“The Ugly Duckling” and Standards of Beauty Today
Jennifer Murrish
Kaplan University HU300-01RP682

“The Ugly Duckling” and Standards of Beauty Today
Of all the stories I have heard throughout the years there is one that I can think of which really stands out in my mind. The story I chose is, “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Anderson, first published in Denmark, November 11, 1843. This story has an amazing moral and always tends to make me emotional every time I hear it, and has touched my heart since the first time I heard it when I was a child. Even though this story was published close to 170 years ago the concept is one that is still an issue within our society today. Gender roles can be described as, “the way acceptable male and female behavior and functions are defined in a given culture,” (Janaro, Altshuler, 2012); so many young people, both male and female, struggle with the image they are “supposed” to uphold much due to society’s stereotypical acceptations of what beauty is supposed to be, they can lose sight of what is truly more important than superficial appearance. Anderson’s story starts off describing the setting which is an old farm next to a lake amongst the forest trees. Within the old farm’s overgrown reeds a mother duck is sitting on her eggs getting ready for them to hatch. Finally the day comes and all the babies emerge from their shells and are ready to live, all the eggs except the largest egg of the bunch which had no signs of movement yet. Contemplating what to do with the egg, and after talking to another duck about what she should do, the mother duck decided to sit on the egg for a little while longer. After a few days or so the large egg finally hatched and the ugliest duckling crept out of the shell. This baby duckling was very ugly and did not look like the others, the mother duck accepted and cared for the baby duck just as she had the rest. As the days passed and the ducklings began to grow the poor ugly duckling grew uglier as the other babies grew prettier. All the animals would make fun of the poor baby duck telling him that they wish the cat would get him, he was so ugly even the grown up animals were foul and abusive towards him. The little girl that would come to feed the poultry even kicked the poor ugly duckling out of her way, the chickens would peck at him and the baby ducks would bite him, they all were very physically and mentally abusive towards the poor baby. The point when it was the worst the mother duck told the ugly duckling, “if only you were far from here,” (Andersen, 1843), and that is when the ugly little guy ran away from the farm and the only family he ever knew.
He closed his eyes and thought to himself, “it’s because I am so ugly”, (Andersen, 1843). When he was finally far enough away and when he had become exhausted the ugly duckling found a lake where the wild ducks lived. When they see him they all gathered around him and asked what he was and why he was so ugly. They couldn’t figure out what kind he was, and sadly he could not tell them; they said that he could live there with them along as he “did not marry into their family” (Andersen, 1843). This poor duck was not concerned with being married he figured he was so ugly he would never find anyone to love him anyway. He accepted he was going to be ugly and alone for the rest of his life. One day hunter’s came killing the wild ducks, a hound had cornered the ugly duckling sniffed him and left him be, he thought to himself that he was so ugly the hunters didn’t even want him. After the hunters left the ugly duckling found himself alone and he was content. Winter was coming and he was alone through a harsh cold, he swam during the day and at night he would have a spot where he had to constantly kick his feet to keep his hole from freezing. He was so exhausted one night he gave up and became stuck in the frozen lake. A man passing by seen the ugly duckling frozen in the hole and saved him and took him home. There the children were mean to him and tried to hurt him so he escaped and flew away until he found another water spot to live. He noticed the beautiful birds that lived there but he did not care if they accepted him or not, he was tired and just wanted to rest.
Alone and amongst the reeds winter had finally passed and spring time was a welcomed sight. He finally found the courage to swim out amongst the beautiful birds and went over to them. To his surprise the birds, which were swans, came up to him and began rubbing their heads on his and showed him affection and attention like he had never known before. Looking at his reflection in the water he saw that he had turned from the ugliest duckling into a beautiful swan. At the very end of the story he thinks to himself, how an ugly duckling like him could grow to be so beautiful and finally be happy? He was happy, finally. The moral of this story that how a person looks on the outside is not as important as how a person is on the inside, outer beauty is nothing compared to inner beauty. As I mentioned before the pressure of upholding a socially acceptable image anymore makes it almost impossible for people, children especially, to see the inner beauty of things. What I think the reader and or listener should learn from this story is no matter what a person looks like on the outside it does not mean they are any different on the inside. Not all people are blessed and born beautiful and like the ugly duckling they have to deal with struggles other “beautiful” people could not even imagine. Bullying in schools is another issue I feel stems from the socially acceptable and unacceptable images society deems important. Throughout the story of “The Ugly Duckling” this poor baby duck who was born different from the others, uglier, he had to deal with abuse from others, including the only family he knew, who should have loved and accepted him no matter what. Traveling from place to place alone and with no hope of anything else but being alone, the ugly duckling never gave up; he held his head high and did not let the abuse get to him or make him give up. No matter what he endured and where ever he ended up he loved himself and accepted what he was and carried on. I feel the morals in this story are very important and everyone should understand them. No matter how bad things get, no matter how mean people are and no matter what the situation is, staying strong, holding your head high and loving yourself is what matters, and in the end you will be beautiful no matter what. As far as this being effective on passing on a point, I cannot say for certain, as image now days is distorted by the opinions of the media and the role models being superficial vessels of what “beauty” is supposed to be.
I feel communicating morals and life lessons are much more effective when put into story form because it can get the point across without the reader and or listener thinking that they are being told what to do or how to think or act. I think that people can relate to characters in storied and then associate the issues and situations to ones they are experiencing in their own life. The story of “The Ugly Duckling” conveys a message that is morally sound and down to earth, as they say. The pressures people, especially young ones, have to deal with are increasingly becoming more difficult as time goes on and it can sometimes take a toll on their actions and beliefs. This story, even from a time over a hundred years ago, shows that no matter what there is nothing in this world that should break you down, to make you give up or make you think and believe you are less beautiful or important as anybody else. The most beautiful people with the biggest hearts are not the ones in the spot light and center of attention; they are usually the quiet ones that nobody notices.

References
Andersen, H. (1843) The ugly duckling, fairy tales and other traditional stories (Lit2Go Edition) Retrieved October 25, 2013 from: http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/68/fairy-tales-and-other-traditional-stories/5107
Janaro, R.P., & Altshuler, T.C., (2012) The art of being human: The humanities as a technique for living (Kaplan University 3rd Custom Edition) New York: Pearson Education