Reading the introduction to “Merpeople” was so insightful because it contained a lot of information and history on the perception of Merpeople, especially from a Christian point of view. First and foremost, I thought it was interesting to read about human fascination with these creatures because when you think about it, mermaids are everywhere! They exist in books, movies, shows, and even toys for children; they also exist in many mediums for adults as well. In my opinion, human fascination with merpeople has a lot to do with animalistic urges that humans have that may not all be understood and/or celebrated. Merpeople are a reflection of a half-human and half-animal creature, but they are depicted in beautiful forms for the most part. Even when they are vicious creatures, they are depicted as beautiful.

Moving forward, the Christian depiction of mermaids was used to “depreciate the feminine” and correlate women with the idea of vanity (pgs. 11-13). As time progressed, eventually mermaids were used almost as a tactic to attract religious acceptance. Reading this was interesting to me because it made me think of what the Islamic perception of mermaids is (I am Muslim). I remember when I was younger, I was told that mermaids exist in heaven, and when men live a “pious” life on earth, they are rewarded with mermaids in heaven. Now, this isn’t a legitimate Islamic belief, but the idea is that it shows how mermaids were used as an incentive for the afterlife, illustrating hope in the form of reward. In Islam, it is also said that creatures that exist on land also exist in different forms in the sea, suggesting the possible belief of the existence of merpeople. This topic is very fun to dive into because it is encouraging me to research deeper into the Islamic perception of mermaids.