"The Ugly Duckling" Essay

Acceptance


Have you ever felt rejection or loneliness because of your appearance? Have you been judged about your clothing, talents or looks before a person got to know you? This is what the main character, an innocent duckling, experienced in the short story “The Ugly Duckling” written by Hans Christian Anderson. Acceptance and judgment are two cruel concepts that have grown to become an issue in our society. People tend to judge someone just by one glance at their appearance and assume they know their personality. The ugly duckling was treated very unfairly because people were looking at him but not really seeing his true personality.
The ugly duckling was born with a strong self esteem, but that was crushed by just a few cruel comments. Being judged just by your outer appearance is very unfair to the person being judged, because they can do nothing about their appearance and their personality could be the complete opposite of the assumption. People have to remember to think hard about what you say to people, and picture how it could harm them. This would be one of the simple things to do to get one step closer to a better world with more peace. This romance was a perfect example to show the harms of not being included and simple, harmful words.
A romance’s plotline is very simple, it begins with a minor conflict which is no one accepting the ugly duckling because of his appearance. Then the romance ends in a symbolism of life, which is the duck’s formation into a swan. This gave him a new life because his new appearance gave him more acceptance. A romance is an unrealistic story, in “The Ugly Duckling” the animals talk with each other which is very unrealistic. The ugly duckling did not have any control in this short story, he could not control what he looked like or what others thought of him. This is another characteristic of a romance, the main character is not in control in the story. A romance always contains some sort of message throughout the story, this short story has an excellent purpose to speak to the readers.
The purpose of this short story is to speak to the reader about the dangers of judgment and verbal abuse. The story contains a lesson about both of these very important actions that can negatively change someone’s life. The ugly duckling was judged multiple times by just one glance. This did not help his confidence within himself, which can change someone’s personality. Another harm that changed his confidence was verbal abuse from others. Because of his appearance, the ugly duckling was verbally abused by many of his peers. They would say things that would make him think even more negatively of himself. Hans Christian Anderson wrote “The Ugly Duckling” with an excellent purpose to inform the readers about these very important dangers.
People are judged by their outside appearance everyday by people who don’t acknowledge what matters most, which is their personality. People cannot choose what their looks will be, but they do choose what their inside will be. Next time you think about not talking to someone because they aren’t pretty enough or wear clothes like yours, ask yourself a question. What is the difference between a beautiful girl with a bright personality and a not so beautiful girl with a bright personality as well? Judgment can end in missing out in a friendship with someone that you could have shared the best memories with. So who will you choose to be? The shallow one who chooses friends by just a first glance? Or the one who looks past appearance and has the most memorable friendships?