The trials in a person’s life determine who he becomes as his existence continues. Beginning when we are children, we are “obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace” (Eugene O’Neill). However, the fairy tales that people try to make their lives into portray reality under their frivolous endings. Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling” symbolizes and defines the feelings, insecurities, and desires of not only the protagonist in the story but also the antagonists and the readers.
The story of “The Ugly Duckling” represents the development of emotions and control. When the other creatures call the ugly duckling out on his flaws (Anderson), they feel powerful. Andersen uses this emotion to identify a person’s need to belittle others to experience accomplishment. The duckling’s “brothers and sisters were unkind to him, and would say, ‘Ah, you ugly creature, I wish the cat would get you,’ and his mother said she wished he had never been born” (Andersen) because he embarrasses them. It is not understood how he could be different. The duckling feels “very tired and sorrowful” (Andersen) because he does not comprehend how to take the criticism of his peers and elders. Andersen uses the harsh condemnation of his fellows in order to cause a feeling of uselessness and loneliness. In the end, happiness floods the duckling because his true place in the world has been identified. The readers can relate to the emotions of the characters because the creatures symbolize everyday people. Bullies enjoy the feeling of power while the people who the bullies shun understand the worthless that the ugly duckling experiences. Throughout life people must deal with others who fail...
... middle of paper ...
...emonstrates the everyday happenings on the mind. The ugly duckling “…had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautiful of all the birds” (Anderson) which symbolizes when someone grows up not so special then when life continues, blooms into someone everyone must know.
Works Cited
"Hans Christian Andersen: The Ugly Duckling." Hans Christian Andersen: Fairy Tales
and Stories. Zvi Har’El, 12 Dec. 2007. Web. 04 Jan. 2012.
.
Johnson, Nancy J. Giorgis, Cyndi Colbert, Chrissie Conner, Angela King, Janine
Kulesza, Dottie. “Children’s Books: Identity.” Reading Teacher 53.5 (2000):
435. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 3 Han. 2012.
Martin Evan, Jay. “Freud, Sigmund.” Britannica Biographies (2011): 1. MAS Ultra –
School Edition. Web. 4 Jan. 2012.
The entire poem is based on powerful metaphors used to discuss the emotions and feelings through each of the stages. For example, she states “The very bird/grown taller as he sings, steels/ his form straight up. Though he is captive (20-22).” These lines demonstrate the stage of adulthood and the daily challenges that a person is faced with. The allusions in the poem enrich the meaning of the poem and force the reader to become more familiar with all of the meaning hidden behind the words. For example, she uses words such as innocence, imprisonment and captive to capture the feelings experienced in each of the stages.
First of all the book teaches you that you can one day learn to accept yourself. the duck in this book is called ugly and he gets teased by all the other ducks. He then decides he should run away to look for another family that would accept him. He then sees a group of swans and goes over to them. they tell him how
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
Everyone remembers the nasty villains that terrorize the happy people in fairy tales. Indeed, many of these fairy tales are defined by their clearly defined good and bad archetypes, using clichéd physical stereotypes. What is noteworthy is that these fairy tales are predominately either old themselves or based on stories of antiquity. Modern stories and epics do not offer these clear definitions; they force the reader to continually redefine the definitions of morality to the hero that is not fully good and the villain that is not so despicable. From Dante’s Inferno, through the winding mental visions in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, spiraling through the labyrinth in Kafka’s The Trial, and culminating in Joyce’s abstract realization of morality in “The Dead,” authors grapple with this development. In the literary progression to the modern world, the increasing abstraction of evil from its classic archetype to a foreign, supernatural entity without bounds or cure is strongly suggestive of the pugnacious assault on individualism in the face of literature’s dualistic, thematically oligopolistic heritage.
Our world, and lives, are full of trials and tribulations. Its our choices, actions, or lack thereof when facing these difficulties that influence the direction of our lives. Rene Denfeld explores this wonderfully in her novel The Enchanted. Her characters all face trials, of varying degrees of intensity, that not only shape them but also the direction of their lives. She delves into this process thoroughly through her character of the white-haired boy. He transforms from an optimistic boy, to a hollow victim of abuse and a corrupt penal system, and finally into a man who did what was necessary to survive.
In both Hans Christian Andersons “The Little Mermaid,” and Disney’s version of the story, the main character— a young and beautiful mermaid— waits anxiously for her fifteenth birthday to venture from her father’s underwater castle to the world above the water. As the story carries on the mermaids priorities change; her modest and selfless nature is revealed towards the end in Andersen’s version. However, Disney’s version encompasses a rather shallow ending and plot throughout. The theme found in comparing the two versions reveal that Andersen’s substance trumps Disney’s entertainment factor in fairy tales.
While the monsters of the poem are the antagonists of the poem, the author still manages to make the reader feel traces of sympathy for them. Grendel’s human depiction, exile and misery tugs at the heart of readers and indeed shows a genuine side to the figure, while Grendel’s mother and the dragon are sympathetic mainly because they were provoked into being attacked over things they both had a deep affection for. Their actions make us question whether they are as evil as they seem.
Anne Sexton’s poem “Cinderella” is filled with literary elements that emphasize her overall purpose and meaning behind this satirical poem. Through the combination of enjambment stanzas, hyperboles, satire, and the overall mocking tone of the poem, Sexton brings to light the impractical nature of the story “Cinderella”. Not only does the author mock every aspect of this fairy tale, Sexton addresses the reader and adds dark, cynical elements throughout. Sexton’s manipulation of the well-known fairy tale “Cinderella” reminds readers that happily ever after’s are meant for storybooks and not real life.
Fairy tales portray wonderful, elaborate, and colorful worlds as well as chilling, frightening, dark worlds in which ugly beasts are transformed into princes and evil persons are turned to stones and good persons back to flesh (Guroian). Fairytales have long been a part of our world and have taken several forms ranging from simple bedtime stories to intricate plays, musicals, and movies. However, these seemingly simple stories are about much more than pixie dust and poisoned apples. One could compare fairytales to the new Chef Boyardee; Chef Boyardee hides vegetables in its ravioli while fairytales hide society’s morals and many life lessons in these outwardly simple children stories. Because of this fairytales have long been instruments used to instruct children on the morals of their culture. They use stories to teach children that the rude and cruel do not succeed in life in the long run. They teach children that they should strive to be kind, caring, and giving like the longsuffering protagonists of the fairytale stories. Also, they teach that good does ultimately defeat evil. Fairy tales are not just simple bedtime stories; they have long been introducing cultural moral values into young children.
Most works of literature derive the basis of their meaning from a moment of time of the respective author that directly relates to situations that influence him as a person. Because Hans Christian Andersen encountered first-hand the struggles of an impoverished lifestyle in infancy, he expresses the problems associated with life in his short fairytale The Stead Fast Tin Soldier. In order to elicit a posterity that would not otherwise understand the perseverance and struggles that accompany success, he uses the fairytale as a mechanism for persuasion. When composing a piece of literature for the purpose of elucidating an emotion, making analysis, or, as in the case of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, to persuade, an author uses many tools of his arsenal, known in its generic collective as rhetoric. In order to achieve what he desires in this piece of work, a story that encourages personal individuality, drive, and the pursuit of self-actualization, Andersen uses many measures of rhetoric such as juxtaposition, symbolism, irony, motifs, and emotional manipulation.
Neil Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples” is far from the modern day fairy tale. It is a dark and twisted version of the classic tale, Snow White. His retelling is intriguing and unexpected, coming from the point of view of the stepmother rather than Snow White. By doing this, Gaiman changes the entire meaning of the story by switching perspectives and motivations of the characters. This sinister tale has more purpose than to frighten its readers, but to convey a deeper, hidden message. His message in “Snow, Glass, Apples” is that villains may not always be villains, but rather victims.
It is this element of hope in a true fairytale that creates the support for a protagonist to overcome the opposing force that has been thrust onto them. A genuine fairytale is said to have the element of, “A innocent character [placed against] the evil character who normally loses somehow,” (Gokturk) which is seen as Cinderella is chosen by the prince over the evil step-sisters at the ball. As human beings with a developed moral system, it has been seen that the more deserving, mistreated character is favored to succeed in the story. Cinderella is seen as this “underdog” character in her quest to find love with the prince and overcome her step-sisters’ mistreatment. As Cinderella is mistreated by her new family, sympathy is built for the emerging protagonist and hope of her to conquer her situation follows. The underdog of this story grows in favorability to be picked by the prince due to the societal belief that the more deserving candidate should overcome their opposition. If there was no sense of hope thought the story of Cinderella, this story could not be categorized as a true embodiment of a
Hansjorg, Hohr, (2000). Dynamic Aspects of Fairy Tales: social and emotional competence through fairy tales. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Vol 44, No 1, Department of Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Fairy tales have been a big part of learning and childhood for many of us. They may seem childish to us, but they are full of life lessons and intelligent turnings. Components of fairy tales may even include violence, but always with the aim to provide a moral to the story. Hansel and Gretel is in itself a very interesting story to analyze. It demonstrates the way that children should not stray too far from their benchmarks and rely on appearances. In 2013, a film adaptation was produced. This film is produced for an older public and has picked up the story to turn it into a more mature and violent version. Hansel and Gretel is a German fairy tale written by the Grimm Brothers which has undergone several changes over the years and across the cultures which it touched, but for the purposes of this essay, I will stick to the original story. In the development of this essay, I will analyze the components of this tale by the Brothers Grimm based on the factors listed in the course syllabus (violence, interpersonal relationships, the function of magic and the ending), and I will then do a summary and comparison between the story and the film which was released in theaters recently.
“The Fisherman and His Wife” is a tale that teaches us about moderation, greed, and that the magnitude of material objects one accumulates does not measure happiness. In this tale, the wife is never satisfied and constantly wants more. The Brothers Grimm identified “Fisherman and His Wife” as an ideal fairy tale because it utilizes magic along with juxtaposing character development as well as religious and progressively more violent symbolism in order to convey a battle between the sexes.