Although I wanted to touch on the idea that this week, at least in the section we read, we finally see a cute love story between a man and mermaid, the overwhelming amount of aha moments I had reading about the mermaid boom essentially warrants its own blog post. The readings pertaining to “The Feejee Mermaid Hoax” (Penguin, 239-244) and “Freakshows and Fantasies” (Vaughn Scribner’s Merpeople) opened my eyes to the answer of why humans are, and have been, so fascinated by mermaids for centuries. As we’ve been reading throughout this class, mermaid tales have been told and recorded for a very long time but I think the Feejee mermaid hoax boosted its popularity for the 1840s. This showman was able to gain a lot of traction on his “discovery” as the Enlightenment was not too far before this time; an era of new thinking and ideas, surely a hybrid human would take the worlds interest with both hands. Although, like we all know, this discovery was a hoax, it did the job on captivating the world once more of this hybrid creature as one of the papers covering the story only discusses the Feejee mermaid in its’ first paragraph while “—the rest is essentially a chronology of mermaid sightings” (Penguin, 240), sparking conversation once again.

Then the transition from learning about this worldwide hoax to reading chapter 4 “Freakshows and Fantasies” you get a clear understanding on how curiosity and curiosities were able to captivate the minds of many people around the world. During this era, 1800-1850s, many Americans were certainly advancing as a nation but still had much to learn as they introduced coal powered engines but weren’t wearing gloves for surgery until a bit later. Therefore with this sort of contradicting, mindset era, playing out the idea of a hybrid beast being out there, but not actually seeing it was somewhat more close to reality than it might be today. Also, the press had a big factor in the culture of this time; there was no Internet, so the newspaper was as bad as real factual information you could receive. Therefore, if the newspaper said there was a mermaid sighting then maybe there actually was. This chapter also mentions how even in the scientific third wave of this mermaid craze people still hoped “—for a brief escape from their hard realities of their daily [lives] more than a peek into mystical wonder.” That quote says it all: essentially we have used this mermaid symbol to teach, to push religious values, to warn, and now for an escape. The mermaid wether it be real or not physically never ceases to legitimize that creative, wondrous spark of hope in our minds and hearts. That’s why myths and legends weather they’re real or not, are able to craft morals and values because of the magical element they hold, and therefore mesmerize a reader.