The Ugly Duckling

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have practically no friends? Which means you have no one to talk to, no one to hang out with or have fun being with. That’s how it was for the duckling in the story The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson. The duckling didn’t have any friends because of one little and one very stupid thing. The other ducks thought that the duckling was ugly. How pathetic. I am going to tell you about the theme, the lesson, and also another story that could be compared to this one.

The other that could easily be compared to this one is the book Speak. In the book Speak there is that girl named Melinda. Melinda starts of having lots of friends and being a very popular girl. Then one night, she went to a party and got raped there by some idiot guy and she called the cops about it and the cops came to the house and stopped the party but she did not say what happened because she was scared and embarrassed. That would be very weird and embarrassing for that to happen. But, nothing like that happens to the duckling. The thing that relates the two is that the duckling has no friends because they all think that he is ugly. Melinda has no friends because of how she called the cops so everyone thought she did it to get everyone at the party in trouble.

This story had a really good lesson that does compare to the everyday human life. We as humans walk around and laugh, or judge people based on their appearance. Life I know that when I play basketball and when we play against a guy with a ton of arm bands and stuff like that I think they are cocky. Really, you should not judge people like that. In The Ugly Duckling the other ducks judged him and they all thought of him based as how he looked. You should not think of someone based on their appearance. You should think of someone based on who they are on the inside.

Now I will talk about the theme. The theme for this story is man vs. society. The reason it is man vs. society is because the duckling is battling the other ducks around him. He is trying to make friends and he is trying to get the other ducks to stop calling him ugly. When you are called ugly it makes you lose self confidence and it also makes you very self conscience. Being called ugly really makes you feel bad. The sad thing is that when you get called ugly that means people are judging you. Normally when or if you are called ugly the person doesn’t really know you because if the person really knew you they wouldn’t want to hurt you. Since they don’t know you they don’t know what kind of person you are on the inside.

In conclusion this was overall a very good story. I feel that the most important part of this story was the lesson. The lesson was incredible. The golden rule. Treat people how you want to be treated. Before you judge someone put yourself in their shoes, think how you would feel if people were talking crap about you, talking behind your back, and judging you based on your appearance not who you really are. The main thing everyone needs to do is think twice before you say something or do something.