubt is a difficult thing to just forget about or avoid, as it is something that lives in the back of our minds.

Conclusion

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I have learned a variety of lessons and information from the ECL 305 course! When we first began this class I was not expecting to be learning about different mermaid tales each week. While it has been fun learning about these mythical creatures, I have also taken away many skills from this course. I am now much more confident in my close reading skills, essay writing, and thesis writing skills. The prompt of what, why, and how to write a thesis is something that I will always remember while writing it in the future. I have seen an immense improvement in my ability to close read since the beginning of the semester. I used to get confused while reading the passages and I can now analyze and understand the deeper meanings. I have also improved my speaking skills through this class. I am usually not the type to raise my hand in classes but this class brought that out of me. I have been able to express my thoughts and gain feedback which has been very helpful for me in not only this class but also other aspects of my life. Overall I really enjoyed this course and have learned a lot. I have made friends, learned real-life lessons, and learned academic skills that I will carry out through the rest of my time as a student.

Final Project Thesis/Proposal

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I wanted to view The Little Mermaid as a story of colonization, how the little mermaid loses her identity–the things that make her a mermaid and that give her power–through the political transaction of rescuing a prince and exchanging her identity for his companionship. I will explore this through redrawing illustrations inspired by Helen Stratton’s illustrations and using Filipino pre-colonial and colonial fashions to dress the mermaid. I use pre-colonial Philippine fashion and a Filipino mermaid as a challenge to the “universality” of The Little Mermaid’s canon and mermaid canon as a whole, where mermaids are typically blonde, white women, as well as a way to map how Filipino identity has changed through the centuries of colonization. I will include a short essay to accompany these illustrations and to point out the details that I include. 

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid was written in the 19th century, at a time when European colonization was at its peak. The Philippines was already heavily colonized by the Spanish in the 19th century and the changes enforced affected so much more than fashion–it affected appearances, lifestyles, and values. By recontextualizing The Little Mermaid through the context of Philippine colonization, we can also see how the story itself is as much a process as well as a product of colonization, its origins and associated images altered over and over again in the same way that the people and their identities are altered over and over again. Viewing The Little Mermaid as a story of colonization adds a new intersection to the little mermaid’s identity–not just as a woman, but as an individual who is forced to assimilate by altering her body to fit into the colonizing culture in order to avoid, at best, ridicule or, at worst, persecution.

Final Essay Thesis

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ECL 305 – Final Essay 

Thesis: William Cronon, “The Trouble with Wilderness” (1996)

In the face of escalating environmental challenges, particularly climate change, Cronon’s critique prompts a reassessment of wilderness preservation strategies, highlighting the need for adaptive management approaches that prioritize resilience and ecological integrity. However, the emotional connection to nature fostered by these ideals can serve as a powerful motivator for conservation efforts, suggesting a nuanced understanding of human-nature relationships. This necessitates the adoption of adaptive management approaches that not only prioritize resilience and ecological integrity but also harness the emotional resonance of wilderness to inspire meaningful action in mitigating the impacts of climate change and safeguarding the planet’s biodiversity.

1) What do you see?:  This is your insight

Cronon’s exploration of the emotional connection to wilderness underscores its potential as a powerful motivator for conservation efforts.

2) Where do you see it?  How is it being done?: This is where you use specific elements from the work to support your insight

Cronon’s critique in “The Trouble with Wilderness” challenges the idealized view of wilderness as pristine and untouched, while acknowledging its emotional resonance in historical and cultural narratives. He suggests that this emotional connection can be harnessed to inspire conservation efforts.

3) Why is this relevant? So What?: This is where you explain why your insight is relevant, where you make an argument about what the work is saying/doing with and through your insight. This is where you push your insight to larger conclusions about the work as a whole.

This insight is relevant in the face of environmental challenges like climate change, as it advocates for a shift towards adaptive management approaches that prioritize both ecological integrity and emotional engagement with nature. By recognizing and leveraging the emotional appeal of wilderness, conservation efforts can become more inclusive and effective in addressing pressing environmental issues.

Final Essay Proposal

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I have a thesis and a general idea of where I’m going with this essay. I was able to draw from material I really enjoy, but I think I have to narrow down my claim a bit more and figure out what bits I will draw from each text. This is what I have so far:

The Western World first began the detachment from the natural world in Feudal Europe, and this separation from nature was further widened by the creation and romanticisation of the wilderness through America’s newly created National Parks. The Western World fails to understand that it is possible to coexist with the natural environment without separating humans from nature. The Western World’s separation from wilderness is what caused wilderness to be invented.

I will be building on my close reading on Melusine which discusses the origin of the Western World’s separation from nature. Then, I will discuss/close read parts of The Trouble with Wilderness as well as a silent black and white short film created by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service called Natives of Yosemite in order to further my argument about how the romanticization of nature and the removal of Native Americans from land to be used as “wilderness” furthers this issue. The short film I want to dissect ironically is called Natives of Yosemite, but it does not include any Native Americans, it mostly lists some stats about the biggest trees and the Wawona Tree. Contrary to the literal tree being closer to man and its invention of the car with it being carved out as a tunnel, the commodification of the natural world is what separates man from nature, subsequently leading to the justification of environmental destruction.

A somewhat ambitious addition to this project could be the inclusion of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma to further back my claim that the Western World becoming separated from nature is what drives environmental destruction (industrial food system, capitalism, etc). This would of course make my thesis more complicated.

Texts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFWQjZIQPec U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS

Melusine

The Trouble With Wilderness

Final Essay Thesis Proposal

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”People of The Marshes Through ‘The Deep’”

Thesis: In Rivers Solomon’s “The Deep,” mermaids, through the experiences of the Wajinru, are a symbol and representation of the experiences endured by people of color. Through this representation, mermaids are a metaphorical mythical creature that shed light on issues regarding identity and the concept of belonging in a world where existence and agency is often denied to marginalized communities. Solomon’s portrayal of historical connections of the past and present, with the presence of oceanic mythical creatures, amplifies the sense of belonging drawn from understanding and knowing ones history. The themes present in this novel are prevalent to many modern marginalized societies. In this essay, I will focus on the major themes in “The Deep” and how the depiction of these themes through mermaids are a representation of the experiences endured by victims of the Human Rights movement in the village of Chibayish, Iraq between 1968-1988.

Explanation: For our final, I wanted to highlight how themes from Solomon’s “The Deep,” are prevalent today across many different categories. I specifically wanted to focus on how the themes present are symbolic to the experiences of the victims/survivors of the Human Rights movement in Iraq between 1968-1988. I wanted to draw connections between the Wajinru, being descendants of a tragedy, and the aftermath of the Human Rights movement, in which issues of identity, displacement, and a sense of belonging are very much prevalent.