Tag Archives: The Little Mermaid

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 Paper

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Ana Dilan

ECL 305

Professor Pressman

9 May 2024 

The Little Mermaid/Ang Munting Sirena

As a child, one of my favorite stories was Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. I didn’t mind that the original contents of the story and its ending were sadder than the Disney adaptation. All I really cared about was the fact that there were mermaids in the story and, coming from a culture that depended on the ocean and rivers for much of its commerce and ways of life, that this story meant mermaids exist. Now that I’m older, I can see the tragedy of the little mermaid and how her pain reflects a generational wound that goes beyond her identity as a figment of a European fairytale and my own as a first-generation Filipino immigrant. I was born, raised, and educated in the Philippines until I was 10 years old. A large part of my education was the country’s history, which, from what I can remember, mostly focused on the Spanish colonial era which lasted till the 19th century, the Japanese occupation during World War II, and the American occupation into the 1950s. There was an egregious gap in my education on the identity of a Filipino before its many eras of colonization and before the country and its people were called the Philippines and Filipinos, respectively. Through the little mermaid’s story, I saw how the generational wound of a colonized identity revealed itself through the loss of the little mermaid’s voice and tail and saw how it reflected on my understanding of pre-colonial Philippine identity through the loss of crucial parts of our national identity and change in our country’s history. 

Viewing The Little Mermaid as a story of colonization adds a facet to the story through the concept of transactions, the changes and exchanges that occur during colonization. By recontextualizing The Little Mermaid through the context of Philippine colonization, we can see how Hans Christian Andersen’s 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. Using Helen Stratton’s illustrations as a base for these redrawn illustrations, as well as adding color to the originally-colorless illustrations and referencing clothing from a specific time period, challenges the universality and “timelessness” of the story. Altering these images to a specific place and time period adds a new intersection to the little mermaid’s identity; she is not oppressed just because she is a woman, but she is also oppressed as an individual–an indigenous person–who must assimilate by altering not just her body but her identity to fit into the colonizing culture in order to avoid persecution.

To reframe the story of The Little Mermaid through the lens of colonization, we must first see the little mermaid’s rescue of the prince as an instance of first contact. In anthropology, the term ‘first contact’ refers to the meeting or the meetings that take place between two cultures that have never come in contact yet. (Evers) The prince lying unconscious on the shore is dressed in 16th-century Spanish clothing while the woman who discovers the prince after the little mermaid’s rescue is already dressed in the colonial fashion of the Philippines worn during the 16th to 18th century. The crucifix around her neck also aligns with her counterpart in Andersen’s story, as she takes up residence in a church. (Bacchilega, et. al. 114) The presence of a church on land also carries the implication that the Spanish colonization of the Philippine islands and the spread of Christianity amongst the native Filipinos is well underway. Setting the story during the beginning of the Philippines’ colonization creates historical context and the consequences that will inevitably follow. 

The second illustration is meant to portray a Filipino value that has still carried over from the pre-colonial days: filial piety and responsibility and respect for elders. (Stanford Medicine Ethnogeriatrics) In this story, the little mermaid’s grandmother acts not just as a matriarch or a motherly figure but also as a babaylan, a shaman who presides over customary ceremonies and healing rites and acts as a medium and guide to the spirit world. (Babaylan Studies) In Andersen’s story, the little mermaid’s grandmother also acts as a sort of shaman, dressing her granddaughters on their fifteenth birthdays for their first times visiting the surface and possessing much knowledge about humans and the transference of human souls to them. (Bacchilega, et. al. 117) The little mermaid’s dependence on her grandmother’s advice and knowledge is a reflection not just of Filipino family values and dynamics, but also of the roles of women and the elderly not just as disposable members of Filipino society but as central to society’s knowledge and wisdom. The little mermaid risks leaving behind the well of knowledge and wisdom her grandmother possesses, should she choose to become a human and pursue knowledge of the human world.

In this illustration, the little mermaid has already changed significantly. The little mermaid bears two legs instead of a tail and her clothing has drastically changed to Spanish colonial clothing, wearing a three-piece variation consisting of the camisa, tapis, and saya instead of the simple baro’t saya that her pre-colonial counterparts wear. Her purple tapis and her green saya reflect her former royal status as a princess of the sea.The moment illustrated in the book references her nightly ritual of dipping her feet in the water to ease the pain she feels whenever she takes a step, at one point spotting her father and grandmother looking out at her amongst the waves. (Bacchilega, et. al. 123) The pain that the little mermaid feels with every step she takes acts as a reminder of what she left behind because of her decision to leave her underwater kingdom. The loss of her voice also acts as salt to the wound. Historically, the priests that settled in the Philippines decided against teaching native Filipinos Spanish, believing that they were superior to them and that teaching them these languages would cause them to rebel. (Stevens) The loss of her voice can be interpreted as the loss of the little mermaid’s ability to speak her native language and to speak for herself, as well as her inability to even learn the colonizing language that would enable her to communicate with anyone, a crucial part of her identity or her ability to form it taken away from her.  

In the fourth and final illustration, we see the scene where the little mermaids’ sisters beg for the little mermaid to kill the prince after his wedding to the princess, their hair cut short in exchange for the dagger that will turn their sister back into a mermaid once she stabs him in the heart with it. (Bacchilega, et. al. 127) The sisters are dressed in an array of pre-colonial Filipino clothing, particularly inspired by Tagalog, Ilokano, and Visayan groups recorded in the Boxer Codex, the same groups of people that have mermaid stories within their respective mythologies. (Bacchilega, et. al. 213) The sisters begging for the little mermaid to kill the prince, in a colonial story, acts as a plea for the little mermaid to get rid of the colonizing power in order to return to her original form. By killing the prince, there is a sort of misguided hope that killing the person in charge will end the system and return the country to its pre-colonial roots. However, as the little mermaid comes to know, the transformation that occurs during colonization is irreversible. In the same way that the country itself cannot return to its previous glory before colonization, the little mermaid herself cannot return to her previous identity as a mermaid. 

Works Cited

Andersen, Hans Christian. “Fairy Tales of Hans Andersen : Andersen, H. C. (Hans Christian), 1805-

1875 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Philadelphia : Lippincott,

archive.org/details/fairytalesofhans00ande2/page/258/mode/2up. Accessed 9 May 2024.

Bacchilega, Cristina, and Marie Alohalani Brown. The Penguin Book of Mermaids. Penguin 

Books, 2019. 

“Cultural Values.” Geriatrics, Stanford Medicine Ethnogeriatrics, 6 Jan. 2024, 

geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/filipino/fund/cultural_values.html. Accessed 9 May 

2024.

Herrera, Dana  R. “The Philippines: An Overview of the Colonial Era.” Education About Asia: 

Online Archives, Association for Asian Studies, 23 June 2023, 

www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/the-philippines-an-overview-of-the-colonial-era/

National Geographic Society. Edited by Jeannie Evers, First Contact in the Americas, National 

Geographic Society , 22 Jan. 2024, 

education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/first-contact-americas/. Accessed 9 May 2024. 

Stevens, J. Nicole. “ The History of the Filipino Languages.” The History of the Filipino 

Languages, 30 June 1999, linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/filipino.html. 

“What Is Babaylan?” Babaylan Studies, 

www.centerforbabaylanstudies.org/history#:~:text=Philippine%20indigenous%20commu

nities%20recognize%20a,therapies%20such%20as%20hilot%2C%20arbularyo. Accessed 

9 May 2024. 

Redrawn llustrations made on ProCreate with Apple Pencil and iPad. Original illustrations illustrated by Helen Stratton for ‘Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen.’

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.

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.

Close Reading: Eternal Life in The Little Mermaid

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Sierra Suelzle

Dr. Pressman

ECL 305

April 14, 2024

In Hans Christian Andersen’s short story, The Little Mermaid, the audience follows a young mermaid through her journey of adolescence. Andersen wrote this story in 1836 Europe when Christianity was the dominant religion and people were just beginning to question the scientific validity of said religion. Christianity’s main teaching is that in order to achieve eternal life and reach heaven, a person must believe in God and follow His commandments. Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid (1836) utilizes religious symbolism in its ending to subvert the religious belief of the time that to achieve eternal life one needed to believe in God. Instead, Andersen sought to convince children readers that the key to eternal life is selflessness.

The Little Mermaid contains a lot of Christian imagery and ideology throughout the story because Andersen understood that many parents at the time would have some association with Christianity and would therefore want their children to hear stories that perpetuate similar teachings. In this story, mermaids are a symbol of hell where souls are not present. Mermaids are described many times as not having an immortal soul which signifies that they cannot live in an afterlife. For instance, the grandma of the little mermaid explicitly tells the little mermaid that their “souls are not immortal. [They] shall never enter upon a new life” (Andersen, p. 116). This means that a mermaid’s soul is returned to the earth and is not meant for anything further than that. In Christianity, a person who has been “saved” by Christ is seen as having an immortal soul that will continue to exist in another plane after death. However, people who are not saved by Christ are not allowed to experience eternal life. In this way, mermaids represent those who were considered unholy and destined for hell at the time. Their souls will never be able to experience the “greatness” of the “unknown and favoured regions” (Andersen,p. 116) humans enter after death. Andersen includes these explanations of creatures without immortal souls as a way to introduce children readers to the idea of eternal life and to entice parent readers to continue reading this story. If parents did not believe that this story contained Christian teachings, Andersen ran the risk of parents deeming it immoral and a bad influence on their children. By including these teachings, Andersen increases his audience and cements himself as a credible children’s author. 

Following the establishment of the Christian ideology in the main portion of the story, Andersen then begins to challenge all of those ideas. The story ends with the mermaid protagonist being presented with a choice regarding her future. The mermaid’s sisters plead with her to “plunge [a knife] into the prince’s heart” (Andersen, p.127) and inform her that “He or [the mermaid] must die before sunrise” (Andersen, p. 127). The little mermaid then goes on to jump overboard, committing suicide.  The lack of souls in mermaids should have made this decision easy for the little mermaid because she should have been able to murder a man who never loved her and return to her family to live happily for the remainder of her life. However, she is unable to cause that unhappiness to the prince’s wife and instead chooses to sacrifice herself. Since mermaids are a representation of hell and nonbelievers in Christianity, they lack immortal souls which should allow them to do what they want in “mortal” life as there will be no consequences for their actions. They should not worry about the feelings of others or how their actions could impact other people. Andersen wields this conflict to demonstrate to readers that a person’s religious background does not indicate whether or not they will be able to obtain eternal life. He showcases that assuming people who are nonbelievers of Christianity are destined for hell is wrong and naive because good/selfless actions are not limited to those who believe. This pushes children to reframe their opinions of people who differ religiously from them because it creates an understanding that people cannot be confined to just one box.  

Furthermore, Andersen continues to challenge the religious ideals of the time by introducing a new creature to the audience: aerial spirits. The aerial spirits are a clear representation of heaven and godliness. The imagery of the aerial spirits resembles angels who are messengers of God in Christianity. The aerial spirits exist to do good deeds for humans and are given the chance to live in the human afterlife. It is explained to the little mermaid that “the daughters of the air, although not possessing an immortal soul by nature, can obtain one by their good deeds” (Andersen, p. 128). This opportunity to get an immortal soul is the closest that un-human entities can get to being human. The little mermaid did not believe in a higher power that would save her when she sacrificed herself, she planned on turning into seafoam and ending her life. Andersen’s decision to make her an aerial spirit highlights how all people have an opportunity to obtain an immortal soul that would allow them to have eternal life, not just people who are believers of God. The idea of eternal life being available to all is emphasized when Andersen explains what aerial spirits exist to do. The existence of an aerial spirit is a completely unselfish one, as the spirits solely exist to ease the pain and suffering of humans. The spirits “fly to warm countries, and fan the burning atmosphere” (Andersen p. 128) to get rid of diseases that kill humans and also “diffuse the perfume of flowers through the air to heal and to refresh” (Andersen, p. 128). Everything that the spirits do is to serve someone other than themselves which teaches them how to be selfless and how to better the world. Andersen uses these actions to educate children readers on how they can become selfless and thus achieve eternal life. 

Along with all that Andersen does before to enlighten his readers, he leaves the children reading the story with one last lesson. Andersen includes a warning by the aerial spirits to the little mermaid at the very end of the story as a way to remind children to be mindful of their actions. The aerial spirit reveals to the little mermaid that when the spirits “have met with a good child, who is the joy of his parents, and deserving of their love” (Andersen, p. 128) the time of their trial before they reach eternal life is shortened but if they meet “an ill-behaved or naughty child” (Andersen, p. 128) their trial is extended. While these descriptions of children being naughty or good are vague, with all that Andersen had previously hinted at, readers can understand that naughty means being selfish and uncaring of others’ feelings. One can then interpret that being a good child who is deserving of their parent’s love means being a selfless person who is willing to do tasks to assist other people. Andersen employs this last warning to encourage children to be selfless people because that will help them achieve eternal life. The concept of harming nice mythical creatures is a frightful one to most children, so when this is used as a warning children are more inclined to follow the advice of the author. This also appeals to the parents choosing to read this story because it promotes behavior that most parents of the time hope for: obedience. 

The religious symbolism in this short story is crucial to effectively convincing children that eternal life does not depend on religious beliefs but rather on actions. The little mermaid only can obtain an immortal soul and reach eternal life after refusing to commit a harmful action and being altruistic. Andersen imparts to the audience how important this decision is, as the mermaid sacrifices her life to save someone else. Children who read this story are forced to think crucially about the religious values being taught to them and instead understand the importance of selfless actions. 

Work Cited

Andersen, Hans Christian. “The Little Mermaid.” The Penguin Book of Mermaids, edited by Christina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown, Penguin Books, 2019, p. 107-130.

The Little Mermaid Reading Response

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Sophia Raya

ECL 305

Professor Pressman

March 3rd, 2024 

The Search for a Soul

In many stories involving mermaids and other aquatic creatures, the mermaid’s monstrous nature is highlighted by their lack of a soul and aversion to Christianity. During the 19th century, many people were concerned about the welfare of their souls and were still largely devoted to Christianity. In Hans Christan Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, the little mermaid yearns to have an immortal soul and will do anything in her power to obtain one. She decides to leave her watery home behind and rises onto land in search of a soul. As the story progresses, the little mermaid eventually transforms into an air spirit that inhabits the sky and will be eligible to obtain a soul in three hundred years. Within the structure of the text,  Andersen uses each section of the story to represent three different planes on the vertical scale: the aquatic plane, the terrestrial plane, and the aerial plane. This vertical ascension maps onto the biblical ascension of the soul to heaven. As the little mermaid travels through these different planes, she comes one step closer to obtaining a soul. 

Andersen begins the tale of the little mermaid in the depths of the ocean, far below any human development. This introduction is purposeful and places emphasis on where the initial physical setting occurs, and shows the placement of the mermaid world beneath that of the human world.  “Many church steeples need to be piled upon one another to reach the bottom to the surface. It is there where the sea folks dwell…” (Andersen, pg. 108). The use of church steeples as a unit of measurement adds a Christian layer to the setting, and the direction of these church steeples is purposeful as well. Instead of going from the surface of the ocean to the bottom of the sea, they are heading upwards. This upward motion paired with the steeples suggests that as one moves further away from the bottom of the ocean, they are getting closer to God which mirrors a soul’s upward motion to heaven. In some literary texts involving mermaids, the area below humanity’s domain is considered to be hell or the underworld. It is here in this place furthest from God’s reach where the little mermaid first inquires about obtaining an immortal soul. The little mermaid’s grandmother reveals that the only way to gain an immortal soul is to forfeit her life beneath the ocean and have a human fall in love with her (Andersen pg. 118-119). This information reveals that the direction that the little mermaid needs to go in order to obtain her soul is up which reflects in her transition from the aquatic plane to the terrestrial plane. 

When the little mermaid reaches the prince’s castle and undergoes a painful transformation to become human, she finally has the potential to gain a soul but she is not guaranteed it. In finally meeting the prince, there are only two directions she can potentially move to. If she wins the love of the prince and becomes his queen, she would be able to secure a soul and eventually move upwards to heaven when she died. If she didn’t win his affection, she would melt into sea foam where she would go down the vertical plane and forfeit any chance of eternal life. With these two options facing her, she attempts to win the princes favor and exists as a human being on land for some unspecified time. The prince and the little mermaid form a bond together and on one occasion, he takes her to the top of a mountain where they could see clouds rolling beneath them (Andersen, pg. 124). In this event, the little mermaid is still connected to the earth but she is also located in the sky due to how high up they are in the mountain, inhabiting both planes. At this point in the story, her potential for a soul is high due to the princes favor, and she is in arms reach of the heavens. As the story progresses, the prince and the little mermaid never go back to that high point together which marks the downturn of her probability of obtaining a soul through matrimony. 

The little mermaid’s transition from the terrestrial plane to the aerial plane did not go as smoothly as one would have hoped. Because she was unable to secure the princes love and by extension her immortal soul, she is faced with the choice of either killing the prince and remaining on the terrestrial plane, or sacrificing herself and dissolving into foam, leaving behind all possibilities of entering heaven. Because her love for the prince overpowers her desire to exist as a human, she decides to jump overboard and go back down to the aquatic plane, which would be akin to descending into hell. After this scene occurs on page 129, there is a large blank space before the scene continues, which is a point of transition for both the little mermaid and the text itself. This pause is purposeful and jolts the reader out of the story and may cause them to ponder the direction that their own soul is heading towards. After this space occurs, the little mermaid rises out of the water and slowly ascends high into the air like a soul going to heaven. It is here where she finally enters the aerial plane and becomes an aerial spirit. As an aerial spirit, it is here where her form more closely resembles a soul. In the Christian religion, souls are intangible and have no physical form despite being connected to the body. Once the body dies the soul is judged and may rise into heaven or descend into hell depending on the outcome of the soul’s judgment. This judgment depends on a number of factors including how closely one follows Christian values. One of these values includes loving one’s neighbor and doing good unto others. As an aerial spirit, the little mermaid has an actual shot at entering heaven by spreading good deeds across the world and following Christian teachings for the next three hundred years (Andersen pg. 130).  Despite the increased length of time it will take the little mermaid to gain a soul, her spot in heaven is essentially guaranteed. As an aerial spirit, the terrestrial plane and the aerial plane blend into one, there are no harsh boundaries that separate the two. As long as she continues to perform good deeds, she will not run the risk of losing her spot in heaven. Near the end of the story, the little mermaid mentions gliding into heaven (Andersen pg. 130). By using the phrase gliding, it implies that heaven is in the same plane as them. Because she’s an aerial spirit, she is already at the highest level vertically and doesn’t need to rise any higher to reach the Kingdom of God. 

Just as the soul ascends upward, so does the little mermaid herself also rise to the heavens. Despite some setbacks, the little mermaid rises into the aerial plane from the terrestrial and aquatic planes beneath her. Each vertical plane builds upon the previous one in both a textual sense and as a place where the little mermaid has learned to inhabit and explore. As she goes up through the ocean, terrestrial, and aerial planes, she displays care towards others and embodies Christian values which help to gain her a position in heaven in the future. 

Works Cited:

Andersen, Hans Christian. “The Little Mermaid.” The Penguin Book of Mermaids, edited by Christina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown, Penguin Books, 2019, pp 107-130.

Midterm: Close Read Essay

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Carina Virto

ECL 305

Professor Pressman

03, March 2024

How to get into Heaven: Womens’ Edition 

Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid is a religious, Christian,  how-to in terms of being accepted in the kingdom of Heaven. The story centers on a young mermaid, at the coming of age, who sacrifices everything, including her life, in order to win the affections of a mortal man, and consequently a soul. In Christian norms, it is traditional for a woman to marry a man, become a mother, and serve her husband and family to the fullest extent. Religion plays a substantial role in how those who follow its faith behave in society. In The Little Mermaid the emphasis placed on a woman marrying a man, or devoting her life to God, serves as a Chrstian allegory for the low value women possess on their own, further perpetuating harmful gender roles and overall treatment of women in society.

The little mermaid gives up her princess life, natural form, and family and chooses to undergo mutilation to her natural form, risking her life, and the loss of her voice for the chance to gain the affections of her male interest and an immortal soul. At the age of 15, the little mermaid was able to swim up to the surface of the ocean and view the human world above. One of her many visits to the surface sparked a deep, romantic, interest in a prince whose ship sank and that she had saved. Ultimately, her love interest furthered her fascination with the human world, inclining her to ask her grandmother about the life cycle of humans. Through this conversation, the little mermaid learns that humans possess an immortal soul that grants them ascension into “… favored regions, that [merpeople] shall never be privileged to see. (Anderson, 118)” These supposed regions are a direct reference to the Kingdom of Heaven in Christianity. In the Christian religion it is humans who may ascend into Heaven, not animals, spirits of nature, sinners, or non-believers. In this case, the little mermaid is still in the form not of man, therefore it is vital that she does something in order to change herself to gain the opportunity to ascend in her afterlife. Her grandmother then goes on to detail how the only way to acquire an immortal soul is to be loved by a human “so dearly that you were more to him than either father or mother–”. This caveat is an obvious ode to the idea that if a Christian woman wishes to gain access to the kingdom of heaven, she must follow through with her expected role as a woman in this society: to be wed to a man. If she fails to do so, her duties will have not been fulfilled as God intended. This ideology screams the notion that women are second class citizens to men, and were simply put on this earth to appease a man. This type of theme has been spun many times, especially in Genesis 2:18 which reads, “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” Eve was then created from one of the ribs of Adam, made solely for his benefit. Eve was not created when Adam was, but instead she was created to perfectly suit Adam’s needs and along with his own personal timeline, and for no other reason. Therefore it would seem that a woman’s sole purpose is to find their own Adams and contort themselves by whatever means possible to be able to serve him, as it was why she was created in the first place. To fail at this duty is to defy God’s intentions and to be denied access to Heaven.  With these ideologies in mind, the little mermaid eventually finds herself making a trade with a sea witch. The sea witch agrees to help the little mermaid for the price of  “the best of all [she] possesses in exchange for [the] valuable potion. (122)” These attributes include her tail, which shall be split into two and will condemn her to excruciating pain every time she walks, but not when she dances, and her voice. After learning the price of her desire to become human, the little mermaid asks, “But if you take away my voice– what have I left?” To which the sea witch replies, “Your lovely form– your buoyant carriage, and your expressive eyes.” The entire exchange not only expresses to the reader the sacrifices women are expected to make in order to be loved by a man and appease God’s intention for her, but it degrades her to simply a vessel of a person. The little mermaid will be a dancing monkey with no voice or value, just her body and beauty to give to her potential husband. She will not be able to express herself through words, because womens’ emotions cease to matter, she will not be able to feel comfortable unless entertaining her male counterpart as she has no other duty, and she will not be able to continue on physically living if she is denied by him. This degradation of women further reinforces the hierarchical gender roles perpetuated in Christianity, which is highly damaging to the perceived female value among society. 

Although the little mermaid is ultimately rejected by her love interest, all is not lost as there will always be another man to be devoted to– God. After the little mermaid turns into seafoam, having failed to capture the unrequited love of her love interest, Anderson writes an extension of the story to explain what other option a woman has if she is to fail her Christian duty of marrying a man: devoting your life to God. As the little mermaid floats as seafoam she then transforms and her body begins to rise out of the foam and high into the sky. When she inquires those around her where she may be they respond, “Amongst the daughters of the air!” (129). The daughters of the air also lacked an immortal soul but could “obtain one by their good deeds.” The little mermaid learns that after three hundred years of good deeds she may obtain an immortal soul after all. The daughters of the air are essentially aerial spirits, in which no human being can see. In Christianity there are a group of women who devote themselves to the Lord, abstain from sin, and are hardly seen by the public: Nuns. It would seem that Anderson is telling his readers that if you pursue your duty of deviating yourself to a man in holy matrimony and come out unsuccessful, after one try of course, you may then switch your course to instead serve God himself for the rest of your lifetime. The spirits then go on to confirm that indeed “[they] shall glide into the Kingdom of Heaven, after the lapse of three hundred years.” It is customary that Christains act in good deeds and abstain from sinning in order to be deemed worthy of a Heavenly afterlife, therefore it would make sense that this route was the next best thing for the little mermaid to pursue. Despite the idea that the little mermaid is still getting her immortal soul after all, the idea that she herself still needs to endure three hundred years as a daughter of the air in order to be granted access into heaven whereas men simply have to abstain from sin, is a clear representation of the pedestal men stand on in which women reside below. It is important to note that there are no “sons of the air” but that they are daughters, women. This sort of path is not necessary for the man, just as it was not necessary for Adam to require a purpose to be created. 

Men were created by God as a representation of his love and to spread love, whereas women were created as an afterthought, so that men would not live alone. It is clear, through the depiction of the little mermaid’s life, that according to Christainty, the widest followed religion in the world, that women lack value if she is not to be serving a man or serving the Lord. Notions of this substance attack the value of a woman and her importance as a human being, and give society an excuse to treat them as less than. Moreover, it is imperative to dissect texts like these to avoid being misled into thinking that if you are a woman then you’re insubordinate or that if you are a man that you may treat her as such. Literature is powerful in its ability to spread ideologies and influence society, therefore stories like these need not be blindly accepted as truths, but rather critically analyzed to understand societal biases against women and unveiling the absurdity gender roles confine them to in their pursuit for happiness.  

Works Cited

Anderson, Hans Christian. “The Little Mermaid.” The Penguin Book of Mermaids, ‎Penguin Classics , Westminster, London, 2019, pp. 107–129. 

“God Made Eve and Ordained Marriage .” The Elegant Farmer, www.elegantfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/God-Made-Eve-and-Ordained-Marriage.pdf. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024. 

Close Reading Assignment

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Emmanuel Alvarez

Jessica Pressman

ECL 305:Literature in the Environment

3 March 2024

The Little Mermaid

The tale, “The Little Mermaid,” by Hans Christian Andersen delves deeply into topics that are fundamental to the human experience, going beyond the simple fiction of its setting. In contrast to conventional mythological representations, Hans Christian Andersen’s portrayal of the Little Mermaid presents a figure whose connections, experiences, and feelings provide important insights into the nature of mankind itself. This essay will argue that Hans Christian Andersen’s depiction of mermaids offers a new perspective on the notion that they resemble humans more than we previously thought. Through an examination of the Little Mermaid’s curiosity, psychological depth, and familial connections, it is clear that Hans Christian Andersen has not only written a tale about a mermaid but has also considered what it means to be human, thus bridging the gap between entities from two seemingly separate worlds.

Curiosity is one of the most remarkable human qualities that Hans Christian Andersen gives the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid is shown as being enthralled with the land above the water from the very beginning of the story. She is not just interested in learning about the realm of people; she truly wants to know and comprehend things, and it is conveyed in the word choice used to display her curiosity, “What struck her as most beautiful was that the flowers of the earth should shed perfumes, which they do not below the sea; that the forests were green, and that the fishes amongst the trees should sing so loud and so exquisitely that it must be a treat to hear them” (Anderson, page 109). The need to explore, comprehend the unknown, and look for answers to the mysteries that surround us is a quality that is essential to the human spirit. Humans frequently pursue knowledge and make sacrifices in its name, and Hans Christian Andersen’s portrayal of the Little Mermaid’s desire to explore the human world and her readiness to pay for this knowledge is a reflection of this. Not yet being able to go above the water till she is fifteen, the Little Mermaid throughout the whole story, “Longed after all these things, just because she could not approach them” (Anderson, page 111). But, the Little Mermaid’s curiosity is not a passive trait, rather it is what pushes The Little Mermaid to venture into the dangerous unknown and leave the comforts of the known. This fascination reveals a basic quality of the human spirit: the will to discover new things, develop personally, and fully understand our role in the universe. For the Little Mermaid, whose interest with the human world is entwined with a deeper desire for an immortal soul and the eternal love she believes it would bring her, Hans Christian Andersen raises this curiosity to a matter of existential consequence. This examination of curiosity as a blessing and a curse strikes a deep connection with the human condition, bringing to light our own battles with the drive that lead to both success and failure in humans’ everyday lives. This new interpretation from Hans Christian Anderson casts mermaids with traits of one of the deepest human desires, the need for knowledge, challenging the idea that they are otherworldly beings separated from human experience.

The curiosity that defines Andersen’s Little Mermaid is not the only aspect of her personality. Rather, she is a complex individual with a rich psychological interior that is characterized by a variety of experiences and feelings. Her journey is one of love, sacrifice, pain, and ultimately, transcendence; and the Little Mermaid’s struggle is foreshadowed in the begging when Anderson conveys “When the sisters rose up arm-in-arm through the water, the youngest would stand alone, looking after them, and felt ready to cry; only mermaids have no tears, and therefore suffer all the more” (Anderson, page 113). Readers can relate to and feel the desire, misery, and unselfish love of the Little Mermaid because of the psychological depth with which Hans Christian Andersen imbues the character. The exploration of her unfulfilled romantic feelings for the prince and her choice to give up her voice in order to stay in his company highlights the complexity of human emotions and relationships, thus further blurring the line between mermaids and humans. Perhaps the most moving aspect of Hans Christian Andersen’s examination of the Little Mermaid’s innermost thoughts is her ability to love and sacrifice, her love for the prince is a complicated, all-consuming passion that drives her to make unfathomable sacrifices rather than a straightforward, fantasy like infatuation. She lost her voice, a symbol of identity and power, but she gained a human body instead, demonstrating the depth of her emotions and the extent of her willingness to sacrifice for love. This story thread examines the transformational power of love and how it can both inspire enormous sacrifice and cause immense misery. Andersen does not shy away from the darker aspects of the Little Mermaid’s journey, presenting her love and sacrifice as a path to understanding and growth, even in the face of unreciprocated feelings and ultimate loss. After all in order for her to become human and be able to present herself to the prince she had to understand all the suffering she would have to endure in exchange for human legs, “I will prepare you a potion; and you must swim ashore with it to-morrow before sunrise, and then sit down and drink it. Your tail will then disappear, and shrivel up into what human beings call neat legs. But mind, it will hurt you as much as if a sharp sword were thrust through you … You will never be able to dive down into the water to your sisters or return to your father’s palace” (Anderson, page 121-122). The Little Mermaid is displayed as an individual with the ability to feel deeply felt emotions, which is in line with human nature, and less of a menacing and non-human creature like a siren by diving into her personal life and sharing the hardships she faces. 

The Little Mermaid’s bond with her family is another aspect of Hans Christian Andersen’s story that demonstrates the humanity of the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid’s decisions are greatly impacted by her love and concern for her family throughout the entire story. Her interactions with her grandma, father, and sisters show a network of relationships based on understanding, compassion, and caring for one another. Her relationship with her family is just like humans have as well and we can as well relate to some of these interactions, “There was nothing she delighted in so much as to hear about the upper world. She was always asking her grandmother to tell her all she knew about ships, towns, people, and animals … At length she could resist no longer, and opened her heart to one of her sisters, from whom all the others immediately learned her secret” (Anderson, page 109 and 116). With something so simple as sharing that connection with her grandmother, similar to our grandparents telling us stories as kids, or sharing secrets with her sisters like little girls often do; Anderson further emphasizes the similarities between the Little Mermaid and humans. The Little Mermaid’s plot revolves around her familial ties, which impact her decisions and determine her fate. Because familial affection and obligation are universal and profoundly rooted in human communities, Andersen’s emphasis on family highlights this fact. Through depicting the Little Mermaid’s family’s significance, Hans Christian Andersen implies that humankind’s potential for love, devotion, and sacrifice within the framework of a family is not exclusive to humans, but rather is a universal quality that can bridge the gap between the idea of mermaids and humans being of completely different worlds. 

In “The Little Mermaid,” Hans Christian Andersen creates a story that breaks down barriers between the supernatural and the natural, the human and the non-human. Andersen sheds additional light on the idea that mermaids and all other beings are more like humans than we may have previously thought by depicting the Little Mermaid’s curiosity, psychological depth, and familial ties. Despite taking place in a magical underwater kingdom, this story explores the core themes of human nature, reflecting our desires, our struggles, and our capacity for love.  Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid is not just a creature of the sea; she is a mirror reflecting the complexities, the beauty, and the pain of being human. 

Works Cited

Anderson, Hans Christian. “The Little Mermaid.” The Penguin Book of Mermaids, edited by 

Christina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown, Penguin Books, 2019, pp 109-122.

Week 7: The Little Mermaid

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Reading The Little Mermaid this week has been intriguing. (I haven’t actually seen the Disney version either so this is my first impression of the “Original” Little Mermaid before I invest time in watching the Disney twist).

I am really intrigued by the imagery and descriptive words used by the author to describe this “underground” water-world. Various aspects of the text foster the idea that the human world is very glorious. Furthermore, the princesses described their initial response to visually seeing the human world in a way that encourages an appreciation for our world. For example, one of the princesses compared the sunset sky to “gold” to create a visual for the other princesses of how different and more fantastic our world is than the water-world. This is important because it highlights the humanity that exists amongst these creatures. The aspect of their humanity is significant because it creates an element of relatability to our temptations and curiosity. It is natural for us humans to be curious, to want to explore different countries and learn about different cultures. Similarly, these mermaids had the same curiosity.