While reading The Little Mermaid, the moment that stood out to me was when the little mermaid gives her voice to the sea witch in exchange for human legs. I thought that this part of the story shows how her desire to gain a human soul and to love the prince requires her to lose her most important part, her ability to speak and express herself. The sea witch says, “You have the loveliest voice of all the inhabitants of the deep, but you must give it to me.” By giving up her voice, the mermaid loses her identity and becomes silent in the human world. She cannot express her feelings or tell the prince the truth that she is the one who saved him. The pain she feels when she walks“as if she were treading on sharp knives”represents the price of her dream. From this, I thought that the author connects her physical pain with the emotional and spiritual suffering that comes from wanting something beyond her world.
Even though she is silent, she is not weak. Her silence becomes a kind of strength. She continues to love and care for the prince without expecting anything in return. When she has a chance to save herself by killing him, she refuses and chooses to die instead. I thought this moment shows her true humanity, not through words, but through compassion and sacrifice. In contrast, the prince remains unaware of her feelings and her pain. From this scene I thought that the author seems to suggest that real humanity is not about power or recognition, but about kindness and moral choice. At the end, when she becomes one of the “daughters of the air,” the story turns from tragedy to hope. She does not get the prince, but she gains something more meaningful, which is a chance to earn a soul through doing good for others. I thought her transformation shows that love and suffering can lead to spiritual growth and redemption.
Through the mermaid’s silence and sacrifice, I thought that the author explores the idea that being human is not only about having a body or a voice, but about empathy and the courage to choose good, even when it hurts. The story reminds me that sometimes the path to becoming truly human requires loss, pain, and understanding.
Hi Bomin!
I really like how you focused on the mermaid’s silence as both a loss and a form of strength. Your point that her silence becomes a kind of moral courage rather than a weakness really stood out to me. I agree that by giving up her voice, she loses her ability to express herself in the human world, but Andersen turns that loss into a different kind of communication–one that happens through action rather than through words.
Nice post 🙂
Interesting focus on choice and silence as powerful. I’d like to see you stick with a text a bit more, to see how the text operates– a bit more close reading before jumping to larger claims. Is this about sacrifice or is this about empowerment?