The Ugly Duckling Essay

Ugly Duckling Essay
Sarah Broge
Johann 4
2-16-10
Ugly Duckling Essay

A lot of people are left out of everyday life and they are treated differently because of what they look like, what they think and how they act. Those people turn out to have doubts about themselves and what their potential is. In the short story “The Ugly Duckling.”, we follow the journey of a sad little duckling that everyone treats differently because his looks are out of standards.
There are four themes of writing to choose to follow from. In this story the theme is man vs. society. It is man vs. society because the little duckling is being left out and made fun of by society. He is being treated differently because he looks different than a normal duckling should look like. Because he was born later than his siblings and he looks different from all of them and from anything that the other ducks have ever seen, he is excluded from the society that he was born into. It was so stressful and un-bearable that he decided to run away from society and live on his own to try and find his place in the world.
In many stories the author tries to teach the reader a lesson in life. The lesson that is being taught here is not to single out anyone that looks differently or acts differently from anyone else. You shouldn’t exclude anyone from anything just because they are a little different from you or your friends. If they are different from your society that you have been raised by, maybe it’s time to change your view on people because no one should be left out of anything for the wrong reasons. Being different from everyone else is a quality that we should embrace in ourselves and in others.
There can be comparisons in other writings in stories like these. One comparison of this story is the book Speak. The main character Melinda Sordino is being excluded from society because of her actions the previous summer. She cannot find her place in society and she is forced to venture through it on her own. Just like the duckling, she goes through many obstacles along the way of acceptation in society. In the end of both stories the main characters find their place in society and they are finally accepted for who they truly are. They embraced their inner beauty to get them accepted by people who are just like them.
In the modes of literature there are four mode lines to follow off of. One of the mode lines are romance, which is most commonly used beside comedy. In the beginning of the story there is a mild conflict, and in this case the ugly duckling is driven away and excluded from society because he looks differently and he acts different from everyone else. He tries to find his place everywhere around the land but he can’t find anywhere, where he is accepted. The final point on the mode line of romance is life affirming symbolism. The ugly duckling find out what he truly is on the outside and he finds others that are just like him. He is accepted by them and is proclaimed, “The most beautiful of all.” It’s true that, “he is so young and pretty.”, because the acceptance in society has told him what he really is. He is a beautiful baby swan.
Like in real life the story, “The Ugly Duckling”, has many “cliques” within it. The ducks at the pond and where he was born are two cliques that he is first has contact with. Along his journey he meets three more cliques that are all judgmental and all treat him differently. The animals that he meets at the old woman’s house treat him different because he does not act like they do. At the lake the humans’ are a clique because they acknowledge his beauty and they are different from him as well. Finally the last clique is the swans that he is now a part of. He is treated like he belongs and he does belong with his true family.
Authors mostly relate stories to themselves and what they grew up with. The author of this story, Hans Christan Andersen relates what the duck is based on from his own experiences. Andersen was born as a peasant and he was excluded out of society. Just as the ugly duckling was, Hans had to journey on his own through life and learn the ways of the world on his own. He finally found his place in his writing where he could express himself freely. He makes us look more sharply at daily life through the window of his imagination through his own experience. Hans expressed his emotions, flashes of humor, and commentaries on life and follies of human kind in his writing. He has mastered the technique of adding his own personal flare within his writings. Some experts even said that his writing was seen symbolic of his own life.
The story of, “The Ugly Duckling” relates to us in everyday life because we see people who are excluded from society because of the way that we look, the way that we think and the way that we act. People should not be excluded from anything because of how they are every day and because of qualities that they cannot change. This world is a world of perfection. People look at your looks and your weight and everything on the outside. The thing that they should really be focusing on is the qualities that the person has on the inside. We should be treated better and this society should change their views on acceptance and rejection.
“The Ugly Duckling”, shows us that our world is not perfect. That we all need to change our views on how we accept and reject people. Judge people on who they are on the inside. Don’t judge someone on the outside because people could be thinking the same things about you as you are of them.