Identity and Self-worth in The Ugly Duckling
The Ugly Duckling, which was written by Hans Christian Andersen, is a popular and inspiring fairytale. It is a story about a little, ugly duckling that undergoes a transformation into a beautiful white swan. In this story, the little bird known as the Ugly Duckling was born in a barnyard where he was teased about being ugly and plain. As a result, the Ugly Duckling went to live with a flock of geese and ducks until the flock was shot down by hunters. The plain, little bird then went to live with an old woman but does not stay there for long as he was mocked again by the old womans cat and hen. He eventually found a flock of swans that accepts, embraces, and treats him like one of them. The little bird realizes that he has transformed into a beautiful swan when looking at his reflection in the lake. This popular story basically entails animal symbolism used to disguise a human story. Since it is essentially a human story, the story highlights the theme of identity and self-worth.
Analysis of The Ugly Duckling
As previously indicated, The Ugly Duckling is a story in which the author utilizes animal symbolism to tell a human story. It is a heart-transformation story in which the animals true identity and self-worth are revealed. Using animal symbolism, Andersen demonstrates how a character that is different from its family or environment usually feels alone and struggles to develop a sense of belonging. Generally, stories in which a character struggles to feel a sense of belonging in their own home setting or environment are usually rare. The Ugly Duckling is an example of such a story whose plot involves loneliness, community, and acceptance. These three aspects of the plot are used to demonstrate their impact on a characters sense of belonging, identity, and self-worth.
The Ugly Duckling demonstrates that loneliness makes it difficult for a character to have a sense of belonging even in a familiar environment. As shown in this story, loneliness is sometimes brought by features of the external environment such as acceptance by others. The...
…of belonging were affected by the fact that he accepted what people said about him. His sense of dignity and identity was initially shaped by the treatment he received from those around him and what they said about him. His true identity and self-worth become clear when he takes a good look at himself. He never had an understanding of his real identity and self-worth until he realized how beautiful and wonderful he was.In conclusion, The Ugly Duckling is a story in which the author utilizes animal symbolism to depict a human story. It is a story about identity and self-worth and how these two are shaped or affected by family and societal relations. As evident in the story, what people say and think about us has a significant effect on our sense of self-worth and view of our identity. However, an individual does not get to know his real identity and self-worth until he/she looks at him/herself. While peoples perceptions about us affect us, a true sense of identity and self-worth is derived from looking at ourselves for who…
Works Cited
Li, Xiangning. “Analysing Children’s Diversity and Identity in Elmer and the Ugly Duckling.” Proceedings of the 2020 3rd International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2020), vol. 496, 2020, pp. 352–357., https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201214.523.
Ramírez, Manuela López. “'Racialized Beauty': The Ugly Duckling in Toni Morrison's ‘God Help the Child.’” Complutense Journal of English Studies, vol. 25, 2017, pp. 173–189., https://doi.org/10.5209/cjes.55255.
Identity development is a topic that has been studied for some time. There are two main ways to address it: as young children who are just developing an identity and as adults who are changing or developing an identity they never created or did not like as a child. Each person, as he or she grows, develops a distinct and separate identity from other people (Willemsen & Waterman, 1991). While
Identity Self-identity or self-concept is a multidimensional personal construct that refers to one's individual perception of themselves in relation to a number of different characteristics or situations such as gender role, sexuality, racial identity, and so forth (Shavelson et al. 1976). Social-identity is the portion of the individual self-identity that has to do with perceived membership in a personally-relevant social group or social-identity can refer to the collective identity of the
Identity Theft Corp (ITC) is a new company specializing on the identity theft service. The company assists customers to monitor their credit report in order to identify any suspicious charge. The company will also provide the leg work to clean up the mess left behind because of the identity theft and assist customers to rebuild their credits. The objective of this proposal is to provide strategic planning and implementation for Identity
Identity Formation: Racial Stereotyping Nell Bernstein's Goin' Gangsta, Choosin' Cholita essentially illustrates how teens are discarding their own identities and consequently, claiming those that they prefer. This preferred-identity-adoption culture is most prevalent in the state of California; a factor that has been attributed to the great race diversity in the said state. Bernstein makes use of various teens in California to illustrate this point. April is one such teenager; she is
Identity Williams on Identity In a series of relatively simple though complexly-worded (out of necessity) thought experiments regarding body-swapping and changes to memory and the mind, Bernard Williams attempts to demonstrate that identity should be identified with the body rather than with the mind when identity is extended into the future (and by extension during the present). Whether or not Williams is successful in this attempt is a matter of much debate,
Identity Theft III Identity Theft Clean-Up and Credit Monitoring Product Solutions for the United States Market Product Description Proactive Solutions Reactive Solutions Target Market Market Analysis Potential Market Growth In previous reports various aspects of a new market expansion for a credit monitoring and other related services would be introduction crossed borders from the corporate headquarters in Canada into the United States. The move into the United States marketplace represents a new market expansion that represents an incredible
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now