Category Archives: Final Project

From Managing Nature to Living With It 

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Environmental problems are often treated as scientific failures. Climate change, water pollution, and species extinction are approached through data, improved infrastructure, and new forms of resource management. Yet despite decades of scientific research, global conditions continue to deteriorate. Knowing what is happening to the planet has not been enough to change how humans live within it. This reveals that the real problem is cultural. It forces us to ask not just what we are doing to the environment, but how we imagine our relationship to it in the first place. This is exactly where the environmental humanities intervene. In “The Emergence of the Environmental Humanities”, Emmett and Nye argue that scientific knowledge alone cannot solve the environmental crisis because the greatest barriers to change are cultural and shaped by behavior, values, and institutions rather than by a lack of information. They challenge the deeply rooted Western belief that nature is something humans can control, fix, or manage from the outside. Instead, they shift responsibility inward, toward the ways human actions structure the world. 

A similar challenge to the Western way of thinking is the African water spirit traditions seen in “African Mermaids and Other Water Spirits.” In these stories, rivers, lakes, and oceans are not seen as resources but as living beings with identity, personality, and power. Water spirits such as Yemoja or Mami Wata do not just live within the water, instead they are often understood to be the water itself. These traditions imagine the environment not as an object for extraction but as a real life presence that demands respect and care. Through myth, spirituality, and storytelling, African water worlds are able to construct an ethical relationship between humans and water.  Although these two texts come from very different intellectual and cultural traditions they both come to a very similar conclusion. Both challenge the idea that environmental crises can be solved through control alone, and both insist that how humans imagine nature directly shapes how they treat it. Together, “The Emergence of the Environmental Humanities” and “African Mermaids and Other Water Spirits” challenge the Western belief that humans “manage” nature by showing that environmental responsibility is shaped by culture and imagination rather than by technology alone. Through Emmet and Nye’s claim that humans only manage the behaviors that affect environmental systems, and through African water spirit traditions that personify rivers as living beings with identity and power, these texts reveal that the environmental crisis is not just a scientific failure but a cultural one. Together, they argue that sustainability depends on a shift from control to relationship, one that redefines water not as a resource to be used, but as a being we are responsible to. 

In “The Emergence of the Environmental Humanities”, Emmett and Nye challenge the assumption that the environmental crisis can be solved just by improving technology or collecting more scientific data. While they fully acknowledge the importance of scientific knowledge, they argue that science alone has never been enough to produce real environmental change because the real problem lies in how humans behave within the world. They locate the root of ecological collapse within human culture itself, within the behaviors, values, and institutions that shape how people act on what they already know. This idea becomes especially clear in their powerful statement “we do not manage the environment, only the behaviors that affect its structure and processes”. In this single sentence, Emmett and Nye completely flip the way we usually think about environmental responsibility and redirect attention away from nature itself and toward human culture. The sentence begins with the claim, “we do not manage the environment,” which immediately disrupts one of the most common assumptions in Western environmental thinking. The word “manage” usually implies control, authority, and the ability to fix something through planning and regulation. We talk about “managing” water, land, forests, and even climate impacts as if nature is a system that exists for humans to organize and correct. By denying that we can manage the environment at all, Emmett and Nye reject the idea that humans stand above nature as its controllers. The sentence then shifts with the word “only” to “the behaviors that affect its structure and processes.” The word “only” becomes a powerful boundary which limits what humans can actually control. We cannot control ecosystems, weather, or the planet itself, but we can control our behaviors. The word “behaviors” is intentionally broad, referring to everyday habits, systems of consumption, political decisions, and cultural norms. By framing environmental damage as the result of collective human behavior, Emmett and Nye move responsibility away from the natural world and onto society itself. Environmental harm is no longer something that just happens to us, it is something produced through our actions, patterns, and priorities. 

The final part of the sentence, “structure and processes” brings science back into the conversation. These words point to physical systems like climate, ecosystems, and natural cycles. By placing scientific language inside a sentence that is mostly about culture and behavior, Emmett and Nye show how closely connected science and the humanities really are. Science tells us how environmental systems work and how they are being disrupted, but the humanities help explain why people continue behaviors that cause that disruption. This shows us how scientific knowledge is not dismissed, but it is incomplete without cultural understanding.This idea becomes clear in the examples Emmett and Nye give of failed sustainability projects, especially the planned eco-city near Shanghai and the Huangbaiyu “ecovillage” in China. Both projects were designed with good environmental intentions and advanced technology, yet both failed because local people were never truly included in the process. Farmers were not consulted, daily lifestyles were misunderstood, and the designs did not fit the cultural or economic realities of the communities. As a result, many people refused to live in the new homes.These failures perfectly teach us that sustainability cannot succeed if it ignores human behavior, culture, and trust. Emmett and Nye reinforce this idea through their use of Tom Griffith’s observation that “scientists often argue for the need to overcome deficits of knowledge, but rarely ask why we do not act upon what we already know.” This quote shows one of the most frustrating contradictions of the environmental crisis.  We already know what is happening to the planet. We know about climate change, pollution, extinction, and water scarcity. Yet, knowledge alone clearly has not been enough to stop these patterns. The real challenges are cultural and within our economic priorities, political systems, comfort, convenience, and deeply ingrained habits that prevent meaningful change. Together, Emmett and Nye’s argument reshapes what environmental responsibility actually means. If humans do not manage the environment but only the behaviors that affect it, then the work of environmental care becomes ethical. The focus shifts from trying to “fix” nature to examining ourselves, our values, our choices, and the systems we continue to support. Environmental failure becomes a mirror reflecting the ways society understands (or misunderstands) its relationship with the natural world. This redefinition of responsibility also explains why so many environmental solutions struggle to succeed. Solar houses can be built, but people must be willing to live in them. Sustainable cities can be designed, but communities must be ready to adapt their daily lives. Scientific models can predict collapse, but prediction alone does not create care. Emmett and Nye ultimately argue that without a cultural shift and without changing how humans imagine their place in nature, environmental action will continue to fall short. 

In “African Mermaids and Other Water Spirits,” the relationship between humans and water is imagined in a completely different way than in most Western environmental thinking. Instead of being treated as a resource to control, extract, or manage, water is understood as alive and full of spirit, identity, and power. This idea is clearly shown in the line, “African water spirits often personify the source of water in which they live and sometimes bear the same name as the river in which they dwell.” Like Emmett and Nye’s statement about behavior and control, this sentence reshapes how responsibility toward the environment is understood. Through personification and spiritual relationship, the text presents water not as an object humans use, but as a being humans live with. The key word in this sentence is “personify.” To personify something is to give it life and personality. When rivers and lakes are personified through water spirits, they stop simply being an object and instead become an alive presence with their own will and power. Water is no longer just something that flows through space, it becomes someone. This mindshift completely alters the relationship between humans and the environment. You cannot casually pollute, dam, or drain something that you recognize as alive in the same way you recognize another person as alive. The line goes even further by saying that these spirits “bear the same name as the river in which they dwell.” This detail is especially important because it removes the boundary between the water and the being. The spirit is not just living inside the river, the river is the spirit. In Western worldviews, nature is often separated into physical matter on one side and meaning or value on the other. This line collapses that divide. Water is not just meaningful, it is a meaningful being. The river holds memory, identity, and presence, not just economic value. By naming rivers as spirits, the text shows how environmental responsibility becomes personal. A river with a name is not anonymous. It can be respected, remembered, honored, or violated. This creates a level of accountability that is often missing in Western environmental systems. When water is imagined as a named being rather than as a commodity, environmental harm becomes personal. Pollution is no longer just waste disposal, it becomes an act of disrespect. Damming becomes more than engineering, it becomes interference with a living force. The text later expands on this idea by showing how water spirits continue to appear in modern settings, especially near dams, construction zones, and development sites. These new sightings turn ancient traditions into present day warnings. They suggest that water has not lost its power just because modern infrastructure has changed the landscape. Instead, water spirits function as a kind of cultural warning system. They signal danger when water is being misused or disrespected. Long before environmental science developed language for ecosystem collapse these traditions already carried systems of care, caution, and accountability. 

What stands out most is how these stories regulate human behavior without relying on laws, policies, or scientific institutions. Rituals, taboos, and spiritual respect guide how people interact with water. You do not take more than needed. You do not treat water carelessly. You acknowledge its power. These practices show that sustainability does not always come from new technology, it can come in the form of relationships. In this way, African water spirit traditions already embody what Emmett and Nye argue Western cultures lack, which is, a way of shaping behavior through values and imagination rather than through control and domination. The personification of water also challenges the idea that nature is separate from human life. The spirits move between the human world and the natural world freely. They appear in dreams, stories, rituals, and daily life. This dissolves the nature and culture divide that Emmet and Nye critique throughout their work. Humans are not positioned outside the environment looking in. Instead, they are embedded within the living system. Most importantly, these African water traditions reshape what responsibility feels like. Responsibility in Western environmental thinking is often legal such as meeting emission limits or following specific regulations. In the world of water spirits, responsibility is emotional, spiritual, and personal. If you harm the river, you are not just breaking a rule, you are offending a being. Through this lens, water is not something to be “managed” at all. It is something to be honored, lived with, and approached carefully. 

When placed side by side, “The Emergence of the Environmental Humanities” and “African Mermaids and Other Water Spirits” reveal two very different ways of thinking about the environment, yet they both untimely lead to the same conclusion. Emmet and Nye are able to diagnose the environmental crisis as a failure of culture and behavior rooted in Western ideas of management and control. African water spirit traditions, on the other hand, offer a worldview in which water is imagined as a living being embedded in relationships of care, respect, and accountability. While one text is written through academic theory and the other through spiritual storytelling, both argue that how humans imagine nature determines how they treat it. In this way, these texts show that sustainability depends not only on science and policy, but on a deeper shift in imagination. Western environmental logic is built on the idea of management. Nature is positioned as something external to humans, something to be organized, monitored, extracted, and repaired. This logic assumes that humans stand above the environment as planners and problem solvers, controlling damage through innovation and regulation. Emmett and Nye directly challenge this mindset when they argue that “we do not manage the environment, only the behaviors that affect its structure and processes.” Their claim exposes how deeply flawed the logic of control truly is. If humans cannot manage nature itself, then every attempt to “fix” the environment without changing behavior is bound to fall short. The problem is not just what technology we use, but the worldview that tells us nature is something to control in the first place. African water spirit traditions offer the opposite assumption. Instead of control, they prioritize relationships. Water is not imagined as a resource, but as a being with identity, power, and presence. Through personification and naming, rivers and lakes become moral beings rather than just materials to use. This worldview does not rely on management systems and data collection to produce care. Instead, it uses story, ritual, and spiritual meaning to shape behavior. Where Western systems attempt to enforce sustainability through external rules, water spirit traditions cultivate responsibility from within through relationships. This comparison shows us that imagination itself functions as environmental infrastructure. Emmett and Nye argue that cultural systems shape behavior more powerfully than scientific knowledge alone, while African water spirit traditions demonstrate exactly how that shaping happens. When water is imagined as alive, behavior toward water changes. When water is imagined as a resource, exploitation becomes normal. Imagination is not separate from the environment; instead, it actively structures it. Both texts ultimately reject the idea that humans exist outside of nature as managers. Instead, they insist that humans are embedded within environmental systems, whether through climate processes or through spiritual relationships with water. This shared rejection of separation is crucial. When humans are imagined as separate from the environment, it becomes easier to justify extraction, pollution, and domination. When humans are imagined as part of a living system, responsibility becomes unavoidable. What unites these two texts most strongly is their shared claim that the environmental crisis is not just a scientific breakdown, but an imaginative one. Emmett and Nye show how Western culture has organized itself around control, efficiency, and dominance. African water spirit traditions reveal what it looks like to organize a culture around relationship, respect, and accountability. Together, they suggest that real sustainability will never come from better machines alone, it must also come from better stories, better values, and better ways of imagining our place in the world.  

Climate change, water pollution, dam construction, and water scarcity are often discussed through numbers, charts, and projections. We measure rising sea levels, track drought patterns, and debate emissions targets. All of this data is important, but as Emmett and Nye make clear, knowing what is happening to the planet does not automatically change how humans behave within it. The environmental crisis persists not because we lack information, but because the dominant cultural imagination still treats nature as something separate, manageable, and ultimately disposable.This is what makes both “The Emergence of the Environmental Humanities” and “African Mermaids and Other Water Spirits” so important. Together, these texts show that environmental collapse is not just a scientific emergency, it is a cultural and imaginative one. Emmett and Nye reframe environmental responsibility by reminding us that we do not manage the environment itself, only the behaviors that shape it. This shift forces accountability back onto human choices, values, and systems rather than onto the planet as something to be “fixed.” At the same time, African water spirit traditions reveal what it looks like to live inside a worldview where water is not an object but a living presence. When rivers are spirits, and water has a name and a personality, environmental harm becomes personal and care becomes relational. These texts reveal that sustainability depends on how humans imagine their place in the world. If water is imagined as a resource, it will be used, controlled, and eventually exhausted. If water is imagined as a being, it will be approached with respect, caution, and reciprocity. These are not just symbolic differences, they shape real behavior, real systems, and real consequences. Stories, myths, and cultural beliefs function as powerful tools that regulate how people act long before policies or technologies enter the picture. Ultimately, these texts show that the environmental crisis is an imaginative one. How we picture water, either as a resource or as a being, shapes the behaviors that determine its future. Emmett and Nye show why scientific knowledge alone cannot change a culture built on control, while African water spirit traditions offer a model of responsibility grounded in relationship. Together, they suggest that real sustainability begins with reimagining our place in the world. Before we can heal the planet, we have to change the stories we tell about it.

Final Essay/Creative Project!!!

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The Musical Tale of the Siren

Sirens and their connection to the sonic are crucial to understanding Mermaid history. Sirens, as a symbol of sound and music, illuminate their role as sonic storytellers. This connection is emphasized through a playlist that was cultivated over the course of the semester, The Penguin Book of Mermaids by Christina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown, and claims from Meri Franco-Lao’s Sirens: Symbols of Seduction. In exploring early concepts of Mermaids as Sirens, these references accentuate Sirens as voices that embody survival and memory through both literature and sound. Each song within this playlist furthers the notion of Sirens and their historical connection to the sonic through music and sound.

From early literature, Sirens have been portrayed as accompanied by musical instruments and hypnotic voices. The Penguin Book of Mermaids mentions that “reductive definitions of mythological Sirens as real-life ‘harlots outstanding in both instrumental music and sweetness of voice’ who ‘reduced passers-by to beggary’ already circulated in Greek and Roman antiquity” (Bacchilega and Brown xii-xiii). This furthers the idea that Sirens have almost always had some form of relationship to the sonic. Sirens connect to sound on both a literary and an instrumental level, intertwining them with their own history as an alternative form of storytelling. The idea of Sirens as sonic storytellers is presented by “a phrase from Clement of Alexandria,” as Franco-Lao states, “Those who were as if dead and did not partake of the true life were revived by the sound of their song” (Franco-Lao 54). This revival illustrates the importance of storytelling, for instance, historical remembrance. The voices and music of the Sirens revive the stories and the lives of those forgotten throughout history. 

The song of the Sirens is more than just a hypnotic sound; it’s also “Music of movement and music to form movement, according to the Platonic concept”(Franco-Lao 43). This musical movement emphasises the idea that a Siren’s voice carries meaning and importance. Historically speaking, the music and voice of a Siren tell the parts of history the world might have forgotten or washed away. Their voices shed light on lost stories and memories because it was originally thought that, “Whoever hears this [Siren] sound acquires memory of past and future and of the underlying truths governing them” (Franco-Lao 40). This connection of Sirens and the sonic emphasizes the idea that water tells a story, and Sirens are used as the voice of water and history.

Each song within the playlist I’ve created relates to some form of history through the eyes of a Siren. The connection between the music and the Siren will be either lyrically or musically, depending on the song. Each song portrays something different and unique, following the flow and growth of our understanding of the Mermaids and Sirens over the course of the semester. This playlist will further examine the notion that the music and sounds of a Siren can tell a historical story that contains memories.

The first song is Mermaid Song by ConcernedApe. The eerie music and hypnotic voice grow louder as the song continues, helping us grasp the original concept of Sirens. This song plays a role in our understanding of how the Siren first started; these scary creatures that use their voice to lure men into the sea.

The next song is Elevenses by Lena Raine. The peaceful nature and alluring aspect of this song strongly connect to the true concept of Sirens. The flute in the song can be seen as a simple reference to the original tale of Sirens and how “they acquired human arms to hold their instruments”(Franco-Lao 1). This song adds to the idea that the Siren’s music doesn’t always have to be eerie. 

The following song in this playlist is Falling Stars by A Shell In The Pit. This instrumental song aids in the communal idea of the ocean. Seeing water as a form of history paves the way for those untold stories to see the light of day. This is possible because of the Sirens who play that music for the world to hear.

Echo of the Past by Jonathan Greer is another song that enlightens our understanding of Sirens and the sonic. This is because of its emotional tone and slow music, the kind of sounds that make someone reminisce. The softness of this song reminds us of the memories hidden beneath the depths of the ocean. This is the kind of memory the Sirens tell through similar songs.

Bellhart by Christopher Larkin is a song that aids in the idea that Sirens and water carry emotion. Holding onto history and memories causes emotions, and this song is perfect for reminding us. Each instrument holds an emotion, like water, and the Sirens use it to tell those emotions.

The next song is La petite fille de la mer – Remastered by Vangelis. This song carries a hypnotic yet peaceful tune that highlights the first concepts of the Siren. Vangelis’ song aids in our learning of the story of Melusine and how she “would return during the night, secretly, to protect her children, and even to nurse the youngest”(Franco-Lao 127). It holds an almost nurturing sound that only a Siren could execute.

The Shadow of Love by Stomu Yamash’ta is a song that brings to light the relationship between love and the Siren. Sirens and Mermaids have been known to be creatures of seduction, using their song as entrapment for young sailors. This song brings to light the emotional and loving aspect of the Siren. Where their song “is the music of the cosmos, ordered and harmonic by definition”(Franco-Lao 40). Yamash’ta’s song emphasizes the loving embrace of the Siren and her song of history and knowledge. 

Another song from the playlist that aids in our understanding of the Siren and the sonic is Before the Night by Joël Fajerman. This song feels like a fairytale, which reminds us that the story of the Siren isn’t meant to be just a fairytale or myth. Their music is meant to tell a story, the stories that have lost their voices over time. Fajerman’s song plays an important role in the true nature of the Siren’s song.

 The next song in the playlist is Lure of the Siren by Mo Coulson and Chris Conway. This song is exactly what it sounds like; it plays the sound of the Siren, her faint whispers as she’s meant to lure you to the sea. But this song shows something greater, the peacefulness of the water as the instruments play. It reiterates the importance of hearing the Siren, listening to what she is trying to tell you about the water and its history.

Oceans Breath is another song that aids in our learning of the Siren. This song is meant to remind us of the ocean’s rawness, the birds, and the sounds of the waves. The eerie start of the song, followed by the peaceful quickness of the jazz-like tune, highlights the importance of not looking solely at the surface. Sirens are only ever given surface definition, but the true meaning lies hidden underneath. This song shows the importance of looking further into the things we are being shown throughout history.

The next song is called The Last of Her Kind by Peter Gundry. This song is crucial to understanding the history that Sirens bring. The tune is dramatic yet whimsical and incredibly embodies the concept of Sirens as storytellers. It’s a peaceful start that slowly turns dramatic and reminds us of the painful aspects of the history that Sirens tells. This song shows us how Sirens take every and all memories of the ocean and use their songs to tell those stories.

THE MILK OF THE SIREN by Melanie Martinez is a song from the playlist that is important based on its lyrical content. Martinez states, “Engraved in our memory the harm that was done. Our mothers, the witches, they banished and burned. All of our sisters were killed and abused by sword-swinging men who would always accuse”(Martinez lines 6-8). This song is important to understand because it accentuates how the Sirens use their songs to expose the parts of history that have been brushed under the carpet. It’s crucial to note that Sirens have always been associated with music; their songs carry painful memories that have been forgotten by the majority.

The last song in this playlist is Frozen Drifts by Upright T-Rex Music. This song is completely peaceful throughout and plays a role in finally understanding Sirens. Once we see the Siren song as educational rather than torturous, we can use the knowledge to spread the stories they tell. 

All things considered, it’s important to see Sirens and the sonic as the voices of the ocean. They tell the stories of lost history washed away and forgotten. The Sirens bring light to those memories, and their songs give voices to those who have been silenced. The songs in this playlist emphasize the work Sirens do with their music. Music carries knowledge, and Sirens oceanize them, paving the way for a deeper understanding of the ocean as a living form of history. These songs reveal the true knowledge of the story of the Siren as sonic storytellers. When we listen to the Siren with an open heart and mind, we are shown stories we never knew had been lost. 

Works Cited

Franco-Lao, Meri. Sirens. 1998.

Bacchilega, Cristina, and Marie Alohalani Brown. The Penguin Book of Mermaids. New York, New York, Penguin Books, 2019.

My Playlist:

‌https://open.spotify.com/playlist/36IJC6BkSjvOto8BKkw2ji?si=mGHUVhXHR36UxGtuN-47WA&pi=vqIoc3EYTRq1b

I hope everyone has an amazing break! I will miss our class time together and all of your insightful takes on Mermaids!! My last semester has been one of the best ever, thanks to you all!!

ECL 305 Final: A Foam Between Two Worlds

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https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/pyle-mermaid

In this unfinished 1910 painting by Howard Pyle called The Mermaid, a glowing mermaid is pictured holding onto a limp, young sailor with tight grip, on sharp, moonlit rocks, while green and blue waves come crashing down around them and white sea foam moving everywhere. This beautiful picture encapsulates the soul of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” –that deep, heartbreaking wish she has to leave her life below sea and join the human world; Trading her tail and beautiful voice for a pair of legs and the opportunity to have an eternal soul. Her pale arms are wrapped around the sailor’s sharp face, and the top of his head where a Phrygian liberty cap sits. This represents a symbol for freedom that makes viewers of this painting relate back to the prince the little mermaid pulls from the shipwreck in Andersen’s tale. This whole scene freezes this extremely tense, and emotional moment where she is stretching out from her world below, toward the sailor’s land life; Almost like she is between two worlds already. Pyle’s painting perfectly shows the Little Mermaid’s intense desire to join the human world. In the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, the Little Mermaid says, “I would willingly give all the hundreds of years I may have to live, to be a human being but for one day, and to have the hope of sharing in the joys of the heavenly world” (Andersen 116). Through this artwork, Pyle shows through this intense boundary between sea and land, that this kind of longing can break down natural walls, just like how humans impact the environment today.

Through the use of light, Pyle allows viewers to emphasize with the Little Mermaid’s yearning. The light of the moon illuminates her upper body against the waters below, comparable to Andersen’s imagery of her rising from under the deep water, “blue as the petals of the loveliest cornflower” (Andersen 107). The shimmering light also surrounds her and creates an illusion of the “soul” she is yearning for. As the Little Mermaid’s grandmother said, When humans die, they “Ascend through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars”, but when a mermaid dies, she is “Dissolved like green seaweed. Once cut down it never grows again” (Andersen 117). The Little Mermaid and the sailor’s eyes meet while they are starting at each other. Hers in the sky looking up with great longing for his world, and his blank eyes staring down at her. This gaze represents her fixation on unreachable human vitality. According to a scholarly article written by Nancy Easterlin titled Hans Christian Andersen’s Fish Out of Water, Easterlin captures these opposing energies within the image and states that it is “the mermaid’s inwardness, isolation, and longing for a different kind of life than what is ‘natural’ to her” and she does not have the luxury of being an ocean playground, but rather an imprisoned ocean storm (Easterlin 252). The blues transition from the placid deep sea to the turbulent white foam showing how the union of body and soul is a disruption to the Little Mermaid.

When taking a closer look at their embrace, one can see the pain that comes with crossing over into a new world. The Little Mermaid’s arms are holding the sailor gently but still possessively, with fingers gripping as if drawing his warmth into her cold, scaly foam. This echoes the sea witch’s major warning: “Once you obtain a human form, you can never be a mermaid again! You will never be able to drive down into the water to your sisters or return to your father’s palace” (Andersen 119). Some of the sketch lines under the paint–wild webbed foam and shaky hand grips–show her sea nature fighting back, just like the sharp knife pain of her new legs on land. The freedom cap on the head of the sailor mocks the Little mermaid’s almost-human look (with just faint scales), making their embrace a risky doorway. She drags him into the sea even as she most desires his freedom from the land above. In another scholarly article written by Angel Tampus titled, Comparative Analysis of Hans Christian Andersen’s and Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Tampus calls this the Little Mermaid’s “strong motivation to be a part of the world above,” which is tied to the story’s Christian idea that love is able to win a soul (Tampus 18). The rocks depicted in the image look hard and difficult to climb, while the foam rushes forward almost like a sense of impending doom closing in– or a small change to escape.

Pyle’s composition puts the mermaid and sailor at the center of the artwork, where the rugged rocks serve as a symbolic and literal divide. These sharp edges cut through the scene, showcasing the truly difficult transformation the mermaid is enduring. Each step she takes on land will feel like knives, mirroring the harsh stone beneath her. The rocks ground her tail while her upper body leans forward. This creates visual tension that represents here split identity between sea and land.

The color palette of the painting further invokes this theme of longing and disruption. The cool blues and greens dominate the waves, which evoke the mermaid’s natural underwater home. However, they still churn violently toward warmer highlights on her skin and the sailor’s face. This blending of temperatures represents the mermaid’s desire to replace her current cold oceanic isolation for now human warmth and connection, while the sea foam hints at dissolution, which is her ultimate fate if love fails.

Another thing that is important to notice is that the sailor’s posture and how it is contrasted with the mermaid’s active embrace. The tilted hat of the sailor suggests freedom slipping away as she draws him downward. This essentially changes the power dynamic. This reversal shows the little mermaid’s desperate agency. Instead of passively yearning, she is attempting to bridge worlds, even with the risk of pulling humanity into her destructive element.

In Pyle’s painting, the broader seascape portrays nature’s destruction. Waves are seen crashing against the rocks like invading ships, and Pyle’s rough white and blue brushstrokes make the ocean feel chaotic and broken around the Little Mermaid’s longing. The faint shapes in the foam suggest growths or sea creatures, which links sailors to the objects that they bring or lose–things that feed her desire for the human world but also dirty her home.

Going back to Easterlin’s article, her idea of a “mixed ontology” (being both nature and human) fits here: The Little Mermaid’s smooth body, going from human torso to tail, expresses how people often may see wild places as traps to escape in order to “move up in life (Easterlin 261). Seeing the moonlight shining only on the mermaid and sailor essentially makes both of them look small and alone in comparison to the vast blue sea. This illustrates the Little Mermaid’s isolation even though she is still in the presence of a human.

Because Pyle never finished this painting, this adds layers to this isolation. Visible brushstrokes and sketch lines reveal the progress that Pyle made. This in turn mirrors the mermaid’s incomplete transformation; How there is no smooth resolution, but only true, raw struggle. This imperfection parallels her in-between existence. She is neither fully mermaid nor human. She is suspended between the foam-like uncertainty.

The messy strokes of Pyle’s incomplete painting, with removed waves, expresses an undeniably raw and unrefined sense of longing without a perfect resolution to one’s struggle. Andersen’s end of his fairytale also provides similar imagery; However, foaming due to betrayal, the mermaid’s redemption comes from the “daughters of the air”, offering soul through deeds (Andersen 129). Looking back at the article by Tampus, Tampus describes this as”transcending one being to another,” enduring pain for transformation (Tampus 21). The sea form suggests the possibility of the mermaid’s ascension into the air, while the grandmother’s image of a “seaweed blanket “stays above the waves of the ocean.

As one’s gaze follows the turbulent waves outward to the horizon, the hazy outline of an uncharted human world is revealed above them. The radiant skin of desire juxtaposed with the darker sea tones that compose the sea emphasizes how deeply rooted desire can blind human to their inherent connection to nature. The sea foam created by the waves separates them from the potion that gave life to this body of water, creating a bridge between two worlds.

In this painting, texture invites closeness. The thick paint suggests spray and chill rocks; Writhing waves grip like the story’s living sea turned isolating. The colors showcase emotion, inviting deep blues turn to panicked whites, capturing longing’s thrill and danger. The mermaid’s warm skin provides the sole heat in the cold sea. Shapes help blend her curves into the sailor’s limp form, blurring hybrid boundaries. The sailor’s cap’s floppy liberty contrasts rigid sea constraints.

Through his painting, Pyle is showing the mermaid’s yearning as an echo of humanity’s desire to extend beyond its physical limitations, resulting in the destruction of the planet that sustains it by cutting down trees used for developing oxygen; taking more fish from the oceans than can be replaced; polluting the oceans with discarded plastic while seeking power, wealth, and progress, and treating wild lands and oceans as limitations. The mermaid’s sacrifice of her tail to experience the warmth of human embrace is similar to humanity’s sacrifice of nature for personal gain. All of this creates debris from ships and extraction rigs and ultimately depletes both the ocean and the shipwrecked treasures the shipwrecks leave behind. As Easterlin points out, the desire for what cannot be attained destroys the relationship between humans and nature (Easterlin 265), while also disconnecting humans from themselves and others through the process of creating these connections. In the end, because both Pyle and Andersen illustrate how longing can be found in all places, to truly belong, one most share a commitment to nurture, rather than destroy, nature, or they will otherwise float away as foam–cast adrift on the sea of their own making.

Works Cited

Easterlin, Nancy. “Hans Christian Andersen’s Fish out of Water.” ScholarWorks@UNO, 2011, https://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=engl_facpubs Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

Tampus, Angel, et al. “Comparative Analysis of Hans Christian Andersen’s and Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid.” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Development and Educational Studies, https://journal.ijmdes.com/ijmdes/article/download/91/90/91Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

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