Week 8: To make of the world below

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While reading Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, what stood out to me in this tale is just how different the underwater world is compared to the terrestrial world. Since the underwater world remains largely unexplored, we can only make of its supposed beauty through what we think lies below. That the depths of the ocean hides a world that is completely alien to the land above.

In the beginning, the narrator reminds us that the ocean is “so deep … that no rope can fathom it; and many church steeples need be piled upon the other to reach from the bottom to the surface.” (108) Just how deep is the ocean, and how much of it have we not explored? Humans are not capable of breathing underwater, so we have to rely on submarines and scuba tanks to explore only a part of it. Even then, the crushing depths make exploring the bottom of the ocean almost impossible. Even in reality, there are thresholds set in place by Nature that we literally cannot cross, even if we wanted to.

In the next paragraph, the narrator tells us that the ocean must not “be imagined that there is nothing but a bare, white, sandy ground below,” and proceeds to describe its environment: “The soil produces the most curious trees and flowers, whose leaves and stems are so flexible that the slightest motion of the water seems to fluster them as if they were living creatures.” (108) This exemplifies the alien nature of the ocean, and it also implies that even the depths are connected to terrestrial life. The “trees and flowers” can be made out as coral, but it is described in a way that makes them seem as though they are a part of a forest. The fish are likened to birds, further demonstrating the parallel between sea and land.

However, both of these worlds are separated by water as stated before; humans and aquatic beings are incompatible with water and land respectively. There are things in their world that we desire but cannot have due to the nature of their world, and vice versa. Alas, we can only describe what lies at the bottom of the ocean, and we have yet to see the beauty of it in the distant future.

Week 8: The Little Mermaid

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After reading the Hans Christian Andersen version of The Little Mermaid, I realized that this story has quite huge differences in comparison to the other Mermaids in previous stories we have read. For starters, the most obvious difference that stood out to me was the little mermaid’s infatuation with the upper world, “There was nothing she delighted in so much as to hear about the upper world” Pg. 109, which Mermaids such as Melusine, seemed to have honestly cared less about the humans and their ways of life. For example, she would lock herself up in her own make-shift fish tank, away from Raymondin, and the rest of the human world. The little mermaid on the other hand, yearns for her rite of passage at fifteen so that she can go see the upper world.

As I was reading the story what came to mind was how there seemed to be several themes of coming into womanhood, or in the case of the story, mermaid-hood. The little mermaid’s garden seems to represent her innocence, and over time, the end of it. Her garden consisted of, “[…] the youngest planted hers in a circle to imitate the sun, and chose flowers as red as the sun […]” Pg. 109, which could hold a symbolic meaning of her innocence, the red flowers being representative of her menstrual cycle. Not to mention, there is a, “[…] pretty statue, representing a handsome youth, hewn out of pure white marble that had sunk to the bottom of the sea […]” Pg. 109, which could be interpreted as a form of lust for her. I say this because as she gets older and officially reaching the age of maturity, fifteen, she started to feel lustful towards other beings like the Prince she rescued, or the marble statue within her garden, “The mermaid kissed his high, polished forehead, and stroked back his wet hair; she fancied him like the marble statue in her garden […]” Pg. 115, the garden signifying her “deflowering”.

The Little Mermaid: Under the Seas 

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The first thing to stand out to me regarding our reading of the Little Mermaid is that the ocean/the realm below is well defined and beautiful. Compared to Melusine, the natural world is beautiful, rather than neutral or worse. The comparative opaqueness—unfamiliarity—is toned down, the world underwater reflects/emulates the surface world through its architecture and flora. The Little Mermaid’s grandmother answers her curiosities about the surface world, and the denizens of the deep have relationships that exist outside of conflict or servicing surface dwellers. Some commonalities with some earlier works include a focus on royalty/people of elevated social status through the Little Mermaid’s royal lineage as well as the prince.

The Little Mermaid’s eldest sister’s recount of her observation of the surface world is an inverse of human’s admiration for the natural world, as she “gaze[d] upon the large city near the coast, where lights were shining like hundreds of stars”, finding beauty in the music, technology, and decorations of humans. 

There’s a portion lifted directly from Undine regarding the mermaid’s lack of souls and the finality of their deaths, which is a driving force behind the Little Mermaid’s desire to deal with the sea witch. It was interesting to also see non-mermaid hybrids within the story. The end of the story is noteworthy due to the presence of an alternative path to heaven, the existence of slavery in the surface world, and the option to kill the prince for what can be perceived as a slight. I feel as though this story intends to act as a mirror for which to appreciate the time in which the story occurs, reconsider the theological and philosophical approaches to dealing with the natural world as well as the non-Christian peoples under control of European and euro-descended empires and colonial systems. This may even be a story with a Unitarian world view for dealing with these new social and environmental situations.

The Separation Between Nature and Humanity

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While reading The Little Mermaid, I focused on how the mermaid’s life changes throughout the story. She falls in love with a human prince at first sight and gives up her voice to the sea witch in exchange for a potion that allows her to obtain human legs. I believe this story is not just a tragic love tale but a description of how the mermaid, as a part of nature, goes through a painful process to enter human civilization. Among all the elements in the story, the potion plays the most important role in this transformation.

At the beginning of the story, Andersen describes the sea where the mermaid lives as “Far out at sea, the water is blue as the prettiest cornflowers, and as clear as the purest crystal.” Through this line, the author portrays the sea as a pure and peaceful place, an environment untouched by human desire. However, the mermaid does not remain in that serene world. Instead, she tries to reach the human world. When she visits the sea witch to obtain the potion, the witch warns her, “Your tail will then disappear, and shrivel up into what human beings call neat legs. But mind, it will hurt you as much as if a sharp sword were thrust through you.” This scene reminded me of the traditional image of ancient mermaids who were often drawn with two split tails. In old depictions, such mermaids held their tails apart, showing both temptation and natural vitality. Yet in Andersen’s story, the splitting of the mermaid’s tail shows the painful moment when a natural being is separated from nature and absorbed into human civilization. In this way, the story highlights the growing distance and tension between humans and the natural world. In the end, the mermaid sacrifices herself to save the prince. This final act shows that nature ultimately yields to humanity and that their relationship is far from equal or balanced.

In conclusion, The Little Mermaid can be read as more than a love story between the mermaid and the prince. It shows a relationship between humanity and nature that is maintained through the sacrifice of one side. The story criticizes the human desire to dominate nature and reveals how that ambition destroys nature’s purity and harmony.

My Dumb Foundling

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The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen sets the blueprint for many inspired mer-tales to come with countless adaptations and retellings. With its vivid imagery, and descriptive details of the colorful world in the deep ocean it’s hard not to get captivated with the world-building. This is the first instance this semester where I get to read in detail about a mermaid’s life underneath the sea, before they start assimilating to life on land. In this famous tale, the little mermaid is not only nameless, but voiceless for most of half of the story. She is infantilized throughout the story, whether it be because of her youth, and or because she has been silenced in trade for a chance of true love and a soul. The prince refers to her as “his little foundling” who dances for him in excruciating pain. He looks down on her again cloaked in affection, loving her “as one loves a dear, good child.” Um, yuck! The infantilization of the little mermaid reflects modern day humans and our view of the natural world. We see nature as things to conquer, as something to contain, as obstacles to subdue, but also simultaneously to look after… almost as if treating nature as a pet. Nature is treated as something separate from ourselves, and The Little Mermaid further supports these ideologies with its themes. The little mermaid similar to Undine and Melusine, does not contain a soul unless wedded to someone who loves them truly. The religious themes continue to be carried in the story, having humans be immortalize because they have a life after death. This implies that there is a heaven for them because of their connection to religion. The little mermaid through actions shows her kindness and good deeds, she literally saves a mortal’s life and decides not to kill him in trade of her own life- yet it still isn’t enough for her to have a soul because of an elemental creature’s disconnect with religion.

Exposure

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In the eyes of the little mermaid we are amazing species that can “…fly across the sea upon ships, and scale mountains that towered above the clouds; and the lands they possessed— their fields and their forests— stream held away far beyond the reach of her sight.”(118) hold a much higher value in comparison to her own life. As she is saying this while herself being apart of a specie that can live up to 300 years underwater and become one with the sea. Anderson uses this part of the story to reflect on moments where one might show appreciation for the capabilities of different creatures(or people) while simultaneously downplaying our own. What we feel we are lacking in can turn into an obsessive desire that we must obtain, for only then will we be content with who we are.

The little mermaid continues this idea when discussing with her grandmother the afterlife for humans sorrowfully comparing her end of life “I would willingly give all the hundreds of years I may have to live, to be a human being but for one say, and to have the hope of sharing int he joys of the heavenly world.”(118) The yearn to have a soul—to live beyond the enclosure of the water, is strong enough to direct the little mermaid into wanting to give up the life she would have.

Comparing this to the human relationship to other creatures on the planet who live in the air, live in the water, etc., I think Anderson in this part of they story at least— shows gratitude and appreciation towards other creatures. Showing sensibility to the others that we share the land with, even if we might wish we could fly or live in the water, helps with our understanding of the environment.

To Sing? Or to Cry? The Dilemma of the Wannabe Human…

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In Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, a young mermaid’s journey is followed by readers as she longs to become closer to humans both physically and emotionally. First off, one of the most powerful details shared to build the contrast between humans and mermaids is the display of the lacking emotional capacity of the mermaid. Specifically for the young mermaid whom the story follows, when she watches sailors perish in the waters of her fellow mermaids, she ” (feels) ready to cry; only mermaids have no tears, and therefore suffers all the more” (Andersen 110). So for the little mermaid, there is already a developing desire to become closer to feeling human emotions, even though she can’t, as she doesn’t have a soul such as a human does.

Andersen uses the absence of tears as a powerful symbol of the boundary between the human and the nonhuman. Tears, a distinctly human expression of pain and empathy, represent the capacity to externalize and release emotion. The mermaid’s inability to cry, despite her immense sorrow, captures her tragic position between two worlds; she feels with human intensity but cannot express it humanly. Her suffering is intensified precisely because she lacks this natural outlet for grief, suggesting that emotional repression is a form of silent torment.

This theme deepens as Andersen describes the mermaid’s yearning for a soul and for human love. In negotiations dealing with the witch to gain human form, the mermaid asks, “If you take away my voice, what have I left?” The witch responds, “Your lovely form” (Andersen 120). Here, the mermaid’s willingness to sacrifice her voice, her very means of expression, underscores her desperate desire to transcend the limitations of her nature. Andersen contrasts the physical silence she chooses with the emotional silence imposed by her mermaid form, suggesting that to be human is not merely to have a body, but to possess a soul capable of both feeling and expression.

Together, these moments illustrate how Andersen transforms the mermaid’s longing into a commentary on the cost of humanity. To be human, in Andersen’s world, is to be able to love, suffer, and express, even through tears. The Little Mermaid’s tragedy lies in her discovery that to gain a soul requires both sacrifice and suffering, yet it is this very suffering that makes her truly human.

The Boundary Between Sea and Land in ‘The Little Mermaid’

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In Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is built in a world full of boundaries–between sea and land, voice and vision, loss and desire– is built. The story of the mermaid carries emotional power that lies not only in its romance but in its fixation on its land crossings. From the opening description of the ocean floor being “as clear as the purest crystal. But it is very deep–so deep…no rope could fathom it” (108), Andersen establishes a paradox that moves the story; transparency does not mean it’s accessible. If a boundary is visible, it doesn’t always need to be crossed. The mermaid’s world glitters with boundaries, thresholds that she can see but cannot touch, like amber windows, marble steps, and water so clear it hides nothing yet conceals everything.

Every transition in the tale costs something. The mermaid’s ascent from sea to surface allows her to see the human world, but she remains unseen, able to save the prince only by disappearing before he wakes. Her second crossing–from sea to land–turns her body into a painful border. The sea witch’s warning that every step will feel “like treading upon such sharp knives” (121) transforms any bodily movement itself into a form of self-sacrifice. Losing her voice is another boundary breached; in losing her voice, she gains access to the human world. The prince reads her “speaking eyes” (122), but his interpretation fails, and she’s now seen as a human but fundamentally misrecognized.

Andersen repeatedly shows that language falters at the surface. The mermaid’s sisters sing above the waves, but sailors hear only noise from the storm–sound that is distorted by the border she tries to cross (112). The story’s build reinforces this pattern through a concept of half-space, like balconies over canals, and staircases leading into water, but they never merge. Even the prince’s ship becomes a literal threshold between belonging and exile.

In the end, the mermaid’s transformation and joining with “the other children of the air” (130) traces back to the mermaid’s longing for desire, which always comes with sacrifice. Each ascent–from sea to land to air–brings both a vision and loss. Andersen’s lasting sadness comes from this paradox that his heroine lives always at the glass between worlds, where beauty and pain both coexist. Fulfillment comes not through breaking boundaries, but through the long, slow softening of them.

Voice, Sacrifice, and Humanity

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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.

The Little mermaid

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As I began reading the little mermaid the big thing I found was that living things arent just since it states “nor should it be imagined that there is nothing but bare,white,sandy ground below” and how the sea was “many church steeples deep”.I had found this introduction very interesting that the narrator is making it clear that we shouldnt have to use our imagination and just believe him that there is much below.This brings me to believe that instead of the handerson of stating that he doesnt know what lies below the ocean he said things like “the soil produces most curious trees and flowers” which makes it seem that ocean is a entire different planet compared to ours as such and tries to discourage his readers from trying to prove him wrong by saying that ocean ground is unreachable.He then proceeds to further this claim by comparing the fish as “birds that fly through trees”.I think that handerson makes the ocean floor as a different universe or different planet where the “humans” arent us but the mermaids.While we may see ourselves as the creatures that are superior the whole story could be reversed as well since it could be that the prince could be seen as the creature who has to seek to adapt to the mermaid.It makes the reader put themselve in the perspective that maybe is the situation was swapped then humans could be seen as the mermaid instead.