Reading Notes, Week 14: The Little Mermaid
Hipster Ariel, Pinterest
There are so many beautiful ideas in this story. The sea-dwellers changing into foam when they die is haunting, but quite poetic. Makes you wonder how many it took to fill the sea this far. I also adored the idea that small children are capable of seeing the entities we as adults have lost the ability to view. I bet cats and dogs might be more likely to see them too.
There's also a big parallel with cosmetic surgery/gender reassignment, in my opinion. Ariel is willing to change her body so drastically it hurts just for the chance to be closer to her love. A drastic physical change for the sole purpose of attracting the attention of others is one some levels not that different from an individual being motivated to eat better, work out, and get that summer body. But, this is outside intervention in the form of the seawitch, and I can't wholeheartedly countenance the idea of such a radical, unnatural change for a desire linked to a single other person. That feels more like along the lines of getting an enormously expensive and non-functional cosmetic surgery (like a breast augmentation, perhaps?) than something a little tamer, like gaining a little muscle tone from naturally working out.
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