Richard Van Camp's Short Story Mermaids

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Tragedy acts as an antidote to human fallibility; it also warns individuals of the dire consequences of follies in a way that comedy cannot. It accentuates how a character of high rank falls from grace due to his or her character flaw. More importantly, the downfall evokes pathos, which results in the viewers’ emotional cleansing and purging. In Richard Van Camp’s short story, “Mermaids”, the main character “Torchy” is a native Indian who struggle to find a goal in life. To cope with the loss of his brother and his traumatic life, he abuses alcohol and drugs.“Mermaids” is not considered as a tragedy since the main character does not fulfill a noble tragic hero, he does not go through peripeteia, and the ending of the story does not let the

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