The Beatryce Prophecy

The mermaid appears in multiple forms throughout the novel, most prominently as the hairbrush belonging to Edik’s mother and in Beatryce’s story at the end of the book. In all her iterations, the mermaid calls to Destiny Is a Choice and Coping with Trauma, and Beatryce’s and Edik’s relationships to the mermaid inform both their characters and the novel as a whole. Beatryce uses the mermaid as a coping mechanism during times of darkness. From the time Edik tells her about the hairbrush, Beatryce wonders about the mermaid’s story. Before leaving the monastery, she promises Edik she’ll write the mermaid’s story, and her ability to do so at different points shows where she is along her character arc and her ability to face her past. When taking the soldier’s confession, the mermaid’s story becomes a lifeline for Beatryce to focus on when she can’t deal with what the soldier did and how his actions destroyed her family. Beatryce is only able to write the first line of the story at this point, showing how she gets stuck in the trauma of her past. Later in the dungeon, Beatryce is able to compose the entire story and tell it to the king, showing that she has grown and also that she is not afraid to tell her story since the mermaid’s tale is so similar.

To Edik, the mermaid begins as a cautionary tale. He remembers the brush at a moment when he is trying to find a way to protect Beatryce. The brush makes him realize that Beatryce is not safe as a girl who can read, which prompts him to disguise her as a boy. Here, the mermaid is in direct opposition to Being True to Oneself because it represents the limitations put on women in the novel’s world and how Beatryce must hide her true self to stay safe. At the end of the book, the mermaid aligns with this theme as Edik dedicates his days to writing stories for the people, the mermaid’s tale being the first. In this way, the mermaid’s story also becomes a symbol of change because it will be one of the first stories used to teach people to read and usher in a new age of information for all.