Once Upon a Time... discussion

Hello fellow Fairy Tale Readers readers,

Welcome to our discussion about The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, your discussion leader is Gem.
___________________________________________
about spoilers

Please note: If you have not finished reading the book spoilers are permitted in this discussion from the start. If you would like to use the spoiler formatting it can be found on the top right of the comment box in the "(some html is ok)" menu.
___________________________________________


Summary

First published in 1837, The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea – and her identity as a mermaid – in order to gain a human soul.

I just finally got my copy from the library and will be reading it tonight or tomorrow morning. It was crazy how many copies of the Disney version were available, but very few of the original by Anderson. Both of those close to me (none from my own county) were checked out and would have been a three week or more wait, so I got it from a county in the south of the state.

I'm halfway through. I'm enjoying it more than the remember from reading it the first time.

I listened to this in audiobook. It was only an hour long so quick and easy. I enjoyed the storytelling aspects very much. It is a richly told story but it is definitely a sad tale as well. It did seem to end a bit abruptly in my opinion.

One thing I noticed in the audiobook version I had was that the narrator changed her voice to sound Russian or maybe Romany accent. Which seemed a bit uncouth. I don’t know if that was a narrator choice or otherwise but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth.

So it had been an extremely long time since I had read the original tale (like probably close to 50 years - LOL). I did remember a lot of it, especially her pain, but there was so much I didn't remember at all. I had totally forgotten about the twist at the end.

Unless that is the narrator's normal accent, there is absolutely no reason that they would have chosen a Russian accent. Although, they do describe the palace as being domed like many Russian architecture is.

The narrator is very clearly English. The king speaks with a bit of a Scottish accent and the other mermaids all have English accents. She just opted to have the witch sound not British and very much put me off. It seemed very disrespectful and pointed at Romani people.

I know that we feminists are supposed to disagree with the little mermaid's choice to give up so much for the sake of the prince. But when we read the original, we see that gaining an immortal soul is what is most important to her. And, spoiler, in the epilogue it is revealed that she has somehow managed to earn one. (How, exactly, I don't quite understand.)

I've seen other stories that have that Christian lesson in them, too. How a being that does not have a soul cannot cry and/or cannot love and/or suffers more, or less, than mortal humans. There's one in the Lurie anthology that we read last month, about a demon (iirc) that feels compelled to acquire a soul.

This is not one of my favorites by Andersen. I would love to see a retelling that makes more sense and fits modern sensibilities. I just have no idea what form it could take.

Btw, I read it in the collection illustrated by MinaLima. There is no translator listed. I wonder what difference other translations would make.

There is one awkwardness that I think must be original to Andersen. The grandmother is explaining death, and says that the mermen dissolve into foam after 300 years, having no graves, but then goes on to refer to 'resting easy in our graves.'

Another thing I wonder about is the lack of names in so many of Andersen's tales. There are Kay & Gerda in The Snow Queen, which is one of my favorites, but that's about it, no? Why do you think he chose not to name his characters?

I kind of never thought of Anderson's characters not having names before, but you are right. The majority don't. Right now I can only recall Kay and Gerda, and Thumbelina and Tom Thumb. Interesting!

I disliked the whole turning to sea foam aspect as well, and totally understood why she would want to earn a soul. It goes into the whole afterlife debate, and I really don't want to argue religion or such, but if there is nothing after this life, it seems kind of sad, and that seems to be what the little mermaid was thinking as well.

It has been a few years since I read this and I completely forgot about her desire for an immortal soul. I don't know how that got past me the first time.

Cheryl wrote: "I know that we feminists are supposed to disagree with the little mermaid's choice to give up so much for the sake of the prince."

My perspective on feminism is that women should have the right to choose any path they (individually) want to walk down regardless if it's a career or a stay-at-home mom. I've made a lot of personal sacrifices for the men who have been in my life and some were admittedly bad choices, but they were my choice.

It does come down to the freedom to choose, I agree. And one could certainly argue that our little mermaid did make conscious, thoughtful, non-impulsive, non-imposed choices.

Agreed! The choices were completely hers and she thought hard about them first.

Cheryl wrote: "It does come down to the freedom to choose, I agree. And one could certainly argue that our little mermaid did make conscious, thoughtful, non-impulsive, non-imposed choices."

Hmmm, I agree her choices were conscious but she felt very much like a teenager. She made choices that while thought-out she didn't necessarily consider or even understand the repercussions... for instance what if he doesn't fall in love with me? I don't think her "bad" just immature in her thinking process.

Well, she was fifteen, so yeah.