Ryan Roberts - A Tale of Dyslexia with a Eucatastrophe

"At least I would say that Tragedy is the true form of Drama, its highest function; but the opposite is true of Fairy-story. Since we do not appear to possess a word that expresses this opposite—I will call it Eucatastrophe." ~ J. R. R. Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories

"... What the f*ck is that?" ~ Me, pulling up Google

Eucatastrophe - a sudden and favorable resolution of events in a story, a happy ending.

    There are very few times in my life where I would thank my Dyslexia for horrendously misreading a word. I was sitting in my room a few moments before class trying to think of something to write for a blog post, lazily reading "On Fairy-Stories" when I misread "Eucatastrophe" as "New Catastrophe". Following that was heavy confusion as the next few sentences describe the "joy of the happy ending" (Tolkien 33), while I thought he was talking about a disaster. 

    But after correctly reading the word, I decided to go back and re-read what I already glazed over. And it got me thinking... Do fairy tales need to have a happy ending? Or rather, do fairy tales need a Eucatastrophe?

    I guess this came about because I've been doing a Disney Princess marathon and finished The Little Mermaid a few days ago. While the Disney version definitely has a happy ending, the original Hans Christian Anderson version is decidedly not very happy. In it, the Little Mermaid's love isn't returned, so she is given a dagger to kill the prince with. She can't bring herself to do it, so she stabs herself instead (or dissolves into sea foam, depending on the version).

    Since The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale, and also fits the definition of a Fairy Story posed by J. R. R. Tolkien, I wondered how he could have mentioned something like Grim's Fairytales and completely skip over The Little Mermaid. After all, she seems to have not gotten any kind of happily ever after. At least, that's what I thought before I re-read the HCA version. 

    It's told in the story that Mermaids don't have souls and thus, have no afterlife. However, when the Little Mermaid kills herself, she actually turns into an angel. And while she does get a "Happy Ending", I don't think I would call it a eucatastrophe. While she does get to have an afterlife, I'd describe the ending as more cathartic and melancholy rather than joyful. Of course, that is up to personal interpretation.

    But I do think that, even stories like the original Little Mermaid, having some semblance of a happy ending should be a staple of the genre. After all, these stories tend to be enjoyed by kids more than adults. And while adults can see the impact of an unhappy ending, kids just aren't wired that way. If I had watched The Little Mermaid as a kid and Ariel decided to kill herself, I would have cried very loudly.

    So, thank you dyslexia. I have reached my own eucatastrophe with the idea of a eucatastrophe. I'm writing eucatastrophe one more time just to prove I can spell it. Eucatastrophe.

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