The Ugly Duckling

For the hip hop group, see Ugly Duckling (hip hop group)

The Ugly Duckling (Danish: Den grimme ælling) is a classic-contemporary story by Hans Christian Andersen about a duckling, notably larger, clumsier and uglier than the other ducklings in his brood. The story was first published November 11, 1843 and figured in Andersen's collected New Tales (Nye Eventyr) in 1844.

Plot synopsis

A mother duck hatches her eggs and, while most of her ducklings are normal, one is gray, too large, and too clumsy to fit in among the others. Though she tries to accept him, the entire barnyard realizes that he simply does not belong and after a period of harassment he leaves (or is driven away) to fend for himself. He wanders for the entire summer and fall, for no one will take him in, and he nearly freezes to death in an icy pond. Though he is rescued by a human, he cannot live in captivity, and he goes back to the wild.

By the end of winter he is miraculously still alive. He comes to a pond in a park or garden, where beautiful white swans are swimming. He is drawn to their beauty, though he has no reason to think that they will treat him better than anyone else has. Still, he thinks, even if they kill him, he must approach them. To his surprise, the beautiful creatures welcome and accept him; gazing at his reflection, he sees that he too is a swan. The children declare that he is the most beautiful swan of them all, yet he isn't proud for a good heart is never proud. Because of all that he suffered he now appreciates his happiness so much more. "It doesn't matter that you were born in a duck yard, so long as you have lain inside a swan's egg."

Analysis

This wry and realistically told story, with its droll burlesque of petty human self-worth, is often considered a metaphor for the experience of an awkward stage in a child's growth. As a fairy tale, it is used to make children less ashamed of their differences. Its understated social moral is buried within the tale: To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg. A human parallel would concern a child who looks or acts different from the other children around him/her. With the fairy tale comes hope that those differences will result in special benefits and future greatness:

"Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart, "I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling."

Anderson uses the story to explain his early life. Born into lower middle-class, he frequently felt the part of the ugly duckling. He was an admittedly effeminate youth who later reveals his homosexual feelings through correspondence. This further explains his feelings of being out of place in his day. Today, the story's significance has grown to become a metaphor for anything neglected continually, or anything neglected at first, then becoming popular or good. For example: "I can't believe Sara's so accomplished now! She used to be such an ugly duckling."

The tale can also be considered a simplified variant on the idea that all persons have an inherent worth and status which cannot be degraded by situation (compare this to the ancient Greek idea that all persons are formed of particular materials, some of better value than others). While the story is uplifting to those currently suffering harassment because of difference, it also encourages belief that the tormentors are simply destined to remain lower class, giving an otherwise innocent story a tinge of elitism and classism.

One other concern is that while the underlying theme of a youth who is not accepted among his peers finding a group where he belongs is a pleasant premise, it is ironically rather self-defeating. The ugly duckling doesn't fit in because he is physically ugly, and only when it turns out that he has grown into a swan - something more physically beautiful than a duck - is he accepted. So one interpretation of this fable becomes, "It's okay to be ugly as a child, as long as you grow up pretty."

The tale has connotations to Andersen's own life. He was born in a poor family which all lived in one tiny room. His mother was an alcoholic and worked as a washerwoman. His aunt was a pimp, while his half-sister probably was a prostitute. At the same time, there is a legend that his father was a crownprince (later a king) Christian VIII. It is unclear whether this is true or not (most modern researches reject it), but Andersen himself might believe in this, or wanted this to be true.

Like Ugly Duckling, Andersen also was tormented. As a teenager not older than 14, Andersen worked in a cigarette factory where his fellow workers humiliated him by betting on whether he was in fact a girl, pulling down his trousers to check. When he studied at the grammar school in Slagelse, he was prohibited to write plays, prose and poems; the schoolmaster abused him in order to "build his character", and in one case he was birched by the teacher.

Adaptations

Walt Disney produced two Silly Symphonies animated shorts based on the story, one in 1931 in black and white, and one in 1939 in Technicolor. The later film is the more notable version, as it won the 1939 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). In this version, the baby swan's sufferings are significantly shortened, as he is found by his real mother and father, and brothers and sisters, after only a few minutes of rejection and ostracism, instead of a whole year. The short is avalible in iTunes for $1.99. This abbreviated version is read by Lilo to Stitch in the 2002 Disney film Lilo and Stitch. The story has a deep impact on Stitch, who sets out to look for his real family.

External link

• Full text of The Ugly Duckling