Many people know I belong to a critique group that meets weekly (I tend to go about twice a month). Several years back, three other members began collaborating on a book called “The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived,” which eventually got published by Harper in 2006 (check Amazon–it’s still available).
Dan, Allan and Jeremy wrote the various installments and by turns read them in our critique group. I actually ended up contributing the section on “Dracula” because I became so vociferous on the subject that they basically told me, “Okay, smarta**, then YOU write it.” But generally their essays on fictional and legendary characters who have become household names, including some surprising background information, are very entertaining and informative.
One interpretation with which I still disagree, though, is of “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen. That’s because the essay interprets this story as being about beauty, and concludes this is a destructive value to pass on to kids. I think many people who only read the story as children might also remember it that way. (Witness the terrible reality makeover show that aired a couple of years back, “The Swan”!)
The story is well summarized in the “101 Most Influential…” book’s essay. In the nest of a farmyard duck, one unusually large egg hatches into an unusually large “duckling,” which is also fuzzy grayish-brown where the other ducklings are downy yellow. This male baby is rejected and even abused by the mother duck and the other ducklings, until he runs away. He survives many hardships and adventures in the wild, and finds shelter for a while in a woman’s cottage until she realizes he can’t lay eggs. (Well, duh.)
At one point, he admires a flock of swans flying overhead, but doesn’t dare to approach them because he’s sure such beautiful birds will just attack him. Months later, at the end of his rope, he does approach the swans and begs them to kill him…but when he looks in the still water, he sees he also is a swan. All the others greet him with respect and tell him he is the most beautiful of them all.
Why is this fairy tale not about looks? Because if he had approached them as an “ugly” young cygnet, they still would have accepted him as one of their own!
Also, you will notice, Andersen made this a male bird, as if to illustrate that this was not just a young girl who “grows into” her looks. In fact, Andersen considered it autobiographical. As a child, he was not only considered homely but was ridiculed for the talent he did have–a beautiful singing voice–and his strong interest in theater. He was miserable until he became an adult, met other people who shared these interests, and of course became a celebrated writer. He also found out he had royal blood, which may have been the real tipping point that inspired him to write “The Ugly Duckling.”
It’s true that we don’t see the “duckling” struggling and working to improve himself before he’s accepted–he just grows into his swanhood. But I think the key factor is that he found others like himself. He was harassed because he didn’t fit in with the expectations of the community into which he was born, but in the right milieu he achieved his full potential.
The “duckling’s” dilemma could apply to anyone who faces discrimination because of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or just “different” interests and talents. I think this fable, far from being a negative influence, has plenty to teach young people today, especially with all the controversy over tolerance vs. harassment. It’s just up to the adults who present the story to give it the right interpretation–the one its author intended!
What do you think?
I’m certain your interpretation is absolutely right. That’s how I’ve always read the story. I consider it the personal Ur-myth of most SF and fantasy fans; it certainly is mine. James Tiptree writes about it in “Beam Us Home,” a heartbreaking story about a boy who imagines himself to be an alien placed on Earth to observe us. The final scene may or may not confirm that he was right all along.
Looking back on my own work, I long ago realized I was repeatedly rewriting “The Ugly Duckling,” the story of a character whose supposed flaws turn out to be assets when he or she discovers his or her true nature.
“The Ugly Duckling” was always a favorite of mine. Some of us grow into our worth, our place in the world. Along the way, the road chosen can be less straight and narrow, more full of the ‘why did I go this way and not that way.’ Eventually, and despite the feeling of not fitting in, all that is learned shapes who we become. Not all children fit the norm. Growing through the awkwardness of intolerance and finding where you fit in is a journey well worth the heartache. How sad that in today’s world, the old fables that had much to teach are tossed aside for grabber stories more aligned with entertainment and feel good vibes.