Category Archives: Week 7:The Origins of the Modern Era: 19th C Industrialism & Capitalism

Human Curiosity – The Mermaid Craze

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This week, the readings gave us a deeper dive into the 19th century Mermaid phenomenon and how the populations of Britain and the United States reacted to these “mythical beings.” A trend I took note of, specifically when reading Penguins “The Feejee Mermaid Hoax” and A Human History: Freakshows and Fantasies, is the desperate level of connection humans crave to have with nature, the other, the unknown. The obscene is a reflection upon human knowledge, desire to gain more of it, no matter the cost. Humans want to understand what they are bred and taught to not. “As they had since Medieval times, merpeople continued to strike varying measures of skepticism and credulity, fear and wonder, among Westerners.” (A Human History)  The question I want to dig upon is not the idea of how humans do this but the why? Why do these creatures promote skepticism, wariness, imagination, and creativity? Why are mermaids a phenomenon the human psyche is fixated upon? 

Are they seen as a connection to what we once were, what we could have been? Do they allow us to see a part of ourselves at one with nature in a way in which man can never be again, roots we have long forgotten? Are they to be seen as a warning – a sign of consequence from the removal of oneself from faith and society? All of these questions have surrounded humans since the dawn of the first “mermaid sighting,” another world meant for us to remain separate from. Is this why they remain hidden from us? Are we too unwilling and cruel to the environment and its gifts to behold such a beauty it has created, no communication ever being able to be established with us humans, so far lost from our origin? 

Why is there so much fear surrounding all unknown species? Why are humans so desperate to conceal what we believe we cannot understand? How do we know we won’t understand until it arrives right in front of us? Why is knowledge used as such a weapon of destruction among human kind? Perhaps the mermaid is only one part of our journey – the path towards enlightenment beyond human conception, the world around us we have exploited and refused to truly gaze upon.

Pretty Little Children of Nature

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In the story of Undine there is an undercurrent of belief that humans have superiority over natural elements, based on the assertion that only humans have a soul, unlike nature. This belief reflects the on and off again thought that nature is a force outside of humans to be controlled for human prosperity, without concern for the impact this has on nature’s designs. This subjection of nature and the creatures within it makes it easier for humans to take what they need from it, without letting their souls feel the guilt of taking from another entity. When humans argue for their superiority over nature and other humans, their first tactic is to dehumanize. Instead of looking to the similarities nature and humans have with each other they create the image of “other” and infantilize it so their position seems more experienced and all-knowing.

Undine explains to her new husband about her and other elementals with this dehumanizing language, even though she states prior to this that the elementals do identify as human beings. She says, “hence we have no soul; the element moves us, and is often obedient to us while we live, though it scatters us to dust when we die; and we are merry…merry as the nightingales and little gold-fishes and other pretty children of nature. But all beings aspire to be higher than they are” (Penguin,105). Characterizing the power in nature as being like children makes it a less consequential part of the human world, one that needs help and guidance. Only participating in the human world and obtaining a soul made the elemental more than they are on their own, making the human world the superior entity.

Conveniently in the human world there are those designated to award souls and personhood. In the case of this story it does this through marriage by a religious figure who one must be humble towards. This release of power for human theology and methodology is portrayed as a reasonable trade while power is still wielded in the human world over each other, but only by the few. Relinquishing power is the price of admission to be part of the human world because the human world only thrives on its assertion of its own control, not its inherent ability to do so.

Framing the elementals as being powerful in this Earth-bound world but reduced to nothing because there is not something to grieve them, also removes responsibility from humans for caring about anything outside of themselves and their interests. Asserting that there is a temporary power of nature but humans (having anointed themselves with the idea of a continuing spirit) in their existence will be forever. It prioritizes the human experience over the natural world, not considering how the two are intertwined in the same existence.

Elemental Spirits

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In Undine (penguin), one of the passages that stood out to me was when Undine explains the existence of other elemental beings. The text says “There are beings in the elements which almost appear like mortals, and which rarely allow themselves to become visible to your race. Wonderful salamanders glitter and sport in the flames; lean and malicious gnomes dwell deep under 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.” I think this description is important because it shows how magical the natural world is and it also makes me think about how humans create the boundary between themselves and nature. 

One thing that stood out to me in this quote is how much imagery it provides. Each spirit is tied to an element, fire, earth, air, water and each one carries a different personality. Salamanders are “wonderful” and full of light, gnomes are “lean and malicious”, air spirits are wanders, and water spirits are shown as a “vast family”. By giving each element a personality it shows that the natural world is alive and has hidden powers that are beyond human control. At the same time, the story makes it clear that these spirits “rarely allow themselves to become visible” which suggests secrecy and distance meaning the separation from the natural world. They exist alongside humans but stay hidden.I like the wording of this quote because it’s super detailed but at the same time it also organizes nature into different categories. Some spirits sound enchanting while others feel dangerous but they all align to “your race” meaning human beings. This separation creates the idea that these creatures are like humans but not quite, which makes them fascinating but also threatening.  

Another thing I found interesting was the way Undine delivers her speech because it connects to her own identity. Undine is a water spirit who gained a soul through marriage, she belongs to the world of elemental beings but she’s also separated from it. Undine is both an insider and an outsider to human life. She knows their world, but she is now speaking to humans and describing them as different. By saying “your race” she shows that she is in between the two categories, human and nonhuman. 

This part of the story shows how the line between nature and humanity is blurred and it connects to Undine’s in between identity. The descriptions of the elements bring out both the beauty and the fear people attach to nature and the way the spirits are kept separate from humans makes me think of the bigger question of how to define what belongs to the human world and what exists outside of it.