Emily is the protagonist and point-of-view character of The Tail of Emily Windsnap. As a human, Emily is self-conscious of her skinny legs and small body. However, the first time she transforms into a mermaid, she is amazed to find she has a “long, gleaming, purple-and-green tail, waving gracefully as [she] skimmed along in the water” (19). The sudden confidence Emily gains while describing herself as a mermaid supports Having Pride in One’s Identity and shows that her mermaid form is her true identity.

Emily’s greatest internal conflict is finding out who she is and where she fits in as a child of both the human and merfolk worlds. Her ability to sustain relationships with both her mom and Shona makes Emily a symbol of how the two worlds can be brought together to promote harmony between the species. In addition, Emily joining the two worlds presents a direct threat to Neptune’s power over the merfolk and the laws he has worked so hard to uphold. Emily’s refusal to give into such laws means she is a fighter, and her impassioned speech about love and family in Chapter 15 cuts to the heart of the novel as a story about letting people lead their own lives and not letting old prejudices prevent forward movement.