H. Martine G.

Rstad The Ugly Duckling Analysis 27/03/2014

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Analysis of The Ugly Duckling
The Ugly Duckling is a Danish fairy tale by H.C. Andersen. It was published for the first time
on the 11
th
of November 1843. Despite being classified as a fairy tale, it is entirely a product
of H.C. Andersens imagination and is not based on any folk tale or folklore. The main theme
of the story is societys expectations in particular, how society treats those who are
different, and how this mentally and emotionally affects the social outcast. The message the
story sends is that others opinions and judgement do not define you, and to fully flourish
and be appreciated you have to discover who and what you are, and where you belong.
In the story, we follow a bird hatched among ducks. However, from the very first moment, it
is apparent that this Duckling is very different from his siblings. Being too large and odd, he
is called ugly by all the other ducks in the pond. The Duckling is abused both verbally and
physically for his odd looks in his home pond, and eventually runs away. The wild animals are
no more hesitant to tell him how ugly they think he is, but they mostly leave him alone. As
he struggles to survive alone in the wild, he encounters many animals and people, and faces
difficult situations. After barely living through a harsh winter, he sees swans return from the
south, and figures that they will surely kill him for his ugliness if he dared come close. He
decides that death is better than suffering through the life he has, so he approaches the
swans. However, as he bows his head, he sees his own reflection in the water and sees that
he is too a swan. He is then accepted into the swans flock, lives happily ever after and no
longer goes by the name of the Ugly Duckling.
The story of the Ugly Duckling is often misunderstood as a story about transformation
about how a foul-looking fledgling at last grew up to be the most beautiful bird in the pond.
However, this description is crudely simple and very misleading. It is not the Duckling who
changes. He has always been a swan, but he has never been viewed as good or beautiful by
his peers before he finds where he belongs. The greatest change is not in the Duckling
himself, but in how he is perceived and how he perceives himself.
The themes primarily represented in the story are how a society focuses on only certain
traits when judging a persons worth, the mental and emotional damage suffered by a social
outcast, and how one must get to know oneself and find where one belongs to find true
happiness. In this essay, these three themes will be addressed in order. In the end, I will
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explain how the society portrayed in the tale can be a metaphor for our human society. To
prevent confusion, the swan known as the Ugly Duckling will always be referred to as the
Duckling in this essay, despite his true nature.
Throughout the story, the Duckling faces judgement from almost every creature he meets.
The creatures all seem to have different reasoning behind their treatment of the Duckling
with the exception of his appearance, which is apparent to and commented on by nearly
every creature he meets.
Despite these differences, there seems to be a common denominator.
All the animals are seen to have very specific demands, and a focus on particular qualities.
This list of qualities works almost like a checklist, defining what makes a good specimen of
each type of animal. The qualities in question are different from one species of animal to the
other.
This metaphorical checklist can first and foremost be seen among the ducks in the Ducklings
home pond. Even before the Ducklings egg is hatched, the ducks notice that it is different
too large and wrongly coloured. The Duckling is suspected by an elder duck to actually be a
turkeys child, as the elder duck had once been tricked this way and had problems, as the
turkeys were scared of the water. The Ducklings mother worries about this for a while, but
is immediately calmed when the Duckling hops into the water. Suddenly, its odd appearance
and size no longer matter he can swim, and the mother is at once certain that he must be a
duck, for swimming is one of the most important qualities of ducks.
However, her reassurance does not help when the other ducks in the pond see the Duckling.
He is called ugly, but only one duck specifies exactly what it is they find odd - its too large
and peculiar. In other words, he does not fulfil their expectations. He is not the proper size
of a duck, and does not look as a duck should. The Mother Duck tries to defend the Duckling
by pointing out how he is the strongest of her ducklings, but this is not what the ducks care
about most. Whether his too large size gives him an extra advantage in swimming is of no
consequence to them it is not on their checklist, and therefore makes no difference.
However good he is at other things, he does not fill the checklist of what is important in a
duck, and makes for a very ugly duckling indeed.
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Later in the story, we see an example of proficiency in a specific skill being used to measure
how sensible, good or worthy the Duckling is. He walks by a house, which is inhabited by an
old woman, a Cat and a Hen. The woman takes him in, hoping he will lay eggs, which he does
not. When he then afterwards tries to voice his opinion about something the Cat said, he is
rejected.
The Duckling thought one might have a different opinion, but the Hen would not allow it.
Can you lay eggs? she asked.
No.
Then you will hold your tongue!
And the Cat said, Can you curve your back, and purr, and give out sparks?
No.
Then you will please have no opinion of your own when sensible folks are speaking.
Both the Hen and the Cat measures the Ducklings worth by his proficiency in the skills they
view as important. The Cat even decides that the Ducklings skill in curving his back and
purring is directly proportional to how sensible he is though these two traits are not
actually connected at all.
The traits which the animals judge others by are very much based upon their own abilities.
To take the example of the Cat, the Hen mentions that purring and curving its back are the
Cats most characteristic skills. This is obviously something the Cat is very proud of, and it
judges its own worth on these abilities and by extension judges others the same way.
Similarly, the ducks in the pond also look to their own appearances and abilities for traits of
which to judge the Duckling. Since the ducks can swim, look a certain way and are relatively
small, they judge each other by how proficient they are at this, and how well they fit. Each
species of animal does the same, looking to itself and its own body and abilities before
judging other creatures.
This is one of the key issues for the Duckling, as he is not the same species as any of the
animals he meets. He is verbally and physically abused throughout the story, and is called
ugly and strange many times.
This has a severe effect on his self-worth. From the moment he is hatched, he is clearly
informed that he is not good enough he is quite simply wrong. The ducks wish him dead,
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and even his mother states that she wishes he were far away. When he eventually runs
away, he does not at all doubt his ugliness, and to a certain extent seems to believe he
deserved the treatment he had suffered. When his flight frightens the little birds in the
bushes so that they fly away, he thinks it is because he is so ugly. When the wild ducks tell
him he cannot marry any of their kind due to his looks, all he dares hope for is for them to
leave him be and not hurt him. Wherever he goes, he is shunned.
It is not only the areas in which he is lacking something that he is judged by. In a
conversation the Duckling has with the Hen, he is ridiculed for the traits that are original to
him.
What are you thinking of? cried the Hen. You have nothing to do, thats why you have
these fancies. Lay eggs, or purr, and they will pass over.
But it is so charming to swim in the water! said the Duckling. so refreshing to let it close
above ones head, and to dive down to the bottom.
Yes, that must be a mighty pleasure, truly, quoth the Hen. I fancy you must have gone
crazy. Ask the Cat about it hes the cleverest animal I know ask him if he likes to swim in
the water, or to dive down I wont speak about myself. Ask our mistress, the old woman;
no one in the world is cleverer than she. Do you think she has any desire to swim, and to let
the water close above her head?
This small exchange of words clearly shows how estranged the Duckling is. Since the Cat and
the woman do not like to swim, and they are seen as the most sensible people, his urge to
swim is marked as ridiculous. He is mocked for the traits that make him different, and
advised to do things he cannot do (Lay eggs, or purr,) to make himself somehow better.
What he wants to do is simply seen as wrong, since he is different since he does not fit in.
Then after the winter has passed, the Duckling meets the swans.
This is where the moment of transformation which the Ugly Duckling fairytale has become
known, though it is in fact not a transformation at all. This is the moment where he finally
finds his place. At first, the Duckling makes his decision to approach the swans with the
thought that those royal birds would surely kill him for daring to sully their surroundings
with his presence. All throughout the story, the Duckling has travelled in an attempt to find a
place where he belongs. However, he has been rejected so many times that he has lost all
hope of being accepted anywhere he has come to accept that he simply does not belong
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anywhere in the world. It is in this moment of defeat, when he bows his head in humility on
his way to what he believes will be his death, that he sees his reflection in the water. He sees
then that he is one of the royal birds he has admired from afar, and the swans accept him
into their flock without question.
The story makes a quite clear distinction between the expectations that the different types
of animal have. Every animal have to be in a certain way to be a good specimen of their kind.
All his life, the Duckling has not fit in to any definition of a good specimen, and has only been
seen as a bad duck the Ugly Duckling. When the story comes to an end, he at last finds the
place where he belongs the place where he fits in. Now, he is no longer the Ugly Duckling.
He is now a swan, and at last is viewed by both himself and others as being good at being
something. In the very last line of the story, he exclaims his happiness in the loss of his
previous title his previous brand. I never dreamt of so much happiness when I was the
Ugly Duckling! He is at last accepted for what he is, rather than judged for what he could
never be.
The expectations and ideals of the animals in the story provides a metaphor for human
society and how it functions. The way the different species of animal prioritize different
qualities represents how social groups in human society can work the same way.
To take an example of how this could be seen in human society, one can think of a teenager
going to high school. Let us say that he is in the athletic social circle, but he himself is not so
good at athletics as the others. Since athletic skill is what the athletes see as important, they
might see the teenager as not being as good as the rest of them. The boy might have other
qualities and be excellent in other areas, but this is not what his friends care about they do
not see him as a good mathematician, a good writer or a good musician, but a bad athlete.
However, if the boy left the athletic group and found another social group, he might be
appreciated for his strong qualities. One can word it with the symbolism used in the Ugly
Duckling and say that he needs to go and find his own species to find where he belongs, so
that he can be a good swan instead of a bad duck.
The tale of the Ugly Duckling says many things about societys judgement, being a social
outcast, and fitting in. First and foremost, it tells that before you can find happiness, you
must first find out who you are and what you are, and find the place where you belong, and
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where you will be accepted and appreciated for what you are, rather than what you are not.
In addition to this, it also has the motivational message of that everyone has a place where
they belong. No matter how far one has travelled, and how much one has been rejected, if
one finds ones place, even the ugliest of ducklings can turn out to be the most beautiful bird
in the pond.