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FINAL PAPER: LOOKING AT WOMEN THROUGH THE LENS OF MERMAID TALES

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Giselle Lee Hosler

Professor Pressman

ECL305

May 9th, 2024

The Pisces, written by Melissa Broder,  is an unconventional love story that turns the standard tropes in the mermaid story on their heads, displaying how the stereotypes and gender roles presented within the mermaid story are a product of their time. This story is contemporary and relies upon, in order to over turn more traditionally patriarchal, misogynistic views of the mermaid s displayed in earlier texts The unconventionality of The Pisces centers female sexuality, as opposed to stories such as The Little Mermaid, written in the 1840s by Hans Christian Andersen,  and Melusine, written in the19th century by Jean d’Arras , which neglect the female and focus on male desire . The Pisces is special because the woman is not the sexual object, but it also doesn’t objectify the merman. These two characters are allowed to mess up and be messy, and therefore portray more realistic experiences.

To begin, a synopsis of The Pisces is in order; our protagonist, Lucy, is a 38 year old woman who is stuck in a rut- writing a dissertation on Sappho and grappling with a failing relationship as well as her own wants and needs, she is asked to house sit for her sister. It is here that she meets Theo, a merman who lives in the ocean right by the house, and the two start a romance and sort-of relationship with each other. Lucy grapples with herself, what she wants out of men, and what she wants out of Theo. She comes out of the end of the book with more assurance about herself and her path, even though she doesn’t quite get her happily-ever-after. 

In contrast, The Little Mermaid has a much younger and unnamed protagonist. She is a mermaid princess, who yearns for the surface and for her human prince, after she saves him from a storm. This yearning is so great that she willingly drinks a magical potion that gives her legs, in exchange for her beautiful voice. The little mermaid suffers for her love of the prince until it eventually leads to her untimely demise. She, too, does not get a standard happily-ever-after. Granted, this story is a product of its time- being written in the eighteen forties. 

The Pisces was written in the 21st century, as evident by much of the modern references scattered throughout the book. But it was also evident in the way that the characters were portrayed. Lucy is a woman who seemingly defies a lot of what society thinks of women- she is promiscuous, she is messy, not put together, unsure of herself, but she is also defiant in her quest to finding herself. She frequently pushes the boundary of the sort of womanly standards society seems to have, and pushes back against the societal norms for men, as well. This is evident in how her relationship to the merman Theo is portrayed; “I felt great and noble, like a woman coming to claim her man in battle, or perhaps a man who was coming to rescue his woman. I had to be the rescuer, because he was more handicapped than I was.” (192) The stereotype of the merperson-human relationship is flipped here, as she is the one who has more control and power, in a way. She is the one who goes to him, yes but she is the one who can help take him to shore. Theo is more at her whims than she is to him

This is heavily contrasted with The Little Mermaid, too- then again The Little Mermaid has the “canonical” mermaid-human relationship seen in a decent chunk of mermaid stories. To even get close to her prince, the little mermaid gives up a lot of what she has to go to the surface; “ ‘Now, you must give me this beautiful voice. I choose to have the best of all you possess in exchange for my valuable potion’.” (122, Penguin Book) And so the little mermaid gives up her voice, her tail and her place amongst her people in order to ascend to the surface and live amongst the humans and her prince. When she first arrives to the surface and meets the prince again, one of her main feelings is the pain; “Every step she took was, as the witch had warned her it would be, like reading on the points of needles and sharp knives; but she bore it willingly…” (123) Already there is a vast difference between her and Lucy, who doesn’t suffer as much as she does in her relationship with the unknown. 

There’s also something to be said about how Lucy and the little mermaid are sort of foils to one another. The little mermaid, while she is with the prince on land, does not have her voice and cannot properly vocalize any of her feelings to him. While Lucy, who does struggle with her inner wants, has no problem with talking to Theo or trying to reason out some of her own emotions. Granted, the two books were written across a large gap- in between both of their publications, women’s suffrage took place, and some of the waves of feminism also happened. Women at the time of The Little Mermaid, and Melusine,  had less of a voice within their society as they do against women at the time of The Pisces. 

On the subject of women and the female, The Pisces centers more on female sexuality than other mermaid mythos. This could be argued that the time period is relevant, which is correct. In The Pisces, Lucy is almost rewarded and validated for her sexuality, or going through the trials and tribulations in having relations with different men before she settles on Theo. “The way I felt when we kissed or when he went down on me- I wanted to create that feeling and live in that for as long as I could.” (one5one). She is constantly having sex with Theo- there is mutual attraction between them for a good chunk of the novel. Her wants are placed above his, in a way- Theo indulges her in coming into her home to spend time with her, away from the ocean, even though that in itself is a task. They fuck on the beach a lot, too. Other mermaid mythos are not so kind to the woman in the relationship; the Legend of Melusina, written by Jean d’Arras, for example, is a fine display of how female sexuality was not a priority. All she had asked of him was for him to “never desire to see her on a Saturday” (87). And even when she had given him everything, and endured ridicule for their hybrid children, he still could not oblige her. The one day a week could be interpreted as Melusina obliging herself, which she could not even have due to her husband’s mistrust of her.

At the very end of The Pisces, Lucy finds out that Theo had brought down more women with him in the past, and she rejects his offer to go under the depths with him. While she doesn’t have such a happily ever after, she still retains herself and her autonomy, a far cry from Melusine (who flies around in pain and suffering, 88) and the little mermaid (who becomes an air spirit dependent on the behavior of children, one 30). And yes, she is a woman, but she is not dependent on men, nor is her life absolutely ruined by them. Stories like The Pisces, that pull away from the canonical mermaid story, can help teach better lessons to future readers.

final essay proposal + my thesis

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tbh I don’t know where to post this because I forgot if it was better to either email you directly or just post it here so I’m posting it here.

The Pisces is an unconventional love story that turns the standard tropes in the mermaid story on their heads, displaying how the stereotypes and gender roles presented within the mermaid story are a product of their time, this one being more relevant to the modern day, and ultimately turn the traditionally patriarchal, misogynistic view of the mermaid on its head and upend that view. The unconventionality of The Pisces centers female sexuality, as opposed to stories such as The Little Mermaid and Melusine, who neglect the female. The Pisces is special because the woman is not the sexual object, but it also doesn’t objectify the merman. These two characters are allowed to mess up and be messy, and therefore portray more realistic experiences.

week fifteen: the Deep Again

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So our girl Yetu was rescued by humans, which I find an interesting take on the mermaid mythos because usually its the mermaid who does the rescuing? Like how in the Little Mermaid, the mermaid in there rescued the prince from drowning, but in The Deep, Yetu’s being fed and looked after.

Also her relationship to Oori is interesting to me, because its this book’s instance of the two worlds meeting in the middle- both grapple with companionship as well as the past. I think Oori continuing to ensure that her homeland stays up despite being the last of her entire group/kin is important because in a way, it ties into the whole “ocean is an archive” thing- she’s ensuring that her history stays up, and that there IS a homeland that exists out there for her to return to. In way, Oori represents the idea that it is one’s duty to ensure that their history stays remembered. Yetu is a sort of a parallel because her entire culture is based on the idea that only ONE person should remember so everyone else can forget, and like… The way they contrast each other in this aspect is interesting.

Both were essentially forced into being the upholders, the historians, and yet they have such different approaches to how they do this. This is such a refreshing take on the mermaid tale and I’m really enjoying it so far.

week thirteen: african water spirits

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we had two different cultures- african and then Afro-caribbean water spirits. while they had their differences, it was very interesting to see how similar they were to one another. Both of the main water spirits were mothers, which I felt could be connected to how water itself is a source of life, and how mothers / the feminine is also connected to life because birth.

and then that leads into a segway about Yemaja being a mother and then giving birth (after being raped) to all sorts of bodies of water, among other things like gods of diseases and iron and war, but also vegetables and lightning. But you could argue that water is necessary for all of these things to thrive (war im not so sure about)… water is necessary for life. water had to be created out of somewhere, much like how women bear children (which one could argue is like making something out of nothing), so there’s that parallel. to be honest (and sorry another tangent) there’s something kinda fucked up about how “woman suffers at the hands of a man and gives birth to a bunch of interesting demigods” because we see a similar parallel with medusa being decapitated and giving birth to pegasus and someone else.

weird how mermaid stories are so quick to go to women suffering for the sake of others… then again i think that’s more tied to how femininity is viewed in the lens of the patriarchy? its a little different because you have maman dlo, who seems to thrive in spite of her femininity (but then also takes pretty young women to become pretty mermaids…) interesting bits of folklore this week.

DISCOVERY

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Giselle Lee Hosler

4/14/24

ECL 305

Professor Pressman

Most mermaid stories tell of the “maids”, female monsters appealing to male heroes. However, The Pisces subverts this expectation, with the main character Lucy encountering merman Theo, who subverts the expectation of the standard mermaid-human man tropes- the merman is the one who seduces Lucy, he is the one who tempts her, and he is the one that enlightens her to parts about herself that she didn’t know about. This subversion of the tropes breaks many of the normal mermaid conventions and allows for people to move away from them while embracing newer and more positive (in some ways) stories. 

Our protagonist, Lucy, is a 38 year old woman who is having her midlife crisis early. While housesitting for her sister, she discovers Theo, a swimmer she eventually discovers is a bonafide merman. In the midst, she’s been going on unsuccessful dates with other men and grappling with a support group for single women, so she’s unsure of what she wants. The Pisces is an unconventional love story unlike many of the other mermaid tales before it, like the Little Mermaid and Melusina, who have the mermaid, the female figure, suffer for love and eventually die in some cases. 

When Lucy discovers Theo, she regains some more zest for life, though she still struggles with some parts of herself. Through many encounters with him, Lucy comes to grips about aspects of her life, and how she can move forward from having a break up, going to a weird support group for desolate women, and ultimately her attitude and approach to life in general. 

It is relevant that Theo is a merman because not only does it subvert the trope, it also exposes the truth that women are not always the seducers- Theo is the one who tempts Lucy to be curious about him and discover what he can offer her. In other mermaid and mermaid-adjacent mythology, it is the female figure that seduces, who offers the knowledge to the curious male figure. In this way, the sexuality of men is explored much more. And it is often the female figure that gets neglected in the process. 

Not to mention, that the being of nature is a man, not a woman. Nature is often feminized, and the mermaid is no exception. But in The Pisces, Theo is a merman, the being of nature is masculine. Instead of being the conquerer, as the human men in mermaid tales are often portrayed, he is the conquered. He is not the taught, he is the teacher. We don’t see that often in mermaid tales, especially ones written in the past. 

Of course, The Pisces is not the only merman-centered merstory out there. We have much older examples, such as Oannes, a merman-like figure who also brought enlightenment. Having these examples allows for us to see and understand that our preconceived notions about mermaids and merpeople in general are not the end-all be-all. It also helps us acknowledge that many of the stereotypes of the mermaid are merely just constructs of a patriarchal society, meant to keep women in a box. 

While Lucy struggles with herself and with others, she eventually comes to realize some of her wants. While she is tempted by Theo, she ultimately manages to pull away from him and prevent herself from meeting the same fate as other women before her- and the fates of other mermaids in previous folklore- dying for her male love interest. In that she shows that women do not have to suffer or put themselves at risk for the sake of what men want. 

Within the deviation of The Pisces, there are still some parts that are continuous with regular mermaid stories- that is, that the merperson attempts to cross the boundary between land and sea in order to be with their partner. His otherness is apparent, and it becomes something of a reoccurring thing between him and Lucy, but really it is to be expected from a mermaid tale. These elements of the story keep it from escaping the true mermaid tale and becoming something else entirely. 

The merperson is a monster, regardless of gender. The way that gender roles interact with one another, between monster and human, between earth and sea, impacts the lessons they teach to the readers of the present and the future. Male monsters in a female dominated genre, meant to be a sort of warning to female readers… that sort of deviance from the norm does so much for breaking established gender roles within the merperson as a concept. 

Having stories like the Pisces, stories that are unconventional and turn tropes on their head, allows for a better look at the societies and cultures who tell these stories. The Little Mermaid, Melusina, and other similar tales are a product of their times and standards. The Pisces, while more modern, has some elements of those stories while deviating from the stereotypes that make mermaid tales so iconic. It, like the many different tales before it, is a product of its time and has much to teach its readers. 

week twelve… the water will carry us home

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ok professor… where did you find THIS

anyways this short film was so intriguing and sad. how the water was a vessel that took the african people away from their home but then later became something of a sanctuary to those who fell overboard…

I think this speaks a lot to how people view the ocean. Because for some people it was used like a tool, a sort of road, something that didn’t have life. Something that took life (as evidenced by the people “dying”). But to others it gives life, it provides safety, as shown by the big merwoman transforming all the people (pregnant people I may add) into merpeople and saving their lives. The way people interact with the ocean probably also impacts how they see it.

There’s something to be said about having a surface level view of the ocean- how people only seem to focus on the top of the water, where humans can survive, rather than below, which is normally hostile to humans. It probably also speaks to our fear of the unknown, which makes sense as the ocean IS pretty mysterious. But in this the ocean is comforting and secure, but there’s also respect for it as an entity, as seen in the ending portion of the short film where it cuts from stop motion to real life.

week 11? Sirenomelia

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professor where did you even find this

anyways it was really uncanny, with all of those shots from under the surface of the water. And then the mermaid(?) swimming amongst the human structures, and then later in the middle of the ocean… it felt so out of place and yet so natural..

I think it speaks to how humans are somewhat out of place in nature, just as the mermaid was out of place amongst the structures. All of the shots of the quiet stillness in the ocean and in that tundra area sort of spoke to how nature sort of coexists with itself. That mermaids are a sort of extension of nature in a way, because we see the mermaid in the water almost all the time (naturally).
the film kind of implies that mermaids are indeed the link between humans and the ocean because the mermaid interacts with bare, isolated nature and the equally empty human structures. There’s also a bit of curiosity as the mermaid explores the structures, it could be a nod to how humans are curious about the ocean and explore it slowly.

week ten: the ocean…

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so we had two readings that touched upon the same issue- focusing on the ocean instead of focusing on the land itself. The article the Ocean Reader brought up a very fair point about how the ocean as a whole was (and still is) something we used in many different ways

“It serves as an introduction to the multifaceted Ocean, which is an enormous and very complicated system. Humans interact with that system in many ways. They relentlessly hunt
sea creatures, taking 90 million tons of fish from it annually. They use it as a highway, with 100,000 ships at sea right now. They study it, find inspiration in it, play on it, and fight over it.” (3)

Now personally, when someone puts it like that, it really kind of shows the impact the ocean has. We were afraid of it for a very long time (our overconsumption and our use of the ocean today is pretty modern) before recently. Even now, we take it for granted, because all we see out of it is something to exploit, to use and to discard. We take the life from it and then pretend like it didn’t have life in it. It’s as the other article says at the very beginning- “Without conscious choice, writers have embedded a terrestrial bias… Dry land is presumed the norm.” (7 Vast Oceans)

We need the ocean more than it needs us, really- and we need to treat it way better. Without the ocean, would things be as advanced as they would? A better appreciation of the ocean would definitely change things, but I think that can only really happen when we shift our focus towards it. Granted, we need to care more about the planet in general, but that also includes the ocean.

Week 9: Humanities

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so this time it was a reading and not quite from the penguin book or the other one which is an interesting change of pace. It talks about how environmental humanities have been in the works for awhile, which I believe: we’ve been aware of climate change since the 60s at the earliest (if I recall correctly). But reading it really reaffirmed a theme that we touch upon in class which is that of humanity’s role within nature.

”human beings are not merely observers they are an active part of nature”. (Page 8) We have shaped nature all throughout history physically and figuratively (through stuff like folklore and mythology). Even today we’re still trying to understand nature more and more (especially since we have a profound effect on it)In a way, it makes sense why environmental humanities became more and more relevant (with understanding comes widespread knowledge, and more awareness). At the same time, though, I hope we aren’t too late with it. Maybe being so divorced from nature has made us care less? Not to say that the developed world is horrible and we should revert back to a simpler life, but the more we move forward, the less we seem concerned with our planet

I had to type this on my iPhone. .