Post by jackdyce on Oct 29, 2006 13:44:34 GMT -5
It's been discussed to death whether or not Clara is the mermaid, and whether or not Hoffman had an inappropriate relationship with her. For the sake of these theories, I'm going to say right off the bat that I believe the answer to both questions is yes.
Besides a couple scenes in the Clover and Funeral chapters, most of the information on Clara comes from the Mermaid chapter. As she is the mermaid, the question that begs to be asked is, what does the Mermaid Princess story mean?
The story is about a Mermaid who wants something that she cannot attain. The mermaid is a beautiful girl who desires to marry a human prince. There is an interesting reversal here: the mermaid, a creature of fantasy, wants to be a part of a more realistic world. Normally, it is the other way around: humans want to escape into a fantasy world. In any event, the mermaid desires to leave her realm of fantasy to be in one that consists of humans.
There are two aspects of Clara that are important to note here: She was a child, but was older than all the other girls. Clara also helped out a lot around the Orphanage, and Hoffman thought of her as an adult. When he left, Hoffman clearly thought Clara was responsible enough to take charge. He thought this because of Clara's actions, and her grown-up behavior.
So we have Clara, the girl who is not quite a child, but not yet a woman. In a normal childhood, she would be going to school with people her age, making the transition between the two worlds easier. Instead, she is in an orphanage where she is treated as both a child and an adult. For someone who is only 16, that could become very confusing.
Since we do know that she acted like an adult to the other girls, we can probably assume that she wanted to be an adult. At the same time, she does not know how to be an adult. Her knowledge of adulthood comes from her interactions with Hoffman, which were inappropriate at best. We do not know exactly what he did to her, only that it scared her, she did not like it, and she could not bring herself to stop it.
Like any other type of child abuse, Clara probably believed she had to submit to her authority figure, in this case Hoffman. Clara was most likely also mature enough to know that what Hoffman was doing to her was wrong, hence her trepidation towards her private interactions with Hoffman. Assuming, again, that it was some form of molestation, Clara probably recognized that as a loss of purity. She was "dirty," and she was embarassed about that fact.
What does this have to do with the Mermaid story? That particular tale was about somebody who wanted to leave her sphere of life for a completely different sphere. The mermaid wanted to leave her fantasy life for a more realistic one. Clara wanted to leave her childhood life to become an adult. Again, as most adults remember their youth with fondness, and that it is the adult that desires to become a kid again, you have a reversal of the normal dream. Clara is a kid (mermaid) who wishes to be an adult (human).
It is important to note at this point that the drawings on the storybook backs up this notion. The drawing of the main character, the Mermaid Princess, is too ambiguous to discern which kid it is - though it certainly could be Clara. What should be taken into consideration, however, is that she is NOT the only mermaid in that story. The book is about her, but there are other mermaids present in the story. What's more, the other mermaids' faces are drawn to look like the other kids at the orphanage. For further evidence of this, look through the other stories, particularly the ones that feature the other orphans in a group picture. The faces of the orphans in those stories and the faces of the other mermaids are the same.
This then leads credence to the idea that Clara wanted to leave the mermaid realm (childhood) for the human realm (adulthood). Clara wanted to leave the other mermaids for something she thought she wanted - instead of being one of the orphan kids, she wanted to leave them and become an adult woman.
Her inability to do so it the key to the story.
The mermaid (for reasons that aren't explained) was unable to become a human. Instead, she grew old and died. Furthermore, her beauty was lost. She was still a mermaid, but rather than being a beautiful one, she was an ugly one. So what does this mean for Clara?
Clara wanted to be an adult. Her role model for being an adult, however, was Hoffman, who was molesting her. Martha was also present, but as she was subservient to Hoffman, it is debatable how much of a better role model she would have been for Clara. In other words, Clara wanted to be an adult, but two important obstacles blocked her path: First, she did not know how an adult should act. Second, her loss of purity at the hands of Hoffman discolored her view of herself.
The latter idea delves into the realm of psychology, and a person could go on for days talking about how molestation negatively affects a child's behavior, regardless of how old that child is - so I won't spend too much time discussing that particular aspect. Needless to say, Clara was old enough to recognize what was happening to her, and saw it as a negative that she could not overcome.
It is probably also important that this all is happening in the 1930s, a period of time when women were supposed to be chaste homemakers. The notion of beauty was tied into purity. A woman who was sexually immoral was looked down upon. It is all conjecture as to how far the writers went into these ideas, but they most likely do play a factor in Clara's psyche.
Clara saw herself as dirty and impure, because of Hoffman's abuse. She could not stop the abuse, but that does not change the way she feels about herself because of this fact. What we are left with is a Clara who is the shell of her former self. She is not an adult - she is still a mermaid - but she has lost her self esteem. She sees herself as incapable of being an adult. While all the other kids are still free to live their lives as beautiful mermaids, Clara is left to a life of isolation and loneliness because of her own perceived ugliness.
As the story says, who would want to be with someone so ugly?
The key to her destruction is Hoffman. Right before the mermaid battle, we see Hoffman doing something to Clara. In reality, it was probably the abuse. In the game's twisted dream world, he was tying her legs to the rope that she hung by during the fight. The metaphor is that his tying her up restricted her upward mobility - because of this action, she was stuck as an ugly mermaid and was prevented from making the transition to adult.
The vomiting of the mermaid, therefore, probably represents Clara's internal feelings. Her self-"sickness," brought about by Hoffman's actions. What you are fighting is not the memory of Clara, but the recollections of Clara's despair.
It is interesting also that Stray Dog does not show up until the three adult figures have left the Orphanage. Hoffman leaves of his own accord; that much is made clear by his diary. Why Martha left is never explained, but the fact that she disappeared after inquiring about Gregory's behavior leads to the theory that something happened to her after she decided to take the investigation into her own hands. Perhaps Gregory saw her spying on him and killed her. Who knows.
That just leaves Clara. Was she kidnapped? Or did she simply leave? If she left, was to escape from the other 'mermaids,' to be by herself because she was not a 'human' (adult)? Did she leave to be by herself, because nobody wanted to be around an ugly mermaid?
You be the judge.
Besides a couple scenes in the Clover and Funeral chapters, most of the information on Clara comes from the Mermaid chapter. As she is the mermaid, the question that begs to be asked is, what does the Mermaid Princess story mean?
The story is about a Mermaid who wants something that she cannot attain. The mermaid is a beautiful girl who desires to marry a human prince. There is an interesting reversal here: the mermaid, a creature of fantasy, wants to be a part of a more realistic world. Normally, it is the other way around: humans want to escape into a fantasy world. In any event, the mermaid desires to leave her realm of fantasy to be in one that consists of humans.
There are two aspects of Clara that are important to note here: She was a child, but was older than all the other girls. Clara also helped out a lot around the Orphanage, and Hoffman thought of her as an adult. When he left, Hoffman clearly thought Clara was responsible enough to take charge. He thought this because of Clara's actions, and her grown-up behavior.
So we have Clara, the girl who is not quite a child, but not yet a woman. In a normal childhood, she would be going to school with people her age, making the transition between the two worlds easier. Instead, she is in an orphanage where she is treated as both a child and an adult. For someone who is only 16, that could become very confusing.
Since we do know that she acted like an adult to the other girls, we can probably assume that she wanted to be an adult. At the same time, she does not know how to be an adult. Her knowledge of adulthood comes from her interactions with Hoffman, which were inappropriate at best. We do not know exactly what he did to her, only that it scared her, she did not like it, and she could not bring herself to stop it.
Like any other type of child abuse, Clara probably believed she had to submit to her authority figure, in this case Hoffman. Clara was most likely also mature enough to know that what Hoffman was doing to her was wrong, hence her trepidation towards her private interactions with Hoffman. Assuming, again, that it was some form of molestation, Clara probably recognized that as a loss of purity. She was "dirty," and she was embarassed about that fact.
What does this have to do with the Mermaid story? That particular tale was about somebody who wanted to leave her sphere of life for a completely different sphere. The mermaid wanted to leave her fantasy life for a more realistic one. Clara wanted to leave her childhood life to become an adult. Again, as most adults remember their youth with fondness, and that it is the adult that desires to become a kid again, you have a reversal of the normal dream. Clara is a kid (mermaid) who wishes to be an adult (human).
It is important to note at this point that the drawings on the storybook backs up this notion. The drawing of the main character, the Mermaid Princess, is too ambiguous to discern which kid it is - though it certainly could be Clara. What should be taken into consideration, however, is that she is NOT the only mermaid in that story. The book is about her, but there are other mermaids present in the story. What's more, the other mermaids' faces are drawn to look like the other kids at the orphanage. For further evidence of this, look through the other stories, particularly the ones that feature the other orphans in a group picture. The faces of the orphans in those stories and the faces of the other mermaids are the same.
This then leads credence to the idea that Clara wanted to leave the mermaid realm (childhood) for the human realm (adulthood). Clara wanted to leave the other mermaids for something she thought she wanted - instead of being one of the orphan kids, she wanted to leave them and become an adult woman.
Her inability to do so it the key to the story.
The mermaid (for reasons that aren't explained) was unable to become a human. Instead, she grew old and died. Furthermore, her beauty was lost. She was still a mermaid, but rather than being a beautiful one, she was an ugly one. So what does this mean for Clara?
Clara wanted to be an adult. Her role model for being an adult, however, was Hoffman, who was molesting her. Martha was also present, but as she was subservient to Hoffman, it is debatable how much of a better role model she would have been for Clara. In other words, Clara wanted to be an adult, but two important obstacles blocked her path: First, she did not know how an adult should act. Second, her loss of purity at the hands of Hoffman discolored her view of herself.
The latter idea delves into the realm of psychology, and a person could go on for days talking about how molestation negatively affects a child's behavior, regardless of how old that child is - so I won't spend too much time discussing that particular aspect. Needless to say, Clara was old enough to recognize what was happening to her, and saw it as a negative that she could not overcome.
It is probably also important that this all is happening in the 1930s, a period of time when women were supposed to be chaste homemakers. The notion of beauty was tied into purity. A woman who was sexually immoral was looked down upon. It is all conjecture as to how far the writers went into these ideas, but they most likely do play a factor in Clara's psyche.
Clara saw herself as dirty and impure, because of Hoffman's abuse. She could not stop the abuse, but that does not change the way she feels about herself because of this fact. What we are left with is a Clara who is the shell of her former self. She is not an adult - she is still a mermaid - but she has lost her self esteem. She sees herself as incapable of being an adult. While all the other kids are still free to live their lives as beautiful mermaids, Clara is left to a life of isolation and loneliness because of her own perceived ugliness.
As the story says, who would want to be with someone so ugly?
The key to her destruction is Hoffman. Right before the mermaid battle, we see Hoffman doing something to Clara. In reality, it was probably the abuse. In the game's twisted dream world, he was tying her legs to the rope that she hung by during the fight. The metaphor is that his tying her up restricted her upward mobility - because of this action, she was stuck as an ugly mermaid and was prevented from making the transition to adult.
The vomiting of the mermaid, therefore, probably represents Clara's internal feelings. Her self-"sickness," brought about by Hoffman's actions. What you are fighting is not the memory of Clara, but the recollections of Clara's despair.
It is interesting also that Stray Dog does not show up until the three adult figures have left the Orphanage. Hoffman leaves of his own accord; that much is made clear by his diary. Why Martha left is never explained, but the fact that she disappeared after inquiring about Gregory's behavior leads to the theory that something happened to her after she decided to take the investigation into her own hands. Perhaps Gregory saw her spying on him and killed her. Who knows.
That just leaves Clara. Was she kidnapped? Or did she simply leave? If she left, was to escape from the other 'mermaids,' to be by herself because she was not a 'human' (adult)? Did she leave to be by herself, because nobody wanted to be around an ugly mermaid?
You be the judge.
