Author Archives: Emily Milligan

Final Essay Project

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The entity of the Ocean is responsible for knowledge, language, and humanity itself being spread across the continents. All land and creatures came from the Ocean, its entire being the life force of earth and its inhabitants. Yet, we have turned our eyes from its being, its presence. In our advancements as society, we have forgotten the waters from which we came from.

  Through the works of Rooda, Mentz, and Walcott, exposes modern humans to the Ocean as the bases for modern human language and the relationship between all humans across the seas. In our reflection, we connect back to our Oceanic and mythical roots that set the foundation for the modern human race. 

The Ocean has never just been a place we name. It is a nation, a state – caring for millions of lifeforms, ecosystems, and knowledge. As Rooda explains to modern audiences an ideology rarely brought to the forefront of our education. “Ocean” being capitalized as one would a “country or continent.” Roorda’s comparison shows modern humans that instead of viewing the Ocean as a “thing” – an object for humans to use – we recognize it for the geographical individuality and statehood sovereignty it possesses. The idea of nationhood in itself is a man made conception only established in a modern age. Before humans had speech – the Ocean sat encasing this Earth. It held the species, the lifeforms, the beginning of human DNA. It was the first of its kind to maintain ownership over its subjects. Calling a state by its individual and capitalized name shows recognition of ownership to that nation, a sign that we as a separate nation respect your right to rule and interact with your nation as you see fit. Modern humans recognize Ocean as a state ruling without our guidance. Ocean takes care of its beings – it is its will. Capitaling Ocean is the beginning of an evolution in human relationship with the Ocean and the rights it contains over itself, not the rights modern humans believe assigned to themselves.

Lack of capitalization “infantilizes” the Ocean in a way. To modern humans, we see it as a resource for our needs, which then becomes exploited by a race of humans, which then needs conservation by those same races of humans. The Ocean does not need us to govern its tides. The Ocean does not need our generation of humans to tell it how to care for its creatures and environment. The Ocean has never needed human influence in how it governs. It has total control on the regulation of its waves, its currents, its foam. For all of documented History, the Ocean is responsible for the carrying of knowledge. It has brought creatures across the globe to new lands, stretching biodiversity and evolution across the Earth. It has carried messages from one country to another. It has exchanged goods, people, technology, all for the benefit of humanity. Ocean decides where it moves. Ocean decides who leaves and who stays within its waters. Ocean is an individual, with its own systems, rules. It is a nation that for too long has been denied the respect it deserves from humans in regards to its name. Rooted in our written language is the disregard for Ocean vocabulary, viewing it as ours instead of itself. What have we done to prove to Ocean it needs our guidance? Ocean chooses which creatures come on land. Ocean chooses who lives and who will pass beneath its deep, dark waters. Ocean is the ruler, we are its subjects. 

This type of language shift is also discussed by Steve Mentz within Blue Humanities. Mentz encourages modern humans to reshape their language in an”offshore” way to reflect our movement and relationship with Ocean. A natural world we have left behind. One word in particular relates greatly to the work of Roorda, the word being Current. “Currents flow.” Currents are the language of the Ocean itself, carrying the knowledge of Humans across landscapes for a Millenia. It was the Currents who first split the land into separate entities in itself. Currents created the divides across Earth. And it was these same currents who brought human relationship back across. Human ideas flow as a current, in the same way currents are the carriers of the flow of ideas. Without currents, Modern humans would have no knowledge, ideas, or identity. We would be isolated and indifferent to the world around us. Humans traveled across currents – drifting to different regions. Families expanded across the tides, the flow of culture spread across millennia. It is Ocean who is responsible for these journeys. It is the Ocean who connects all humanity. Then why do we not have language to reflect it? Why do we place emphasis on land based speech when the Ocean is responsible for everything our societies have ever come to be? Mentz molds audience thinking, not in a way to be superior – but in a way to give respect and gratitude for the one who has always been there. As Roorda made the point – changing our language is not a creation – but a recognition for what has always been there. 

As modern humans, we are so susceptible to claiming the land as the foundation of our history. Our legacies, our creations, our people rest on the shores. For centuries – humans collectively have ignored the sacred knowledge and history hidden beneath the Oceans surface. A wonderful example shown by that of Walcott is as follows – “the white cowries clustered like manacles of the drowned woman,” “me with eyes heavy as anchors who sank without tombs.” Walcott describes to modern humans the very life that used to walk this earth now residing at the bottom of the sea. Human life – so intertwined with the creation of land and nations – now are buried deep within the oceans surface, their bare bones under the security and will of the Oceans tides. How much of a family legacy was lost to the Oceans will? What great minds of scholars now are at home with the currents? What became of those drowned women from the slave ships of Africa – chained to a new life they had no desire for. It was the Ocean that enveloped them, the Ocean that welcomed these lost souls into its deep and secretive depths, concealing them from the land bound man. It is Ocean who brought them to a new life, a path of hope. They did not face suffering at the hands of their brethren, but instead found refuge in something we deem as dangerous. Why is it that this mysterious entity is seen as harmful to human life, yet provides sanctuary for those destined to pass at the hands of one of their own?

Walcott’s connection to the Ocean as the history and connection of all human kind goes beyond Ocean taking ownership of human beings. The Ocean contains the lost architecture we have removed ourselves from – “these groined caves with barnacles pitted like stone are out cathedrals.” We as modern humans look to architecture from a distant past as a way of reconnecting with our ancestors – a time we never had a place in. But what of the Ocean? What of the caves and trenches that have sat for millions of years, once responsible for housing the first species encased in the water. It is these caves and minerals that have seen the creation of earth’s species, have remained within the Ocean away from human eyes – unable to be touched by our selfish hands. When modern humans see historical structure – they see profit. How can they turn this into a resource? These hidden Oceanic treasures remain what they were always meant to be. Remembrance of a far away past – useful in its structure and that alone. These structures do not need to be seen and admired to have importance? Their being itself represents the strength of the Ocean, the devotion it has to keeping its beings alive. 

Humans move across the Ocean, Humans drown in the Ocean, Humans are here because of the Ocean. The Ocean kept alive all living species responsible for the creation of the first humans. Ocean nurtured and loved this genetic material long enough to be passed on to its descendants. In the same way Ocean gave life to humans first ancestors, Ocean accepts the humans that are brought back to it. Just as Walcott described, humans first homes were Ocean. Ocean provided for us and Ocean saved us. Those carted away across its currents brought them to safety beneath its flowing waters. Ocean understands humans better than we understand ourselves. It cannot comprehend why we would want to hurt one another. Why would one human treat another in such a way. Ocean did not allow this. Ocean took its children back, away from the danger, away from the monsters who walked the land. These monsters did not dwell in the sea – no. It is the ones who have wandered too far across the hills, the plains, the landscape – desperate to claim ownership, desperate to have, those who have forgotten Ocean – who have become the most inhuman. 

Why do we choose to look down upon this rich and vast history? Why is it those who choose to study the dark and murky waters seen as choosing “inferior” knowledge to that of land based “superiority?” Because modern humans are selfish. Modern humans are greedy. Humans ignore the very things that reminded them of who they used to be. The Ocean goes ignored and unwanted because it reminds modern humans of a time before ownership. Ocean has been tried, humans have wanted to take parts of Ocean, but Ocean will not let them. The boundaries humans place on their share of lands are interconnected with all other parts of the sea. It is one body, one movement – just as humans used to be. We once sam in these waters as one community. We once were all inside pools of water, drinking, living, simply existing. But then modern humans wanted. Modern humans were no longer satisfied with its giver – Ocean. Ocean was no longer enough, therefore humans wanted to make history elsewhere. They saw themselves as being above Ocean, allowing no room for Oceanic history. But they forgot how easy it is to uncover the truth. They failed to see new generations of humans who would dive back down to the Oceans depths. Modern humans who would recognize the Ocean for what it is and what it has always been. For too long, humans have ignored what has been surrounding us for generations. Our own history, almost destroyed by our ancestors. But no longer will this knowledge be ignored. It is because of writers such as Rooda, Mentz, and Walcott that modern humans no longer sit naive to the problem of Ocean erasure. We give our gratitude and respect to Ocean as the giver of life. We are beginning to change our language to represent the form that first gave life – as if it is the first giver of humans, why should our language not reflect this? The new generations of humans are ready to explore the depths of our humanity, the creation of human history in itself, and to do that, we must start back to where all life began, the first architecture, ecosystems, and species all developed.

The human history existing beneath the Oceans waters has always been present. It has been here since the creation of planet earth and it will continue to be made until Human civilization is no longer present. Rooda, Mentz, and Walcott each, in unique ways, express to modern humans the importance of recognizing the presence of the Ocean as a part of ourselves and human heritage. It is through the Ocean we find ourselves, humans, and what has connected us for millenia. The strong waves, the vast currents, the nutrient filled waters make up every inch of community, connection, and humanity in itself. The first eyes did not open on land. They opened under water. 

Mermaids and the Enviorment: A Reflection

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In my first introduction to this class, I was skeptical in regards to how a “mythical” creature such as a mermaid could teach students about the environment. I quickly realized I had underestimated their teachings. Mermaids have shown me how much of an effect humans have on the environment when we ignore its warnings. The Ocean itself – so vast and limitless – contains resources that have sustained human beings since the creation of our kind. Our selfish habits have had negative impacts with not only the Ocean, but also climate, land, and other organisms. Using mermaids as a lens for retrospective thinking, we can see how our choices affect others’ homes. Our actions shape our future. What will become of us if we do not limit our exploitation of Earth’s resources?

Mermaids not only allow us to view the environment in a different way, but they also have shown me how humans form relationships with their environment and people. Mermaids are connected with the water in a way modern humans have forgotten. We first evolved through water, we traveled by water, we are water. It is the mermaids who reminded me and I’m sure many others of our unique history as a people, filled with unique cultures and identities, connected by Ocean. Mermaids represent the unknown, what is yet to be discovered. Their thirst for knowledge and journey, to a world they have never known, is a direct representation of humans seeking out what they cannot possess. Why should we as modern humans claim ownership of an Ocean, when mermaids do not claim ownership of unknown land? 

Mermaids have given me such a strong reflection on human exploitation and the boundaries created by others meant to be restrictive. Why must we abandon our Ocean history for a “superior” form of knowledge? Why do we focus on what we can gain, rather than give respect to what has been provided? How can we, as modern humans, reshape our beliefs and language to allow Ocean back into our everyday lives? What other mermaid history and knowledge is out there, waiting to be taught to modern humans?

Where should responsibility fall in relation to history?

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Solomon brings readers insight into the abandonment of responsibility seen in the Modern human race. Yetu, the historian of her kind, granted the ability to withhold all memories of their oceanic ancestry, highlights the key factor of carrying this burden all alone. She states “I carry the burden of remembering so you don’t have to.” “So you don’t have to” is Solomon speaking directly to modern human readers in regards to their dismissal of the Oceanic history of water, current, and life, and instead, allowing others to push for it remembrance in a way unaffecting our own lives. Modern humans have moved away from our ancestry held within the deep Ocean waters. We have distanced ourselves from our history, and instead, see others passing on the knowledge as enough of a voice to represent us all. 

Oceanic language and history has become “otherworldly” knowledge. Something everyday members of society have little need to know about. In modern human minds, our majority lack of understanding cannot possibly cause negative damage towards the Oceans identity. Yet, when we see something as not our problem, it leads to being the cause of someone else’s. 

Humans in the western hemisphere are so easy to dismiss Oceanic history and origins. Myths and legends are just that. A tale, not a biography. Western humans do not see the need to remember Oceanic history as we have so far distanced ourselves from our ancestry, we care little for our relationship with our home (Ocean) and its future descendants. We place that need of remembrance on those we deem as “inferior.” Those whose lives have less meaning can be responsible for caring for something “like the Ocean.” 

Yetu’s struggle to maintain balance as the historian, alone in her protecting history and her ancestors, tells Modern Humans the danger of ignoring our history and allowing it to be the focal point of someone else’s cause. Why should we abandon our Oceanic history and allow someone else to carry our identity? Yet Yetu believes her community doesn’t care if she’s the only one who has to remember, Western humans have little regard if their “inferiors” are in charge of caring for something as “non – human related” as the ocean.

Final Project Proposal

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After viewing everyones feedback aqnd ideas for their final projects, I have decidedto write an essay that incorporates another essay and blog post to discuss Ocean as a language and history, unique in its relationship with the human race. I plan on using the works of Mentz, Roonan, and African Mermaids for use of close reading and analysis. I will have a main question on how the human relationship with the Ocean has evolved over time and how the Ocean itself is a recognized Nation and State, with individual identity and history.

Thesis as of now:

Through the works of Rooda, Mentz, and African Mermaids, exposes modern humans to the ideology of Ocean as an identity and history. Humans are exposed to the ocean as the bases for modern human language and the relationship between all humans across the seas. In our exposure, we connect back to our Oceanic and mythical roots that set the foundation for the modern human race. 

African Water Spirits – The Relationship with Humanity

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Within the Section of “African Mermaids and Other Water Spirits” we are told that the Water spirits of Africa are “far from being relics of the distant past…” and rather continue to be “strikingly relevant to those who believe in them.” Through this, the author dismantles the belief that myths and legends are not just history to be repeated, but that history is a concept that is continuing to be created. 

The stories regarding African Gods and Goddesses bear striking resemblance to the tale associated with the Greeks or Romans. The mythical beings responsible for overseeing different domains, the balance of everything that is and ever will be on Earth. In observance, as we see how the centuries have gone on and people have moved from plain to plain, the legends have become lost, unused, and lacking in relevance in modern times. And yet – the same can not be said for these spirits and Gods of African culture. The connection between “real life” and fantasy is a thin veil crossed in these regions. Natives report sightings of aquatic monsters, visions we have only dreamed or read about, appearing in the wild. They halt research and construction. They are responsible for the ill-doings of man. 

This relationship between the marine spirits of the domain and human kind continues to be explored by African communities. While we in the Western hemisphere have moved away from the unknown of myths and fantasy, the peoples of these nations have stable and strong connections with the Gods and Goddesses from the worlds of their long – ago ancestors. Their presence is not a sign of a new age, a revelation – but rather a sign of a faith remaining stable in a developing world away from legends. A fight to recognize what has always been in front of us, even if we choose to ignore what we do not wish to see. These communities do not run from these encounters, yet speak of them as if they were true. These spirits are integrated into their everyday lives and language, connected to an aquatic world many of us have forgotten.

Ocean as a Seperate Identity from Human intercation

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Writing the name as “Ocean” is not a way of a human individual giving the Ocean an identity, as we have no individual rights to name the natural world. It is a way of showing recognition to what has always been present. Roordan reorganizes our thinking in regards to human ownership, what we conceive to be within our own domain of influence and what is actually out of our control. “Ocean” is the world and environment.

In the piece, Roordan explains to the audience the ideology behind the word “Ocean” being capitalized as one would a “country or continent.” Roordan’s comparison shows us that instead of viewing the Ocean as a “thing” – an object for humans to use – we recognize it for the geographical individuality and statehood sovereignty it possesses. The idea of nationhood in itself is a man made conception only established in a modern age. Calling a state by its individual and capitalized name shows recognition of ownership to that nation, a sign that we as a separate nation respect your right to rule and interact with your nation as you see fit. Capitaling Ocean is the beginning of an evolution in human relationship with the Ocean and the rights it contains over itself, not the rights we believe are assigned to it. 

Lack of capitalization “infantilizes” the Ocean in a way. To us, we see it as a resource for our needs, which then becomes exploited by a race of humans, which then needs conservation by those same races of humans. The Ocean does not need us to govern its tides. The Ocean does not need us to tell it how to care for its creatures and environment. The Ocean has never needed human influence in how it governs. It has total control on the regulation of its waves, its currents, its foam. For all of documented History, the Ocean is responsible for the carrying of knowledge. It has brought creatures across the globe to new lands, stretching biodiversity and evolution across the Earth. It has carried messages from one country to another. It has exchanged goods, people, technology, all for the benefit of humanity. Ocean decides where it moves. Ocean decides who leaves and who stays within its waters. Ocean is an individual, with its own systems, rules. It is a nation that for too long has been denied the respect it deserves from humans in regards to its name. Rooted in our written language is the disregard for Ocean vocabulary, viewing it as ours instead of itself. Even as I write this, the autocorrect wishes to “correct” Ocean to “ocean.” We have been ignorant and naive for far too long. We have deprived a nation from its title, the respect it deserves from those who expect so much from it. We have been taught incorrectly from a young age that the ocean is not a state, but a vast horizon, one that without human exploration, poses no insight to our kind. Yet – why should it reveal its secrets to us? What has the human race ever given this nation in return? 

In the political world, Nations exchange values with each other. Whether this be knowledge, economics, or policy, someone is winning in the barter. And what does the Ocean get? Nothing. We have never given the Ocean anything. We see it as being something within human confluence, therefore iot deserves no proper respect. We take and take, expecting its gifts to keep on giving. And yet – it is still here. It has always been here and it will be here long after humans have left this planet. The first step in correcting the damage we have done to its identity is paying proper respect to its name, its individualism, its Statehood. We are not the ones placing a name on it. We are recognizing it for the domain it has always been. Taking this small step will repair our relationship and lack of understanding we have come to be so comfortable with in regards to the Ocean. 

Roordan is responsible for reshaping how the readers see the Ocean and our relationship with it as a whole. This small correction to our everyday language positively impacts human connection with the Ocean and shows how we are able to give it the recognition and authority it has always withheld. Ocean identity is a part of the world, a massive nation that impacts us all. No matter how we try to shape the viewpoint as the Ocean being ours, something for human domination, Ocean will always come out on top. The Ocean is sovereign, the Ocean is a Nation, and we are at the will of how it shall dictate over us. 

The Ocean as Home, the Ocean as Roots

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The short film “The Water will carry us home,” reveals the life cycles and evolution of enslaved humans in their return to the sea and their relationship with the Ocean itself. 

One particular moment at the end of the film shows a woman with seashells, which she then places over her ears. This moment relates to the earlier images shown throughout the film .The film itself, a beautiful piece combining watercolor artwork and visual effects, poses a stark contrast to the topic involved and the imagery created. Enslaved humans being taken from their native land across the sea. Then, their transformation from known history into myth and storytelling reveals to us that those thrown overboard are accepted by the ocean to be transformed into beings of the sea. The Goddess of the sea takes upon her struggling children and provides for them a new life, in a home we have always known. The people’s return to water – a life cycle forgotten. 

Or so we thought. 

The imagery of the woman placing the shells over her ears, experiencing connection with the Ocean, demonstrated the relationship has been present and continues to remain so. Using elements that come from the sea, listening to the sound they capture, she is expressing her roots as that of being evolved from water. Even in modern day, years that have passed since the story’s events, she remains in tune and enveloped in the ocean’s gifts.  As is expressed in the culture that the film visualizes for us, this African native community itself evolved to be one with water, a creature separate from humanity, instead enveloped in the rushing waters provided by the Goddess. Their race combined and evolved to live life in the very environment we all once began our cycles in. The very origins of human kind. The film and the woman display the connection with the Ocean as not a beginning bond of a relationship, but a sacred advancement involving one’s roots and the connection between human spirit and the Sea. The Sea is Home, and as the film displays, some of us have been able to find their way back.

Ocean Identity: Belonging only Within Itself

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In our Introduction of The Ocean Reader: Theory, Culture, Politics, Roorada gives us an overall view on the message this book is intended to grant us, a cultural retrospective in regards to how we as a society view the Ocean and in what ways as a community we begin our rethinking of the Ocean in itself rather in comparison to ourselves. Within the introduction, a topic we are exposed to is “Ocean” being “capitalized”… “as if it were a country or a continent.” Roorada explains to the audience that the purpose of this is “to challenge the conventional wisdom that the seas can be taken for granted. They cannot.” This ideology challenges how many different human societies, particularly the US, see the ocean as a resource, “a thing” to be exploited for personal use and profit. And yet – Roordan challenges us to see that even believing the Ocean can be taken for granted is the problem in the first place. Writing the name as “Ocean” is not a way of a human individual giving the Ocean an identity, as we have no individual rights to name the natural world. It is a way of showing recognition to what has always been present. 

The Ocean was here long before any humans set foot on this earth. Its waters gave life to all forms of organisms, covered the earth in its richness to provide for its creatures. The Ocean does not act on behalf of us. We are its servants, privileged to use it as a pathway into other worlds unknown to us. The Ocean gave us the ability to be interconnected with other human communities, the only course to cultures and expansion. The ocean gave humans food and material, a way to sustain ourselves long before societies stood. Yet how can we say the Ocean bends at our will? How can we look out on this majority, a geographical location that covers more of the Globe than any other “thing” on this planet and expect to obtain power over it? 

             Roordan reorganizes our thinking in regards to human ownership, what we conceive to be within our own domain of influence and what is actually out of our control. Ocean is the world and environment. We live within Ocean. The Ocean is a part of ourselves, we would not be human without it. Our connection with it is that of children, reliant on its resources, unable to survive without its nourishment. We, as a community must take it upon ourselves to reshape our viewpoint on Ocean, understand we have no control over the natural world and are subject to its dominion it places upon us.

Our Human Relationship With Nature as a Whole

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The elements of nature and their relationship with humans is explored in the story of “Undine.” Through comparison of organisms and natural forces, we visualize the connection of nature and the universe as a balanced force balance- yet the absence of human status within the elements raises the belief of humans as foreign and intrusive in the groundwork of nature – devoid of domination over the natural cycles – creating the ideology that nature is independent from human power, existing and thriving in a world unaided by mankind’s interference.  

Undine, an extraordinary being herself, explains to her husband the hidden treasures and components of the Earth, hidden from human eye. Her description was as follows, “Wonderful Salamanders glitter and sport in the flames; lean and malicious gnomes dwell in the earth; spirits, belonging to the air, wander through the forests; and a vast family of water spirits live in the lakes and streams and brooks.” The unique pattern seen in this text is each earthly element has an organism to pair with it.  Every component of Earth has a being responsible for keeping its stability and balance within the ecosystem. As Undine described to her husband, these “beings” remain unseen to humankind, these terrestrial organisms with deep roots within the earth. 

Each and every being has a role in the cycle of life, a placement designed to control the movements of nature and the elements of earth. Without them, the air would not breeze past us, the water would not glisten and foam. We would lack sight of beautiful trees and would suffer through the cold without the glowing embers of a fire. Undine paints a narrative to reveal to us as a race that we, as humans, are at the mercy of these organisms, functioning in a world with these elements at our fingertips, due to the work of others. 

And yet – within this observance, there is one component and majority of earth missing from the equation. Humans themselves. This belief system indicates to us that we are the foreign objects circulating within nature. Our presence is not a helpful stimulation for the environment we place ourselves in. In no place does Undine proclaim humans have a role in the harmony maintained within the environment. We contribute nothing – yet wish to dominate. Our goal as humans is always to control what is separate from us. The unknown enchants us in a way that promotes discovery and this discovery leads to want. Want to obtain, want to rule. However, what right do we have to obtain the command of nature to our will? In what ways do we shape the flowers or move the wind? We as a society want to believe that without us, the lower class, the “inferior,” will lack prosperity without us. On the contrary, nature itself is an independent source, separate from any intentions of our own. It grows and shifts, evolves and moves without any assistance from humankind. It existed long before us and will remain long after we are gone. 

Udnie, through her description of life unknown to us, is able to convey a thought process often overlooked by us. We are not the most powerful beings in the environment.. We are not responsible for the beauty of nature and the gifts it offers. It is only through the words of Undine, a natural spirit, we even learn of the true nature of the ecosystems, given the sacred knowledge we have previously not been allowed to have. It is her nature, giving humans information and discovery, not the other way around. We only see what is given to us by nature’s allowance, not what we believe we have found through seeking. We do not hold the key, but rather, the key allows itself to be used.

What is the relationship between this observation and mermaids themselves? The connection comes from the fact of human desire for domination. In the same way humans have a desire to overpower nature, they have the desire to overpower mermaids. Mermaids themselves are part of the earth, responsible for the environmental changes and developments within the water. Humans see them as a foreign object, “a thing” to be conquered to fit an imagery they see fit in the same way they see nature. In our minds, mermaids “deserve” to be saved and assimilated by us, “exposed” to civilization and superiority in a way they would not achieve in their home land – the water. Yet, it is us who invades their space, sees them as not a being, but an extension of ourselves. We use them for our own desires and gain in the same way we exploit nature for its resources, without giving anything to either in return. 

The human race’s connection with nature has been underexplained and undervalued for millennia. We expect that because we cannot hear what has to be said by the elements, we may overtake it for “the greater good.” Everything we see we believe must be ours. Even if we play no part in the cycle and pattern that has been sustained by others. The account given from Undine makes us a human race witness our own faults and manipulation of nature as a whole, exposing our greed and desires for power over the unknown. It is through nature and the environment we must learn to reflect on our race as one and separate ourselves from the idea that we be allowed sovereignty over the languages and beings we cannot understand, and gain the competence to respect the world we have been placed in. We must evolve to see ourselves not as overlords, but a branch of organism at peace and respect of the elements we are provided with. 

For What We Seek Is Not Meant To Be

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In our Mermaid literature, we dive into the realm of human possession and greed, the belief that we must possess what we have not been given. In The Little Mermaid, the conceptualization of greed and consequence is brought in full circle. On the oldest sister’s birthday, upon her return, she expresses the wonderful sights she has seen in the wide land above. The young mermaid “longed after all these things (culture) just because she could not approach them.” Penguins pg. 110. Within Mermaid and Siren media, the goal is to give the audience a perspective on the dangers of flirting with the unknown. What becomes of us when we are exposed to what we most greatly seek. This moment becomes a foreshadowing of the future events that befall upon the youngest sister – The Little Mermaid. So desperate for her love and immortal soul, the mermaid forsakes her identity, her home, for the idea of what could await her on land. Her longing coming not from a sense of passion and maturity, yet rather wonder and amazement

In many forms of Mermaid media, the consequence of discovery is afflicted on the male, the husband. His wife’s betrayal – the beastly form – and loss of trust is a mark of sin and misfortune. Yet in this story – not only is the woman unnatural – she is also a failure. The price of a wandering eye costs her a life of happiness amongst her family, her realm, her identity – all for a love to not be reciprocated. Why is it in all of these stories the woman to be the cause of misfortune? Why is adventure and discovery equal to that of disaster? In the Victorian period, what events of the time shaped how mermaid media was received? Did the coming of industrialization spark feelings of insecurity, weariness of venturing into the unknown? 
The Little Mermaid correlates to many of its former Mermaid/Siren works, as a warning to curiosity and the new age. What will become of us when we reach what we have always been unable to have? The consequences on our soul and psyche will correspond to the rupture in humanity, the abandonment of the rationale to escape to a broader pasture, a pasture that very well will likely not exist.