Since that was taken down gonna say this (opening the worm can now)
Maybe because the mermaid language is different then what ever Eric Understood
BUT We see Ariel clearly written on the contract (Quite nicely I might add)
Would this not imply more intelligence IN ARIEL then Ariel Bashers give her?
Maybe the screen writers did not think this when the film was made we are after all
Only Human
She may illiterate but able to sign her name. I have known some illiterate people like this. It would also explain why she foolishly signed the contract.
shareShe's definitely not illiterate, as she was pretty clearly seen reading the contract (and it's clear from her body language that she was reluctant to sign it), and besides which, in Part of Your World, she was explicitly seen reading a book in her grotto (and that's not even getting into extension media such as the episode with Simon the Sea Dragon where she read a note in a bottle, or the twelfth and final issue of the standard Marvel Comics serial where Ariel actually read history books on Atlantica to pass the time of her being "beached"). If anything, given the volume of the book in Part of Your World, she's probably a more advanced reader than Belle. I know I also saw a key art of her with a book in her purse in mermaid form as well.
And for the topic, the TV series made clear that the merperson language was NOT an easy language to learn (it was mostly composed of hieroglyphics). And while she may read the language of various humans, she'd still need to write down the correct language for Eric, and knowing the written form of a language and the verbal form of a language are two different things (Just look at Stargate the movie: Daniel Jackson was a prodigy regarding reading the written language of Ancient Egypt. However, when he had to deal with the verbal language of the same, he was practically a fish out of water, pun not intended).
She was seen looking at pictures in books.
To me, she skinmed the contract at best. Plus, it's a magic contract. Perhaps it afforded her the ability to read & write those things at that moment.
If you're happy and you know it, go sit in the corner and think about your life.
Ah, we don't even know if the book even HAD pictures. In fact, given the volume of the book, it's unlikely it would have pictures beyond maybe a small illustration per page.
And actually, I can read at that speed, and there is such a thing as speed-reading. And it's clear she knew exactly what the contract entailed (otherwise, her crying about her impending fate when Eric was set to marry Vanessa wouldn't have made any sense), not to mention she wouldn't have grimaced when she was about to sign the contract.
I was thinking of the portrait with the candle when I mentioned the picture. And all she did was flip theough a few pages, not necessarioy read them.
Speed-reading is a fairly involved technique to learn, which I doubt Ariel would have cared to develop if she couldn't read. And she already knew what the contract entailed because Ursula outlined the details during the "Poor Unfortunate Souls" sequence, including what ahe does to those who "couldn't pay the price". And Ariel wasn't simply crying over her impending fate but also because she lost the man she loved to another.
If you're happy and you know it, go sit in the corner and think about your life.
"I was thinking of the portrait with the candle when I mentioned the picture. And all she did was flip theough a few pages, not necessarioy read them."
I actually CAN read just through flipping through a few pages. Heck, I actually managed to read something like Liberty the God that Failed in JUST under four hours overall, and that was about the size of that book Ariel read (726 pages, and I took care of a quarter of the book each hour, and I fully understood what they were trying to convey). Granted, I probably could have done it all on the same day if I allowed myself the time, but this was during my hourly breaks from the internet each day. And let me point out, I fully understood exactly what was being said in the book as well. If I could pull that off, Ariel most certainly could as well, and I also have an innate thirst for knowledge and curiosity just like Ariel, so I'm more than a little certain that she actually IS literate. And let me remind you that Ariel is the princess of Atlantica, so she naturally would be very literate (even in the Middle Ages, those who were of royalty were practically guaranteed to be literate, since it was kind of required for them to be that for various deals and all of that).
"Speed-reading is a fairly involved technique to learn, which I doubt Ariel would have cared to develop if she couldn't read. And she already knew what the contract entailed because Ursula outlined the details during the "Poor Unfortunate Souls" sequence, including what ahe does to those who "couldn't pay the price". And Ariel wasn't simply crying over her impending fate but also because she lost the man she loved to another."
Except there were plenty of other instances where she demonstrated she could read, NOT just those two. Like for example, the final issue of Marvel Comics explicitly has her reading a history book for Atlantica in order to pass the time while she was "beached." Granted, she did get bored with it pretty quickly, but it certainly proved that she COULD read (doubt she'd feel bored with the book if she couldn't read or feel it was dull, since that would kinda require you know what its saying. Had it been me, I probably would have gone something like "'Le Grill?!' What the **** is that?!" to quote Homer Simpson, or at best wouldn't even be able to recognize anything at all (like how Monk realized that Pablo, the delivery guy who was framed for a model's murder, could not have murdered the woman because he was illiterate, as the killer had to take a long route specifically to avoid setting of a fire alarm door, with Pablo, being illiterate, could not have known). I'll even give you the scans to prove it:
*http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/6/6d/M-12-03.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141226202123
*http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/2/22/M-12-04.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141226202152
And for the record, Ariel's characterized by her readiness to learn new things, and especially her innate curiosity, willing to perservere regardless of the challenge, that means she actually WOULD put the time in to learn how to speed-read.
There was also that episode involving Simon the Sea Dragon where she read his message in a bottle. "Read" is key here, since how could she have known his existence and try to befriend him if she was illiterate?
And anyways, do you REALLY think they would have even SHOWED the contents of the contract at all if they wanted to assure us that Ariel was illiterate? Had it been me writing the film and I wanted to ensure the audience got that Ariel was illiterate, I'd specifically AVOID showing the contents of the contract on-screen.
EDIT: And for the record, it really wasn't all THAT involved. I actually was able to read pretty fast even when I was a kid.
Of course, that doesn't mean that she would be able to communicate it with Eric though. One, she'd need to get the written language right, which isn't exactly easy when going by verbal communication (Daniel Jackson of Stargate the Movie had that exact problem regarding Ancient Egyptian, since, while he most certainly was gifted with reading the Egyptian hieroglyphs and translating them, actually speaking it was not his forte initially). Two, if she used her native written tongue to communicate, Eric wouldn't be able to understand. Three, even IF she did manage to write in a language he would understand, Eric probably would have viewed her as somewhat crazy. There are a LOT of parameters to take into account, so it wouldn't have been simple (and besides, Ursula, who most likely would have been keeping tabs on her in secret, would have probably orchestrated a freak wave to wipe it off the sand before Eric could get the chance to read it).
Your argument is based on your own abilities (not Ariel's) and sources I question is canon.
And they didn't show us the complete contract.
If you're happy and you know it, go sit in the corner and think about your life.
Also stuff from the film, and quite frankly, they SHOWED us the whole contract (heck, they showed us a full First Person view of the contract. How is it NOT the whole contract?). And considering Disney APPROVED of those things, and in the case of the TV series was even written by the same guys who made the film, they're most certainly canon. And besides, considering she's the princess of Atlantica, it's pretty clear she would need to know how to read as well (Even during the middle ages, the royal family, alongside the clergy, are pretty much among the few people who are all but guaranteed to be literate, and the setting of the film is the 19th century.). And ask yourself this, do you REALLY think that Triton would allow his daughters, his next of kin to the throne, ESPECIALLY Ariel, whom we would assume is closer to him than the others despite their arguments, to be illiterate? Of course not! What kind of ruler, let alone parent, would let their own children be illiterate especially if they are next in line?
And honestly, I'm pretty sure most people would consider someone who is able to read that fast a very skilled reader.
Now, you want a princess who actually WAS illiterate? Try Pocahontas, at least in the first film.
And even IF I am basing it on my own abilities, I also recognize that if I can pull it off, plenty of others most certainly can as well (and Ariel most certainly recognized what the contract entailed, and last I checked, Ursula never herself verbally said that she'd be hers for all eternity, just that she'd belong to her, so she HAD to know about the eternity bit from reading it).
Ariel's beginning contradicts the TV show so who knows what's really correct. Thus the movie is the only reliable source we have.
Being a princess of an underwater kingdom does not mean you are beholden to the same logic and rules of a land-based kingdom.
I still maintain she didn't read as fast as you claim she did and that if she did read & sign it was only due to the magic imbued in the contract & quill.
Do you honestly think a girl foolish enough to use a fork as a comb because a seagull told her that's what it was for would be literate?
If you're happy and you know it, go sit in the corner and think about your life.
Yeah, and Ariel's Beginning contradicts the original movie in more ways than one. And quite frankly, the TV series were written by the same guys who wrote the original movie, so I'd say they were closer to the mark. Besides, contradicting its own narrative is not exactly reason alone to dismiss something from canon (otherwise, the Metal Gear franchise probably wouldn't even HAVE a canon since Hideo Kojima constantly conflicts with its narrative endlessly, and don't get me started on Star Wars and how George Lucas apparently can't even remember how he made the films, and yet all those entries are STILL canon despite that.).
And considering their governance from what was shown was similar enough to land-dwelling governments, I'd say she'd still need to learn how to read and write while she was a mermaid.
And actually, they wouldn't have even BOTHERED showing the contract's contents at ALL if they wanted to imply that she couldn't read at all.
And as far as your last question, considering we've got Jean-Paul Sartre, a man who was most definitely literate (even consumed his own grandpa's library according to Paul Johnson's Intellectuals), yet he managed to be snookered by Communism and even declare that mass-murdering monster Che Guevara as "the most complete man of the century", or how Michel Foucault managed to land himself with AIDs and support the Ayatollah Khomeini despite the fact that he actually TRIES to kill homosexuals like himself, and he was most certainly literate as well, YES, even someone who makes that kind of mistake can still be considered literate, as literacy has absolutely NOTHING to do with being wise or intelligent despite what many people say. Is Ariel naïve, yes, but guess what? Naivety does NOT automatically rule out literacy. There have been PLENTY of people who were exceedingly naïve yet were also very much literate, like the Jacobin Club who tried to match the world to what Jean-Jacques Rousseau preached, many of whom didn't even know better. And don't get me started on how many naïve people bought into Marx, many of whom actually WERE literate. Or how Voltaire bought into fake Indian documents in his agenda against Christianity. That's also the reason why Nazi Germany still managed to come into power despite the fact that most of the populace WAS literate and educated. Heck, Belle managed to do something as completely and utterly stupid as expose the Beast to a congregated lynch mob led by her jealous suitor (a suitor who, BTW, she also deduced full well not a minute beforehand that he was at the very least an opportunistic scumbag, if not a blackmailing scumbag, with him being murderous not being far off the mark), and then act all surprised when it inevitably blew up in her face (not to mention the Beast and his servants faces as well, since they nearly got killed thanks to her), yet it was never a question as to whether she was literate, as the movie emphasized her literacy.
EDIT: Heck, you could even argue that it was literacy that was the reason the anti-Christian persecutions of the French Revolution happened in the first place, as Timothy Dwight made clear in his sermon here:
"The Duty of Americans at the Present Crisis by Timothy Dwight, July 4, 1798
“About the year 1728, Voltaire, so celebrated for his wit and brilliancy and not less distinguished for his hatred of Christianity and his abandonment of principle, formed a systematical design to destroy Christianity and to introduce in its stead a general diffusion of irreligion and atheism. For this purpose he associated with himself Frederick the II, king of Prussia, and Mess. D’Alembert and Diderot, the principal compilers of the Encyclopedie, all men of talents, atheists and in the like manner abandoned. // “The principle parts of this system were: // “1. The compilation of the Encyclopedie: in which with great art and insidiousness the doctrines of … Christian theology were rendered absurd and ridiculous; and the mind of the reader was insensibly steeled against conviction and duty. // “2. The overthrow of the religious orders in Catholic countries, a step essentially necessary to the destruction of the religion professed in those countries. // “3. The establishment of a sect of philosophists to serve, it is presumed as a conclave, a rallying point, for all their followers. // “4. The appropriation to themselves, and their disciples, of the places and honors of members of the French Academy, the most respectable literary society in France, and always considered as containing none but men of prime learning and talents. In this way they designed to hold out themselves and their friends as the only persons of great literary and intellectual distinction in that country, and to dictate all literary opinions to the nation. // “5. The fabrication of books of all kinds against Christianity, especially such as excite doubt and generate contempt and derision. Of these they issued by themselves and their friends who early became numerous, an immense number; so printed as to be purchased for little or nothing, and so written as to catch the feelings, and steal upon the approbation, of every class of men. // “6. The formation of a secret Academy, of which Voltaire was the standing president, and in which books were formed, altered, forged, imputed as posthumous to deceased writers of reputation, and sent abroad with the weight of their names. These were printed and circulated at the lowest price through all classes of men in an uninterrupted succession, and through every part of the kingdom.”"
http://www.wnd.com/2006/04/35810/#LFe1HvZ0eTHxBBmT.99
And considering how it resulted in the masses revolting and massacring priests and even slaughtering Vendee when they refused to submit to the General Will, it's pretty obvious the masses were literate enough to read Voltaire's garbage and even buy into it. Not to mention the likes of Jean-Paul Marat, Robespierre, and Louis de Saint-Just, made VERY clear that they were inspired by Rousseau and Voltaire's writings, and LeBon and his wife were inspired by Sade with their guillotines, even having the corpses undressed and placed in positions mirroring that of Justine's illustrations. To sum it up, even being literate is not going to save you from stupidity.
Now you're just wall o'texting crap not even relevant to the issue.
If you're happy and you know it, go sit in the corner and think about your life.
Not relevant? You implied if not outright stated that Ariel was most likely illiterate just because she believed Scuttle's claim that a fork was a comb. I cited how that was faulty logic at best and cited specific examples, both fictional and real life, of people making similar level of mistakes if not even WORSE ones and yet were STILL obviously very literate, which WAS relevant to the issue at hand since people were discussing whether she was literate or not, even when the film demonstrated twice that she was pretty obviously literate.
shareIf Ariel were literate she could have collected many more books and LEARNED about forks and smoking pipes is what I clearly meant.
And it's arguable that the film shows her literacy because one scene simply shows her flipping through a few pages and other involves a contract imbued with magic that could allow a specific "reader" to understand its content.
If you're happy and you know it, go sit in the corner and think about your life.
What's to say that those aren't all the books she could find? Remember, she had spent quite some time plundering various sunken ships, certainly enough time to build at least one massive collection from them, and she's not exactly the type to just abandon or overlook any potential human artifacts, not unless it's a very serious matter (ie, if one of her friends is in danger, like when she literally dropped her belongings to rush to save Flounder) so it's not like she didn't find everything she could find. And besides, we can't say we can know if books would contain any references to forks/smoking pipes, and even if they did, it's also unlikely they contained any pictures for forks/smoking pipes for reference unless they were a dictionary or encyclopedia (and even then that's a very small chance during that time). I have at least two dictionaries in my possession, plus have seen others, and with the exception of those geared towards kids, they rarely actually show pictures of the words they're defining, largely due to page space, and even the kids dictionaries were made within the 1990s or 1980s.
And I find it extremely hard to believe that Ursula would give a contract to someone who can't read. Yes, Ursula is manipulative, and certainly to go against her word if it suits her interests, but even she doesn't stoop that low regarding making deals. Besides, they wouldn't have given a first person close up of the contract if she couldn't read. This isn't like Eternal Darkness where the Tome of Eternal Darkness has otherworldly properties including giving the tomebearers access to magic, this is just a contract. Again, the only DP who clearly is illiterate in every single use of the term is Pocahontas, as all the other DPs, yes, even Ariel, have been demonstrated to know how to read. And considering I'm able to actually read material just by "flipping through" pages, I definitely know others could, and I'm pretty sure Ariel is capable of doing this as well (she's an innately curious person, especially towards things that are human. If anything, it would be unlikely that she wouldn't have self-taught herself some degree of the human language). Illiterate towards another written language from your own is one thing, and I could understand and to some extent agree if that's what you were getting at. But Illiterate period? No, she's definitely not that.
EDIT: And for the record, you're still making the same logic mistake regarding how her being literate would automatically mean she would be able to refute Scuttle's logic. Ignoring the points I addressed above regarding books she could find, there have been plenty of people who bought into falsehoods despite their obviously being literate. Like Jean-Paul Sartre, who OBVIOUSLY was very literate as I have addressed in an earlier post, yet he bought into various claims about how communism was good and the West, especially America, was bad, and even after Stalin was exposed as bad and the tanks came rolling into Poland, that didn't hinder his support for Communism. And don't forget, there are PLENTY of written sources about how the USSR and other Communist countries had horrific elements. And don't forget how the French Revolutionaries explicitly cited Rousseau, Voltaire and even the likes of Sade as an inspiration for their actions, despite the fact that those CAN'T work in reality at all especially if they actually LOOKED at differing sources, and it's pretty obvious they were very literate.
In all fairness, even if she did know the written form of various human languages, she also would need to deduce which exact language Eric and his people would be speaking in (there are multiple human languages, after all, and he and his kingdom would probably be Danes based on some hints posed by the film and to a lesser extent various extension media), there's also the issue of trying to translate it from her own language down to his language, and then there's the issue on whether Eric would believe her even IF she wrote it down. Besides, what's to say Ursula and F&J won't just sabotage that method by causing a freak wave to arrive and wash away said message from the sand or destroy said parchment before Eric got the chance to read it. There's plenty of reasons why that method would not have worked, even IGNORING the bit about her merperson language being very different from Eric's (and honestly, you'd have as much of a chance at translating the written language of merpeople directly to your language as you would translating the Ancient Egyptian Language directly into English without any layovers, especially when, in the TV series anyway, that's exactly what the merpeople written language is: Hieroglyphics. Actually, it probably would be less of a chance: At least Ancient Egyptian has the Rosetta stone, the merpeople language most likely doesn't have something similar, at least until Ariel came along).
Besides, I can think of a far bigger, and worse, plothole regarding a similar issue than this bit. If anything, the whole "why didn't she just write it down" is very easily explainable and not really a plothole, and WITHOUT relying on the old "Ariel's illiterate" card because she clearly is not illiterate. The plothole I'm alluding to, BTW, is why neither Beast nor his servants ever told Belle about the curse. It's not like Belle wouldn't believe them if they did, since she pretty clearly deduced easily the castle was enchanted, not to mention many of the problems occurring in the storyline for the various characters could have been at the very least minimalized if not outright averted if they actually told Belle about the events of the curse. Maybe if they at least gave a reason, any reason at all, for the secrecy, I would at least roll with it. But they didn't even do that. Probably the closest we've got to an actual explanation, stated or implied, for why they didn't do it, was when Cogsworth suspiciously cut off Mrs. Potts just as the latter was about to remind everyone of what the conditions of breaking the spell when Belle was about to walk into the kitchen, and his entering a fight with Lumiere when Belle revealed she knew the castle was enchanted before Belle admitted that no one told her and she just came up with the conclusion herself shortly after Be Our Guest. Even then, they don't really elaborate on why exactly they weren't going to talk about it, since they could have made a pact, or otherwise were told by Beast not to talk about it. Ignoring the bit about Ariel not writing it down, even Ariel's reason for keeping Melody in the dark about her heritage in Return to the Sea had a LOT more justification behind it than Belle being kept in the dark about the nature of the curse by the servants and Beast. At least we actually SAW what necessitated that hiding of her heritage so we understood full well why Ariel would go to those lengths even IF we didn't necessarily agreed with it. We don't get the same with Beast and the servants doing that to Belle.
Belle had to freely fall in love with the Beast. Telling her about the curse arguably removes that freedom.
If you're happy and you know it, go sit in the corner and think about your life.
Would it have really changed things if they told her? She was still angry with Beast, and considering this was the same woman who bluntly refused to come down to dinner despite Beast at LEAST attempting to ask politely, twice I should add (to say little about how Beast at least gave her an actual room and relative freedom throughout the castle when she, as prisoner, could have easily stayed in that dingy cell), she probably would have spitefully inferred he deserved it and refused to help change them back if they told her. I could understand if it was after the wolf attack, but not before.
shareIf not already stated Plot Conveience if she did then what would have happened?
shareWere we talking about Ariel or Belle?
shareAriel
shareI kinda gave an answer earlier, but I'm willing to repeat it:
Even if she DID write something down, it probably wouldn't have made any difference. For starters, she'll need to figure out what language Eric was speaking and then write it down for him. And then there would be some problems with that to take into consideration even if she succeeds in doing that. Namely:
1. Eric, even for his kind hearted nature, will probably view her as slightly insane from the story.
2. Ursula and/or Flotsam & Jetsam (since the tipping of the boat made VERY clear that Ursula was still spying on Ariel by the second day and keeping tabs on her via F&J and is willing to interfere if anything came of the sort) would probably just destroy the message before Eric could read the message anyway by causing a freak wave to wash the sand away, or even destroy the parchment.
To give a good example of the latter scenario, in the TV series Recess, one of the episodes had the clique girl group called the Ashleys pulling a mean-spirited prank on Gus Griswold by Jinxing him (meaning saying the same thing as someone else, and in this series means they can't speak at all afterward unless someone says their name), forcing him to remain mute until someone stated his name (which only occurred nearing the end of the episode AFTER Gus got into a significant amount of trouble, enough that he was to be taken to District 6, which is heavily implied to be an extremely harsh punishment even by the school's standards, as even Mrs. Finster was shocked at the option, which he couldn't even help due to being forced not to talk earlier). He attempts to write a message to his friends in the sand, but the Ashleys quickly picked up on this attempt and caused a two-fold distraction: One of them bumps into Spinelli and gets into a loud argument with her, and the other, Armbruster, proceeds to cause a stampede among the Kindergartners, thus all but ensuring that the message was destroyed BEFORE Gus's friends had a chance to read it.
She did have anything to write on, and I don't even think she have done it on the sand or anything to write with either
shareWould you believe someone who wrote you a note saying that she saved you from drowing and was a mermaid, but now she lost her voice to a sea witch so she can't actually explain it or sing the song again. Ending with: PS, three days from now I could be dead, please kiss me...?
The better question would be why the TALKING crab didn't just explain everything to Eric. That, at least, would have been believable; it would have been right there in front of Eric's eyes.
Anyway, I'm inclined to believe that mermaids don't use the same written language as humans do. Her name being readable when she signed the contract, and the contract being in English, was just for the audience.
When she was flipping through the pages of a book in her grotto, it seemed to me that she couldn't understand what it said, which added to her passionate curiosity for the world above. She WANTED to know what it said.
I'm pretty sure she did have some understanding of what it said (after all, I could flip through those pages at the same rate as her and perfectly understand what the book said). That doesn't mean, however, that she has any context to completely understand what it means, so even if she did know how to read, that still won't be enough to know what the human world is like, especially when she's barely even familiar with the terms street, feet, and fire (and it's unlikely Scuttle would have been the person who told her these things, especially considering his description of human objects are faulty at best. Not to mention feet, fire, and street is clearly not stuff that's very common among merfolk. In fact, probably the closest merpeople have to fire is "undersea volcano.").
That being said, I do agree with you that writing the note wouldn't have worked at all, so it's not even remotely a plot hole. Heck, I can cite one more reason why writing the note wouldn't work, actually, two more reasons:
The first reason is that, assuming she can read (which, given the grotto scene and her signing that contract in the movie alone, to say little about how she demonstrated literacy in the Marvel Comics and the TV series, she most likely does), she'd also need to deduce which language Eric was speaking, and it is extremely difficult for even a scholar in a written language to know what someone is speaking in the audio version of the language (for example, in the Stargate movie, Daniel Jackson, an expert in reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, was just as useless as the other members of the military unit when it came to speaking the Egyptian slaves in their native tongue until his future wife taught him the language). And then there's the issue of instantly translating that person's language into their own (and I must admit, I'm impressed that Ariel can most likely interpret the human language pretty well, especially regarding her first meeting with Eric).
The second reason is because, even if she DID go through the trouble of writing it down on the sand, or even on parchment, either Ursula herself or Flotsam and Jetsam would make sure Eric can't read it by summoning a freak wave or even beaching themselves subtly and rolling over the note and destroy it. After all, if Ursula can pull a dirty trick to ensure Ariel failed to meet her end of the bargain before the last day by not only having Flotsam and Jetsam tip the boat at the last second before she and Eric could even kiss, but even go as far as to disguise herself as Vanessa and brainwash Eric via her stolen pipes, it wouldn't be above her to destroy a note the second she is aware of it (especially when Ursula most likely used Flotsam and Jetsam to keep tabs on Ariel to observe her progress, she's not stupid and she most likely wanted to make sure Ariel would fail in her task rather than merely assume she will).
She wasn't speed reading that book dude. It seems to me you're projecting some characteristics you see in yourself onto the movie's character and take it to be the standard. I hardly think that the Disney animators were thinking "let's have her speed read a book"... She's flipping through it because she has no idea of what's inside it but she wants to know what it says, which adds to her desire to know more about that world is a whole, fitting in with the song. That's the only thing that scene represents.
it's unlikely Scuttle would have been the person who told her these things, especially considering his description of human objects are faulty at best
Maybe, but I'm still pretty sure she's literate regardless, especially considering she already demonstrated the ability to read that contract and even write (and that's not even getting into how in Marvel Comics' final issue, she was explicitly seen reading books, or how some books had her reading a human note or even how the TV series had her reading Simon the Sea Dragon's note). Probably the only DP we can reasonably assume was fully illiterate in every way that can be imagined is Pocahontas.
Also, I'm pretty sure stuff like street and fire would have absolutely no meaning to merpeople considering they lack any of that stuff due to being ground exclusive. Yes, you have a point regarding harpoons, but the difference there is that humans HAVE used harpoons in the past and that any surviving merpeople would have at least heard the name and reported it. The same can't be said with street or fire since they literally have no impact on the merpeople at all (in fact, the closest thing fire has any impact or relevance with merpeople on are undersea volcanoes and geological shifts).
She may be able to write, but she sure couldn't rad too well.
It never occured for her to completely read the contract before signing it. Or else she would've know that their deal was irreversible
I'm pretty sure Ariel knew the deal was irreversible since it was made clear in the contract that it was (and it mentioned "for all eternity" right at the end). And I'd argue Ariel COULD read very well. The contract aside, she was seen reading a book in Part of Your World.
shareShe was looking at the book. Could she actually read the words?
share