A comparative analysis of the stories of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid and Samad Behrangi's Little Black Fish based on Glasser's Choice Theory and Reality Therapy

One of the types of approaches to criticizing literary works is criticism from the perspective of psychology. Considering the centrality of personality element in both fields of literature and psychology, we find many common aspects between these two fields. Many components of the definition of personality in psychology can be seen in literary works. In this research, Glaser's theory of choice, which is one of the prominent psychologists of the last century, was used to examine various aspects of choice theory and reality therapy in the selected stories of Samad Behrangi and Hans Christian Andersen as prominent representatives of children's and adolescent stories. This essay examines the stories of Samad Behrangi's Little Black Fish and Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid based on William Glasser's theory of choice. The purpose of the article is to explain the commonalities and differences of these two well-known stories in order to achieve a scientific and clear horizon for children and adolescent writers of the new era. This study was done in a descriptive-analytical way and it is a method of collecting library-documentary information. The research data shows that the theory of choice can be explained in the stories of Behrangi and Andersen. Also, all five needs defined by Glasser and the concepts of external control and ideal world are present in both stories. Both Behrangi and Andersen create characters who face reality, accept responsibility for their lives, and make the right choices.