“The Little Mermaid” and the Situation of the Girl

Book Review: THE VEILED FEMALE CORE. By Elina M. Reenkola. New York: Other Press, 2002, 156 pp., $22.00

“…Reenkola begins with a clear and incisive discussion of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid," which she believes represents the dilemmas of a woman coming of age in western culture: that is, a woman being transformed from a mermaid with a closed introitus to a woman with human sexuality who struggles both to be independent and to love a man. Reenkola's analysis of this story is very similar to that of Dinnerstein decades earlier, of which she is apparently unaware (Dinnerstein 1967). In the next chapter, she sets forth the elements of her thesis.…”

“…Reenkola's analysis of this story is very similar to that of Dinnerstein decades earlier, of which she is apparently unaware (Dinnerstein 1967). Reenkola's analysis of this story is very similar to that of Dinnerstein decades earlier, of which she is apparently unaware (Dinnerstein 1967).…”

Posidaeja and Mami Wata: The online afterlives of two mermaid goddesses

“…Authors and artists alike framed the water woman in different versions (including Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque that inspired Hans Christian Andersen's little mermaid) as a tragic figure, commonly a victim of love, often relegated to the sea. This image of the mermaid as oppressed is apparently so strongly rooted in our common consciousness, that it was even used by feminist scholars, such as activist and psychology professor Dorothy Dinnerstein (1967 and1976), who uses it to illustrate "our longstanding general awareness of our uneasy, ambiguous position in the animal kingdom" (1976, p. 5). But as the ancient mythology of Posidaeja shows, the mermaid has not always been a victim of her fate.…”