Analysis of The Ugly Duckling (paper)

The greatest thing about literature is the many ways in which it can be read, analyzed, and interpreted. Works can be looked at from numerous different perspectives. I have chosen to write about the Ugly Duckling by observing what I believe has become its surface structure and its deep structure and then to use these two perspectives to discuss how they reflect the roles that exist in society today. In doing so, I hope to give you a new insight to a story within a story.

On the surface, “The Ugly Duckling” is a story of drawn from Hans Christian Andersen’s life. It is clear that he structures the plot and draws parallels between how the ugly duckling in the fairytale feels and how he himself may have felt while facing his own life challenges. From the beginning of the fairytale, when the last and largest egg is hatched, to the end of the story when the “duckling” surprisingly finds himself accepted by every creature around, we can identify events the duckling faces with those experiences Hans Christian Andersen himself faced throughout his own life.

Han’s Christian Andersen, born into a poor family, grew up constantly mocked by others because of his tall, but awkward, body structure. At a young age he moved to Copenhagen to start a career as actor. Throughout this career he faced many challenges which lead to his rejected from the theater just as the ugly duckling in his fairytale was rejected from the group of ducks (presumed to be his own family) due to his appearance. He was a clumsy fellow with little talent. It is evident that many events and challenges the author created for this little duckling reflected these times of hardships in his own life. He grew up in poverty, having parents who were not very well educated. Hans Christian Andersen did not have an adult figure to push him in school; therefore his educational schooling was curtailed. He faced much mockery because of his gawky, awkward appearance and had to survive on his own while fighting to ignore the rejection he received so many times, and the ways he was judged by those around him. In the fairytale, the cat played the role of those people in Han Christian Andersen’s life. That character diminished everything the duckling tried to say by stating that he [the duckling] had no right to have an opinion when sensible people were talking. Here, the sensible people were the cat (of course) and the hen. It is an interesting point to observe that they are not, in fact, “peoples” themselves. Perhaps this was just another way Andersen tied his life to the duckling’s, not only drawing parallels but also by the personifying the characters he created in his fairytales. In Andersen’s life, similar situations arose when he found that no matter what he wrote, or what he did, people were not impressed. Although he was very good at different things, they were not the things that others recognized and he was rejected for not fitting in when it came to things that other in society were familiar with.

This analysis of the fairytale’s plot structure and elements is a well known way of looking at the story, as it has been a popular way of not only looking at this fairytale of Mr. Andersen’s, but several other fairytales or his. It is, however, an analysis only of the surface structure. The story can also be analyzed for a deeper meaning by comparing the surface structure to the way all of society works. Hopefully, in the end, society can benefit from it.

As the ugly duckling in the fairytale finds himself transformed into a beautiful swan surrounded by all of the other swans and creatures who once rejected him, he hears a young child exclaim that He is the most beautiful. Throughout the story, the ugly duckling calls the swans he sees “royal birds.” At the end he becomes one of these birds and exclaims “such happiness I did not dream of when I was the ugly duckling.” In society, I think many people are constantly comparing themselves to others every chance they get. There are only few to accept who they are and then work each and everyday to their fullest potential to become the best they can be; to challenge themselves, question everything they do, and then reflect upon each experience in the end. Society is full of ugly ducklings that cross paths with cats and hens, however few have the attitude that the ugly ducking in Andersen’s fairytale has. Most people dream of looking like someone else, wishing they would be treated as the others they see are, and find themselves trying to live up to others standards, rather than their own. The ugly duckling gave all he can to life and fought for himself rather than listening to the other animals. Andersen did the same while striving to stay true to himself and not listen to what others had to say. He and the duckling tried not to bother others and just exist as they were, never even wishing to be someone else, no matter how happy others seemed or how easy their lives appeared. He used all of his inner strength to be himself, something many people cannot do. He survived a long and cold winter on his own and in the end, after doing what he thought was right, despite what others said, he came out with an attitude that would astonish many; “he was too happy, but not proud, for a kind heart can never be proud. He thought of the time when he had been mocked and persecuted. And now everyone said that he was the most beautiful of the most beautiful birds.”

Literature is so uniquely written with the ability to represent ones life, or more important life as a whole. Perhaps if more people took what they learn from analyzing the surface structure of “The Ugly Duckling”; the way Andersen’s life can be compared to this story, and apply that to comparing the way society is, they would learn a great deal. We need to open our eyes in society and in a way be more like the ugly duckling. Perhaps there are just too many cats and hens running around that we find it too hard to be ourselves since we are always judged.