While reading this week’s chapters, I found it very interesting how the discovery of the Americas relates to mermaids. Because the concept of mermaids had already been well established in the Medieval period, when explorers ventured west, they brought their beliefs along with them. Those beliefs led to “mermaid sightings” that then led to images of mermaids being physically distributed more and more through maps. The interaction between the images on those maps and the motivation to explore the world is fascinating. The author explains that “representations [of mermaids] only further primed explorers to find mermaids” (Scribner, p. 19) which encouraged cartographers to keep including mermaids. It makes me wonder how many discoveries that we discussed in school were made because the person initially wanted to find mermaids. 

At the same time, it is intriguing to me that putting mermaids on these maps also indicated a new environment filled with unknown animals, people, etc. In this way, it seems to me that mermaids had an important and impactful role in the colonization of the Americas. There were more motivators during this time than just seeing mermaids, however to the public, it was probably something that made a difference in whether or not they supported these ventures. Mermaids in this sense represent exploration and new opportunities. They were a physical manifestation of the new environments that the Western countries were uncovering.

I also found it interesting that Scribner mentions that the way that each country understood mermaids was a representation of the way that they tried to understand the new worlds that they were discovering. It shows how culture plays an important role in a person’s relationship with the environment. I question if the way that different cultures viewed the mermaid impacted the way they interacted with the ocean. For instance, if a culture feared the mermaid, did they see the ocean as something to conquer?  

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.