The mermaid bloodline (original) (raw)
Related papers
Advances in Language and Literary Studies
This study demonstrates the influence of absent/present mothers on their daughters in Jordanian-British Fadia Faqir’s novels My Name Is Salma (2007) and Willow Trees Don’t Weep (2014). It manifests the difference between the positive and negative impacts of the mothers of Salma and Najwa, the two heroines in the two novels under discussion, respectively. The study also exposes the difference between Salma and Najwa based on their fragmentation and its intricate interconnection with their mothers, the way they deal with their mothers’ belongings, and the effect of the memories of their mothers on their self-formation. As it does so, the study highlights how each one of these heroines utilizes her mother’s influence on her to achieve self-formation in her own way as she crosses borders. Through its focus on the mother-daughter bond in both novels, the study concludes that despite the mother’s physical absence, her evident presence turns out to be inescapable; the positive influence of...
The Little Mermaid: The Transformation that Comes with Time
2019
This thesis is the result of the question, "What did 'The Little Mermaid' say about gender roles when it was first published, and what do two of its future adaptations add to that discussion?" It was born out of a curiosity on how fairy tales change with time, altered by the values and taboos of the societies that created them. In order to answer this question, I have selected three versions of 'The Little Mermaid' to discuss: the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, the Disney cartoon, and the Northern Ballet production. First, each version was summarized. Then, in order to better understand the social and cultural context of each version, I researched the countries and time periods that these versions found themselves in. Then, I discussed gender roles in each setting. Finally, I related the topic of gender roles in each time setting to its respective version, thus concluding how the view on women's roles has changed over the course of two centuries. The general conclusions are that stories and societies are very tightly linked, constantly influencing and reflecting each other. By extension, 'The Little Mermaid' has changed numerous times since its initial publication. Its more spiritual elements were removed and its more graphic details were diluted, but its core premise has remained the same. Despite obvious differences separating these three versions, they all depict what the time period considered to be strong female qualities. The first portrayed the protagonist as a strongwilled creature who seeks spiritual ascent and achieves it through love and sacrifice. The second casts the mermaid into a hopeless romantic who sacrifices everything for the man she loves, and is rewarded with his love. The third stars a fusion of its predecessors, with a heroine who falls in love with a prince and endures constant, unyielding pain in order to be with him, and it is this love that gives her the strength to kill the sea god and ascend to the heavens, encapsulating both physical and emotional fortitude.
The Mermaid and the Medium.pdf
The Mermaid and the Medium: A Neo-Victorian Reclamation of Victorian Archetypes in Sarah Waters’ Affinity, 2016
Sarah Waters’ Affinity (1999), set during the height of Victorian Spiritualism, consciously plays with Victorian truisms to subvert our expectations of class and gender roles, and retrospectively explore Victorian taboos of female power and sexuality. Lower class Selina Dawes and Ruth Vigers take advantage of the relatively liberal space of the seance to make 'unnatural' border crossings, using the archetype of the Victorian 'Angel' to hide their 'Monstrosity.' This paper argues that the Mermaid is a useful image for re-examining placed on women by men in that era. As a contemporary female writer, Waters subverts these normative models, and in doing so reveals the complexity and hidden talents of women who, in their own time, were unable to outwardly voice their desires, or actively seek power.
Analysis of the role of minor characters in Mariama Ba's novel Scarlet Song.
is one of the strongest voices to be heard in African literature over the course of two decades and it is a very big achievement for a woman belonging to the Senegalese society. She is born and brought up in the Senegalese society of Africa which prompted her to write her best novels on cross-cultural themes of strength, discipline, respect, marriage, religion, cast, color, marital relationships and culture of the society compared with the colonial society. As a female writer of post-colonel literature, Ba gained international prominence because her novels were based on African Islam society that was influenced greatly by the Western colonial rule. She wrote her first novel "So long a letter" on the concept of how women had to share the sorrow of their husband's death with their second wife. She is rewarded with a Noma Prize for publishing it in Africa in 1980. Her feministic qualities are highlighted by her portrayal of women in her novels in different situations and how the cultural and religious strength of these women allow them to face not only the African solidarity of women but also western influence on the society on their own.
What Does the Little Mermaid Want?
Czas Kultury / EN, 2004
The well-known 19th century fairy tale, The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen is usually perceived as the story of a mermaid who sacrifices her life for the unrequited love for a prince. Renata Bożek takes a different approach in order to reveal the phenomenon of the mermaid’s femininity. The Little Mermaid feels trapped in the underwater world which deprives her soul of immortality. With passion she visualises the world of people and in order to become one of them she undergoes a painful transformation: losing her tongue and replacing her fish’s tail with legs. She wants a new identity. The unspeakable pain which accompanies every step she makes gives her an awareness of her human existence. In this light the author gives examples of self-destructive behaviour of women who intentionally hurt their bodies in order to feel the lost reality of their own “selves”. This, however, points out the basic difference between the mermaid from the fairytale and the real women who are victims of auto-aggression. The Little Mermaid commits a unique form of suicide which enables achieving immortality and her desired spiritual freedom, whereas the women presented by the author perform self-destructive actions in order to achieve harmony between the physical body and the “self”. At the same time it turns out that the psychophysical balance is often distorted by the patriarchal rules which make the world perceive women in terms of their physical attractiveness. By wounding their bodies women strive at regaining control of their lives and exceeding today’s standards. The Little Mermaid may, of course, be interpreted in a traditional way. The Mermaid falls in love with a prince whom she saves from drowning in the sea and with whom she wishes to spend the rest of her life.