Reading Diary B: Hans Christian Andersen

The second half of the Hans Christian Andersen unit was entirely devoted to The Little Mermaid. I wanted to read this story because I grew up watching the Disney movie and because my Storybook project is focused on mermaids. I was always told that the original version was very different from the movie I grew to love. Disney has a way of always creating happy endings even when the original didn't! Although the original was different from the move, especially in the end, there were still many similarities. One thing that I was surprised while reading was the fact that the little mermaid was not rebellious like her Disney counterpart. She waited until she was allowed to venture to the surface of the water. In the movie Ariel frequently disobeyed her father to go up to the surface. The absence of King Triton was another factor that differed, The grandmother had more of a role in the original than the little mermaids father did. The ending was not what I expected it to be. I was under the impression that she was supposed to dissolve into sea foam. Instead she became a new being entirely and was given the chance to still obtain an immortal soul because of her good deeds. As much as you hate to see someone else end up with the Prince, you at least know that he was truly in love!

The Little Mermaid