I’m happy personally with this term paper. I haven’t any word back on this one, but it has a fun memory attached to it. I had a two months heads up on it but of course I was going to do it the night on the submission. And what normally would be me staying and finishing an assignment turned into me going out with my friends for a birthday party while finishing and submitting the assignment in the cafe. Cafe Pomelo at Packages Mall to be exact. I finally have teenager memories.
Literary Theory and Movements
Term Paper ( Post Humanism and Trans humanism)
Name: Maheen Ahmed
Mother Malfunction: The Eco-feminist defiance to the stance of Trans humanism in Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Little Mermaid’.
Literature Review
This paper looks to see the exchange and multi-dimensional exchange and embodiment of an extended notion within Post Humanism which is Trans humanism. Post humanism opens and carries out a study on what is humanness and what changes and affects humanity, while Transhumanism talks and advocates for the technological development of human life and artificial life, and it looks down at the essence and perceived weaknesses of humans.
Regarding ‘The Little Mermaid’, and fairy-tales in general there has been a lot of work on it’s eco-feminist discourse, psychology, imagery and sociological revolution and a way of providing a wholesome space for female feelings and development, but there has been little work done on the element of Trans humanism, as the short story ironically involves her becoming a human. Transhumanism is also applied to war literature and futuristic literature and media, so this research will be bringing the binaries in contact.
Therefore this paper will be an extension and different approach done in papers like, ‘Ecofeminist thought and practice’ by Bruna Bianchi, ‘Han’s Christian Andersen’s Fish out of Water’ by Nancy Easterlin and ‘The Little Mermaid : Three Political Fairytales’. It will also question and answer the idea that the Trans humanist movement is populated predominately by men and the male gaze.
Discussion and Analysis
The center of ‘The Little Mermaid’ is found in the youngest mermaid of a royal family, who in form is like an ecological ‘Earth Mother’ in eco feminst terms, in that she is a reflection and symbol of nature, and she also a symbol of a ‘Meta Human’ and an amphibious character in that she has mobility and movement possibilities beyond mortal humans in the story and is also linked with being able to feel more realities and grow as a character. All of these characteristics would suggest some sort of ‘Transhumanist’ fantasy as she is both more and less than human, and she being able to live in water, apply magic and in a way escape a normal mammal death because her grandmother tells her‘ Mermaids do not have souls. When we die we become the white foam on the face of the sea’.
Therefore as an opening the image of this female fish-like character is like an ecological and fantastical robot, both idealistic and beautiful and a dream for the future of mankind, but the Mermaid is young, inexperienced and eager to learn about the human world, and she even wishes to have a human souls, which would render her powerless, ordinary and susceptible to death, decay, weakness and disease. She is also imperfect as she needs to learn a lot from her grandmother, who is the wise and all-knowing archetype of the Earth mother and the good witch. She snubs the child and tells her ‘Not to say such things’, and while decorating the child explains that ‘One must suffer for beauty’. This would suggest that the little Mermaid is the one searching for perfection, and according to her view an upgrade in existence and living would be to posses a soul and not evade death with a long and meaningless life. But what pulls her out of the ‘Trans’ element is that at least in the story she is an organic being and is not physically associated with machines or technology, but remains a nature and water based character who just wants to experience a different life out of a emotional and personal need, that is free from greed and material gain.
Further on it is revealed that the mermaid keeps a statue of a perfect man in a private garden, which she idealizes and almost worships and brings ‘red corals and flowers’ to as an offering. This does come forward as something aligning her with ‘Transhumanism’, as she has set her ideals of a body, and that to a Euro-centric art piece of manliness, which is always extreme in depicting strength and beauty. From this we may derive that she has developed a notion of beauty and existence above her because as a mermaid she has no legs, she lives in the water, and this is a purely man and extremely masculine image, and is far beyond her, so metaphorically she is looking to achieve from her own body, like a man wanting to be robot would do. She is definitely insecure and not satisfied with what she is and it fuels her self-disdain, and pushes her to later change her body.
When she wishes to be the prince, who she looks up to and wants to be with she goes to a sea witch, and in order to get legs and be a human, she has to have her tongue cut out. This on face value does have a lot of trans humanistic tones, because she is literally changing her body and getting something that serves her purpose, but it comes at a huge price, she is unable to act fully like a normal human, she is always in pain and cannot fully fit with the real humans. This carries a similar critic on the movement as to question what is better, and the humanist acceptance and ethical question when it comes to the discourse, asking is the pain and humiliation worth it. The way the people treat her also gives a bad look about humans as it shows their evil side and their inability to accept and short-sightedness.
In her journey to find and win over the love of the prince, gaining his human emotional love is the goal, or else she will die for nothing. This again shows a unique a holistic, altruistic and comprehensive debate and narrative regarding humanity and what people want to change about it. The fact that honest love is that important, adds dignity to human life, and to the heartbreak and futile living of people, her whole body change was for futile and sexual-romantic reasons which the theory is against. Even in science fictional movies like ‘Ghost in the Shell’ the female body and need is based o n compulsive and dignified dedication to humanity, while it is the male essence that wants destruction and an end to the weakness of people, the female essence goes out of its way to accept, perform and defend humanity and humanness.
Lastly, her growth is amplified by pain and life’s reality, not by having an escape from death. It is because she is weak, powerless and vulnerable and yet holds decency and sacrifices that she instead of becoming fully human by either marrying or killing the prince, she transcends humans and the mermaids by becoming an air fairy, as a gift from the power of god, which denotes that a drop of that humanness is better than a lack of ethics and a disregard for the sanctity of life, and her gender is crucial to making this decision, as to perhaps that people should respect the knowledge and wisdom of the earth and not be impressed by industrial prospects.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the story truly a body of questions and opinions on the overall notion of Trans humanism, if not exactly being a text typically associated with the genre and movement. It puts in to question the whole discourse and favours nature and natural living and points out the faults of technology and the ideology of going against nature, but it also is a deeply human and emotional story with a very developed character who is human and unique because she questions, defies and experiments so much, and flips the system of nature for a good cause.
So this story really does prove woman and womanhood the ideal narration and narrative of technology, the earth and the future, and implies that there must be a balance in life, not a complete dependence on technology and respect for life.
Maheen's Muse 