Analysis Of Timothy Schaffert's Mermaid In The Tree

Throughout the entirety of literature, mermaids are depicted to be extremely beautiful, living the perfect life, and finding their other half in the form of a prince. Timothy Schaffert may be widely recognized for doing the exact opposite in “Mermaid in the Tree”. In Schaffert’s “Mermaid in the Tree”, the author portrays the mermaid’s life as a pitiful one, filled with heart break and deceit. Timothy Schaffert brings this to light through a character named Axel. Axel is recognized as an evil character due to his greediness and his detrimental behavior towards others, especially the Mermaid. Greediness, selfishness, and detrimental behavior towards others are all poor traits to have as an individual, and the audience should care because Axel not only destroys his own life, but he

Rapunzel requires a certain dosage of drugs to help with her pain and troubles. However, in an effort to minimize the annoyance, Axel would double and triple Rapunzel’s drugs. “Axel lately shot the drug into her neck, at least ten times every day, to keep her from sobbing and clawing at the itchy scales of her fin, but the street junk was watered down and costly.” (Schaffert 188). Axel shot these drugs into Rapunzel at least ten times a day to avoid the inconvenience of Rapunzel. He continuously attempts to find the easy way out in treating the girl he saved. She is becoming more of a pest and a bother to him daily, so to mask that, he feeds her so many drugs she becomes addicted to them. “Rapunzel, against her every ounce of common sense, had become addicted to the nurse’s murky green elixir, despite all the veins from her arms having fallen…” (Schaffert 188). She uses so many drugs that she becomes addicted to them. The drugs become a necessity for her mere survival, all because of Axel’s over dosage. This is a selfish and evil act from Axel, common to his