Fairytales And Stereotypes In Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid

Exposing children to fairytales has both negative and positive influences in their lives. Siding with its cons, I personally believe that fairytales ultimately give children false ideals of reality. Children are educated the complete opposite of what they should be taught through fairytales. However, fairytales have given children the opportunity to apply hope and confidence in their daily routine. Having these qualities would be very essential for when they come face to face with the real world. Nevertheless, reality is not all sugar, spice and everything nice. For generations, children have been exposed to misinterpretations of gender roles, “happily ever afters,” and reality itself.

Gender roles have been misguided and misinterpreted through

For generations, fairy tales have been transferring this false message to children. This message consists of false advertisement where life is not a fairytale after all. One day children will walk straight into life with high expectations and will realize that life does not have the sugar coating that all fairytales seem to have. Not everyone gets the happy ending that they desire. Unlike Disney's The Little Mermaid, author of the original Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Andersen, depicted a different type of ending. This book reveals how a young girl gave up everything to be with a guy. In the book, Little Mermaid, the main character lived with her father, three sisters and her godmother. The mermaid was overly fascinated by humans. Therefore, she wanted to experience the outside world and become a human. She was prohibited from going on the surface because she was not allowed to see the other side. Her father, the sea king, only allowed her to travel to the surface once she turned fifteen. Upon her fifteenth birthday, the mermaid did not hesitate to travel to the surface. Once approaching the surface, she encountered a ship. She saw humans and saw them having some sort of celebration. During her observation, a handsome prince caught her eye. It was love at first

Without hesitation, the mermaid swam to rescue the drowning prince. She left him ashore where he was safe and sound. Fortunately, he was found and was taken back to his castle. This made the mermaid upset because she knew that the prince would not remember her nor the fact that she saved him. She told her sisters about the unfortunate shipwreck and how she saved the prince. To her luck, her sisters knew who the prince was, they took her to his castle so she can have a glance of where he lives. After her trip to his castle, she constantly dreamed of how her life would be if she were human . She later encountered her grandmother. The mermaid asked her grandmother the difference between mermaids and humans. Her grandmother compared the lifespan of a human and of a mermaid. In other words, she was told that mermaids only lived for three hundred years and that humans had a short life span. Upon death, mermaids would become sea foam and humans would eventually descend to eternal life. Mermaids would not have souls unless they married a human that truly loved them. At that point she realized that she would do anything to become human. In order to become human, the sea witch told her that she had to exchange her capability of speaking for legs.The witch would have to cut the mermaid's tongue if she agreed to the plan. She must then marry the prince in order to live as a normal human. If the prince