Short Story Mermaids By Richard Van Camp

Modern tragedies have transformed and progressed from Ancient tragedies, not every tragic hero have to be a noble person. The short story “Mermaids”, written by Richard Van Camp is a modern tragedy, because Torchy is a regular person and the story contains tragic elements. Torchy’s hamartia, greed, prevents him from knowing the consequences of his actions; Torchy’s peripeteia, forget to wash his hand is resulted from his hamartia; Torchy’s anagnorisis in the story is demonstrated when he attempts to wash his hands with water.

Torchy’s hamartia, greed, is evidently shown throughout the usage of symbolism. After winning eighty grand at the Bingo game, Torchy still feels unsatisfied and chooses to pursue more money, where Gold Range provides
The mistake that leads Torchy to choking himself takes place when Torchy forgets to wash his hands after his winnings.Torchy remembers, “And then, I saw the hookers, two Gook sisters who wanted me, so I bought a room, but i forgot to wash my hands” (Van Camp 3). The phrase, “I forgot to wash my hands”, emphasizes that Torchy makes a fatal mistake by spending time with the hookers, instead of washing his hands, which will eventually direct him to his downfall. This course of action signifies Torchy’s hamartia, carelessness, causes him to make wrong judgement and decision. Moreover, the action of forgetting to wash his hands foreshadows that Torchy will receive punishments for what did previously caused by hamartia. His hamartia creates peripeteia which becomes a reason for why “Mermaids” is a
Hamartia, peripeteia and anagnorisis are demonstrated within the story. Torchy’s tragic flaw creates his own peripeteia, which initiates multiple sequences of events that leads to his self-destruction. Eventually, Torchy realizes his mistake of not wash his hands and tries to restore his status ;thus, an anagnorisis. Although, Aristotle died a long time ago, his works and philosophical theories on tragedy have powerful influences on modern literature and society. In relation to modern society, some people similar to Torchy still make mistakes because of their inabilities to control their inner emotions and internal conflicts. Reading tragedy is impactful and dominant, because those profound sufferings and negative experiences alter our response to those painful experiences. Having change benefits us; therefore, we achieve a higher state of