“It was you,” said the prince, “who saved my life when I lay as if dead on the beach,” and he folded his blushing bride in his arms.
The readers know this is a false statement. Since the prince is judging who he marries based off of who saved him, he is marrying the incorrect person. Does Anderson feel this way with Collins?
The child does not know, when we fly through the room, that we smile with joy at his good conduct—for we can count one year less of our three hundred years. But when we see a naughty or a wicked child we shed tears of sorrow, and for every tear a day is added to our time of trial.” Previous (Front Matter) Next (Back Matter) Back to top
Unknowingly, our actions can affect all of those around us, either for the better or the worse.
You, poor little mermaid, have tried with your whole heart to do as we are doing. You have suffered and endured, and raised yourself to the spirit world by your good deeds, and now, by striving for three hundred years in the same way, you may obtain an immortal soul.”
Moral message of how you will be rewarded for doing good.
but she flung it far from her into the waves
Would Anderson do this for Collins? Would he give his life for Collins?
The ship, under a favorable wind, with swelling sails, glided away smoothly and lightly over the calm sea.
The story comes in a circle since the beginning of the little mermaid's obsession of the prince began at sea by his ship and now almost the exact same setting brings her death.
The little mermaid, dressed in silk and gold, held up the bride’s train; but her ears heard nothing of the festive music, and her eyes saw not the holy ceremony. She thought of the night of death which was coming to her, and of all she had lost in the world
This most likely represents Anderson's emotions when he fully realized he could never be with Collins. This also contrasts to the movie since they lived a "happily ever after".
I saw her but twice, and she is the only one in the world whom I could love.
Dramatic irony - the audience knows that the little mermaid saved him and he can never know since she cannot talk which created tension and almost frustration for the readers as the little mermaid feels.
he loved her as one would love a little child
She does not see that this is not romantic love from him and will never get that kind of love from him. Collins admitted he cared for Anderson but could never return romantic love to him.
She climbed with him to the tops of high mountains, and although her tender feet bled so that even her steps were marked, she only smiled,
Although it caused her such pain, she was happy and willing to give up everything for him. This could be a parallel to Anderson in his love towards Collins.
Beautiful female slaves, dressed in silk and gold, stepped forward and sang before the prince and his royal parents.
Well written contrast to the previous paragraph of how she was so beautiful, yet she could not sing nor speak. Now these females who were slaves were beautiful as well, but could use their voices unlike the little mermaid. Although the little mermaid was supposed to be the most beautiful, the prince saw this slave for her beautiful voice.
she cast down her own and then became aware that her fish’s tail was gone and that she had as pretty a pair of white legs and tiny feet as any little maiden could have.
Representative of her becoming of a higher social class
floating gracefulness of movement, and no dancer will ever tread so lightly. Every step you take, however, will be as if you were treading upon sharp knives and as if the blood must flow
This is different from the movie as she was able to walk on land without physical pain. The idea of beauty being paired with pain is shown again.
There was even a little mermaid whom they had caught and strangled, and this seemed the most shocking of all to the little princess.
This is the first time she is directly confronted with her immortality in a visual way that she could grasp onto.
her courage returned
Her deep desire and love for the prince is what drives her forward at this point. This is another example of a stereotype female role where the wife was supposed to be fully dedicated and do anything for the husband even if it negatively affected her.
she had the sweetest voice either on earth or in the sea
foreshadowing to her losing her voice -> this shows how important it was for her to be able to have legs since she was willing to give up one of the things she was most proud of in herself.
in order to be handsome, to have two stout props, which they call legs
Reminds me of how there is always a standard of beauty
Your fish’s tail, which among us is considered so beautiful, on earth is thought to be quite ugly
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and changed from person to person. Anderson had love for other men while some other men loved women, but that did not mean the love was not there. The little mermaid is beautiful in her world but is not to the outside, similar to how gays may have been perceived during this time since they were not well accepted.
unless a man should love you so much
This is an example of stereotype roles where a woman must be saved by a man. In Greek times they believed women did not have souls, although this may not be related, it was an interesting parallel.
wished more and more to be able to wander about with those whose world seemed to be so much larger than her own.
This is interesting as her sisters grew bored of the human world while each day only intrigues the little mermaid more.
but he knew nothing of all this and could not even dream of her
Similar to Anderson's secret love for Collins.
Then she remembered that human beings could not live in the water
Anderson was glad that he found someone he liked, but he, Collins, could not return this romantic love.
young prince
It is like her precious marble statue became a reality right before her.
fireworks before
Add a magical kind of element to her first encounter with the individual she would come to love.
The red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better.
She is unique and a different life style suits her. Just as everyone is different, being "straight" does not suit everyone and they have their own kind of beauty, just like her red flowers even if others found the oysters to be pretty.
pride must suffer pain
This shows the idea of beauty being of high matter again. In our modern day we say, "no pain, no beauty." Just as many women cared about their appearance more than anything in our world in the past, this natural habit is shown in the world Anderson has created. The little mermaid's complaints of this exemplifies how she is different from the social norm, just as Anderson was during the time for being gay.
only, since mermaids have no tears, she suffered more acutely.
She suffers as she has no way to express the way she feels and therefore it has no escape from inside. The little mermaid also cannot get what she wants the most while she sees others take it for granted. Could this allude to Anderson's suffering as he had to keep quiet that he was gay due to the times and once he showed someone that affection he was rejected? Anderson also saw couples around him who most likely did not realize the blessing they had for being able to be together while he himself was unable to obtain the love he desired.
quite indifferent about it
The ability to see the world above the sea is not long unobtainable and therefore causes a lack of interest after a while.
larger and loftier than the churches built by men
Anderson again uses churches as a way of comparison to the height of something else which shows the prominence of the church during his life and how others could relate.
gazing at the lights of the near-by town, that twinkled like hundreds of stars, and listening to the sounds of music, the noise of carriages, the voices of human beings, and the merry pealing of the bells in the church steeples. Because she could not go near all these wonderful things, she longed for them all the more.
As humans long to discover everything under the sea, these mermaids are enchanted by the world made by man. This supports the idea that it is human nature to always want what you do not have.
there were so many things about which they wanted to know.
It is interesting how the little mermaid is not entirely different as in the movie; even though she is the most interested, her sisters are very intrigued by the outside world quite a bit it seems.
To her it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land had fragrance, while those below the sea had none; that the trees of the forest were green; and that the fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly that it was a pleasure to listen to them.
While above Anderson made the ocean seem like a magically version of the land, here we see that she sees the complete opposite and above the water is her fairytale.
rose-colored weeping willow
She surrounds her precious statue with this tree which symbolizes strength and life while the rose color normally represents love and beauty. All of her passion for this statue has been physically represented by it being surrounded by this tree.
waved to and fro like the branches, so that it seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play, trying to kiss each other.
These small details bring a childlike way of thinking to the story and aids the reader in understanding the main character, her imagination, and her way of thinking. She sees everything as alive and ready to play.
handsome boy
She chooses to only keep this item from the shipwrecks compared to any others. She probably sees the legs and it causes her to dream of the outside world.
just as the swallows fly into our houses when we open the windows; only the fishes swam up to the princesses, ate out of their hands, and allowed themselves to be stroked.
Again comparing it to the world that we see as humans, but then turns it into something magical and extraordinary.
Gothic windows
Gothic architecture had a focus on becoming larger and grander than anything seen before. The design of Gothic windows, in addition to other elements, enabled designers to build even taller buildings. Their intricacy and imposing presence supports the idea of beauty and luxury being an important aspect of this kingdom.