Author Archives: Daniella Sanchez

Close Reading: The Little Mermaid

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Daniella Sanchez
Professor Pressman
ENG 305
3 March 2024  

The Little Mermaid and Coming of Age 

       In The Little Mermaid, the passage of girlhood to womanhood that the unnamed mermaid experiences when having eight oyster shells pinned to her tail on page 113 reflects the strict expectations and limitations held for young adult women of the Victorian era; The elements of attire and theme of pain suggest the hardships and deceptions of becoming a woman, teaching the difficulties of discovering one’s identity and societal expectations during the influential stages of maturity.  

       At the time the little mermaid turns fifteen, her time to broaden her horizons and witness the outside world in all its beauty has come. Her grandmother prepares her granddaughter for the event by dressing her in special attire, essential for a coming-of-age ceremony. The first item is placed on her head, a heavy wreath of lilies with pearls on each leaf: a laurel, as known in Victorian times, is meant for good luck, as the main character is about to embark on a new journey of self-discovery. Though her journey is as heavy as her wreath with pain and heartbreak, the little mermaid is seen victorious at the end of the story, signifying her newfound maturity as a woman.  

      In the language of flowers, white lilies represent not only innocence and purity but a sign of love towards the recipient by the one it’s given from. This shows the love and hope of purity (meaning that it is expected of the main character to remain with pure thoughts and actions, which is later shown hiding secrets from her sisters and running away) that the little mermaid’s grandmother has for her grandchild. Last, Victorians had the belief that pearls represented tears; The pearls in the little mermaid’s wreath give a foreshadowing of the tears she must hold back after realizing her hopes of marrying the prince are destroyed. However, the pearls in her wreath are also a representation of her transformation into a woman; Pearls are formed due to an irritant that is uncomfortable for the oyster, reflecting the pain that becoming a woman takes.  

        The last piece of attire, eight large oyster shells are attached to the little mermaid’s tail, she immediately lets her grandmother know that the decoration hurt her but is responded with the phrase, ‘pride must suffer,’ or as most women know, ‘beauty is pain.’  The analogy of the oyster shells and corsets is important to understand as in Victorian times, a young woman would start wearing corsets at the age of fifteen. What do corsets do? Besides hurting and misshaping the ribcage and organs its purpose was to restrain women, laced tightly this would restrict breathing leading to fainting. Because of this, women had to walk slowly, as if meant to not let them walk fast or run. The oyster shells and corsets represent being tied down, not wanting to let a woman come outside the box she has been placed in, hence the little mermaid mentioning the attire being heavy and expressing wanting to take it off as soon as possible. This symbolizes the desire of freedom to explore and learn new things after being molded to be what society expects of a refined and noble young woman who is soon to be wed off. Which in Victorian history, the ages of eighteen and twenty-six were the average age of marriage for women, this makes sense as to why the little mermaid ran away from home.  

        To conclude, the little mermaid now being seen from this new perspective is a young woman who has been protected and is suddenly being thrown into a new world of femininity filled with expectations that clearly, she wasn’t happy with following. Hans Christian Andersen gave a voice to young women who felt the same way as his little mermaid did and dreamed of liberating themselves from the strict society of the Victorian era. Through the portrayal of her attire and feelings towards the obstacles that she finds in her journey, not only does it bring light to a hardship of centuries but also opens a door for young women to relate to her situation and find consolation and motivation to break free.  

 Work Cited

 Bacchilega, Cristina, and Marie Alohalani Brown. “The Little Mermaid.” The Penguin Book of Mermaids, Cristina Bacchilega, 2019, pp. 113–130. 

Week 7: The Little Mermaid and the Hardships of Maturity

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In this week’s assigned reading, The Little Mermaid, written by Hans Christian Andersen, the story of a young mermaid’s desire to discover a new world is told. Andersen presents his main character, the little mermaid, whose name is never mentioned, as the youngest of six sisters. All under the care of their grandmother, the king’s mother. The grandmother carries in her tail twelve oyster shells that represent not only her mature age and knowledge but also her rank. It is revealed by her that mermaids are given the chance of a lifetime to witness human life above the waters once they turn the age of fifteen. When I read this I thought about my Mexican culture that holds special events for fifteen-year-olds called Quinceañeras; the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday, marking her passage from girlhood to womanhood. At that moment I realized The Little Mermaid is not only a story of innocent romance but of a mermaid coming of age.

From the moment the story begins, the six mermaid sisters are presented, all of them having plots of garden to plant whatever they please. All of them plant flowers that take the forms of sea creatures, however, the youngest plants her red flowers in the shape of the sun, which points to her child-like fascination with what is above the waters (that also foreshadows her ending as a daughter of the air). After all of her five siblings get to experience the human world it has come to be the little mermaid’s turn and her grandmother dresses her granddaughter’s tail with eight oyster shells, “Well now you are grown up…so let me dress you like your sisters…and the old dame ordered eight large oyster shells to be fastened to the princess’s tail, to denote her high rank.” (Bacchilega & Brown 113) To this, the little mermaid lets her grandmother know that the decoration hurt her, and her grandmother responds with “Pride must suffer pain,” (Bacchilega & Brown 113) this reminds me of “beauty is pain”, a well-known saying that is told to women the moment they enter adolescence. According to the history of corsets, a young woman would start wearing corsets at the age of fifteen, a neat parallel to what is happening in the story.

After being told by the sea witch that she would turn into sea foam if the prince didn’t end up loving her and marrying her at the hands of a priest to acquire a soul and be able to have a soul that’ll live for eternity she took the impulsive risk, confiding that she would be successful. It is no secret that some young women fall under the belief that they’ll get to marry their first love, some do, and some don’t. The moment the prince lets the little mermaid know about his marriage to another princess even though heartbroken this is where she starts to see life differently, she starts maturing, and it shows when she chooses to not murder the prince to transform back into a mermaid. This, fortunately, transforms her into a daughter of the air, with the opportunity to experience human life and get to heaven.

The nature elements in this story play their part in representing the innocence and curiosity of the little mermaid, from saving the prince around the end of winter and acquiring her maturity by spring, it all points to a wholesome new beginning for our main character.

Week 6: “Undine and Huldbrand: Love and Nature”

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For this week’s reading assignment, Undine, the story of a mermaid who categorizes her race as “Undines” has married a knight through the church. The story however takes place the day after the marriage, but something is tugging at Undine’s heart, which I believe is that she wants to come clean to her now husband, Huldbrand. Undine’s story was wholesome from start to finish as it shows a different perspective of what we’ve been seeing throughout the readings assigned. I may be wrong, but I felt this was a heartfelt romantic passage between two beings that though their differences are huge, their love for each other keeps them together. As shown in the passage, I was surprised that Undine came forward to tell Huldbrand the truth about her and where she comes from, “Listen attentively to what I will relate to you…You must know my loved one, that there are beings in the elements which almost appear like mortals, and which rarely allow themselves to become visible to your race.” (Bacchilega & Brown 104) 

Not only has Undine revealed what she is to her husband but to her coming heartbreak also lets Huldbrand know what it is of the Undines once they pass away. “We and our like in the other elements, vanish into dust, pass away, body and spirit so that no vestige of us remains behind; and when you mortals hereafter awake to a purer life, we remain with the sand and the sparks and the wind and waves.” (Bacchilega & Brown 105)  

I enjoyed reading this passage as I could feel the fear Undine felt with her revelation and her husband’s decision after doing so. To this, I feel like Undine represents that part of nature that wants to be known, discovered, and cherished. Nature personified telling us to adore and take care of it with the fear that humans may turn against it. Fortunately for Undine, and also to my happiness, Huldbrand replies to her in the best way he can express his love to her, and she to him, “She was about to say still more, but Huldbrand embraced her with the most heartfelt emotion and love, and bore her back to the shore…he swore amid tears and kisses, never to forsake his sweet wife,…Undine walked back to the cottage, leaning on his arm; feeling now for the first time with all her heart,” (Bacchilega & Brown 106) 

There is no man vs mermaids/nature in this passage, and I’m living for it. It is about a man accepting and truly loving nature and everything that has to do with it, which is Undine. This must be my favorite story from The Penguin Book of Mermaids, so far. 

Week 5: Melusine

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After going over the scheduled story for this week, Melusine, even though an intriguing tale of Raymond discovering his wife’s secret it also came to me as a representation of how women restrain from being their true selves out of fear of their spouse’s thoughts. Raymond’s reaction to the sensitive secret that his wife has been hiding away from him, to me, is though shocking, also filled with fear not of her but for her. “It was not horror that seized him at the sight, it as infinite anguish at the reflection that through his breach of faith he might lose his lovely wife forever” (Lebey 88) I’ve read my peers responses to this, and I appreciate how we agree and take notice of how much Raymond cares about his wife in comparison to the lack of care for the nautical women in other folk tales. Melusina identifies herself as a woman of God, “I am as faithful a Christian as you are.” (Lebey 25) I will assume that though Melusina practiced Christianity, she’s aware of what her true nature meant to those that aren’t like her, which is why she keeps it out of light. This to me represents the darkest desires of women that need to be tied up and put away due to the danger of being categorized as a “monster.” .

Week 4: Water Beings and Betrayal

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In the readings assigned for week four, I couldn’t help but notice the reoccurring themes of betrayal of the female gender. Starting with the myth of Sedna, the Sea Goddess of the Innuit. Even though the logic behind the creation of a sea goddess and its creatures out of two cold murders committed by the same man who is the father of Sedna doesn’t make that much sense to me or why she would help men after being betrayed and lied to by the two most important ones in her human life. At least she had sort of a happy ending with the help of shamans combing and braiding her hair to appease her. I would also like to add a thought about this story, Sedna’s father threw her off the boat due to thinking the birds wanted her, but let’s be real, the birds were seeking the father’s blood. This could be a representation of the male gender in history always assuming that when consequences for their actions are catching up or something goes wrong it’s because women had something to do with it, which has resulted in many women having the same fate as Sedna (except turning into a sea goddess).

In the story of Kaliya the Snake, he is introduced as an inferior power of Krishna who is filled with rage, why is this? Further into the story, it is revealed that Kaliya resides in a section of a river that is causing diseases to those that need water after being defeated by Krishna and kicked out of his anterior residence, the ocean. After another humiliating defeat to Krishna, Kaliya and his wives beg for his life, “The race of snakes into which I was born is a cruel one; this is its proper nature. But I am not at fault in this matter, Acyuta, for it is you who pour forth and absorb the whole world; classes, forms, and natures have all been assigned by you, the creator…” (Bacchilega & Alohalani 8) Kaliya never had a chance to be portrayed in a good light, since his creation he was doomed to be seen as a monster, because of Krishna’s decision, to me this is another form of betrayal.

Week 3: Mermaids and The Unknown

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After reading both assigned readings I enjoyed how Cristina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani introduce mermaids as a species that haven’t been completely understood to its full capacity. Fear of the unknown is the best way to describe Merpeople, in this case, mermaids/sirend and the cautious yet curious feeling towards them, predominantly fear.

However, I find it interesting how the feeling of fear towards mermaids/sirens turned into disgust and hatred. As mentioned in The Penguin Book of Mermaids, prostitutes were referenced to as mermaids due to their sex appeal and seductive powers, which is how mermaids/sirens are represented doing to lead men to their deaths. This “likewise attests to how a woman who oversteps the boundaries of gender propriety has, over centuries, risked being defined as monstrous.” (Bacchilega & Alohalani XIII) Not only the unruly women in land were in danger to be classified as monsters but also those of water that didn’t follow the “norm” of pleasing and obeying men. It baffles me how open men were with their hatred towards women and their need to remind them how much they did, “you live here on earth as the world’s most imperfect creature: the scum of nature…” (Scribner 61) It is unfortunate how a feminine mythical creature was used as a mascot for the defamation of women and lasted throughout all those centuries, yet even though still recent mermaids and sirens have now become an image of feminine empowerment to slowly but surely heal that generational wound.

Week 2: Merpeople

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Reading chapter one of Merpeople by Vaughn Scribner was eye opening. I would’ve never thought how much mermaids were associated with religion during the Medieval period. I can’t seem to understand how “denigrating the feminine” (Scribner 29) brought more people to Christianity and why it worked. Chapter one continues by explaining the first depiction of mermen around 5000 BCE. Acadians worshipped a mermen named Ea, who was adopted by Babylonians as a god of light, wisdom and civilization by the name Oannes. How and why did Oannes become a deity of wisdom? As mentioned in page thirty, Oannes “gave men an insight into letters and sciences, and every kind of art…” (Scribner 30) In opposition to the well intended wise mermen, mermaids were seen as creatures that emerged from ugly forms “seeking to bring human men to agonizing deaths”. (Scribner 31) It’s no secret that with the help of these ancient myths of mermen being good hearted leaders and mermaids/sirens being wicked beings looking for men’s demise helped the Christian church to belittle the feminine as “females symbolized a carnality linked to vice”. (Scribner 35).

As I mentioned to my peers in past class discussions I believe that even thought the image of mermaids has changed, unfortunately, the meaning behind it has not. Mermaids are still to this day seen as a symbol of lust and demise or straight up vile monsters (as seen in Hollywood movies). This image of fault and evil is sadly not limited to mermaids, for example, in Christianity, Eve is seen as the one at fault for the expulsion of the Garden of Eden by commiting the act of sin. In the Greek pantheon, if not all, most feminine deities are depicted as extremely jealous and evil towards humans if crossed. On the bright side, in today’s world the mermaid aesthetic has been claimed by women all over the world, giving mermaids a new and empowering meaning which I’m looking forward to learning how the evolution to today’s modern world came to be.

Week 1: Introduction

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Hello everyone, my name is Daniella Sanchez and I’m a transfer English student from Imperial Valley College. My plan is to apply to the teaching credential program once I acquire my B.A next year. I commute everyday from Calexico to SDSU, it’s tough work but I manage. I was intrigued with this class when I first read the reviews in “rate my professor” on how there is a huge focus on mermaids and it’s effect on society, I was hooked. This feeling of curiosity grew once I stepped foot in class. Mermaids had always been a fairytale for me, however, after hearing everyone’s take on mermaids throughout different points of history my gears began to turn. I’m eager to be in this class and learn more about mermaids/mermen and their position/purpose in society.