THE UGLY DUCKLING, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON:

A STORY OF TRANSFORMATION

ANITA L. GAMBOS

Introduction

The Ugly Duckling is a small story that offers universal hope to the
disenfranchised. Here, a misfit, rejected by family and society, makes the
microcosmic journey of all who seek self-actualization. In Fairy Tales
and the Art of Subversion, Jack Zipes notes in his chapter, "Hans
Christian Andersen and the Discourse of the Dominated":

(The Ugly Ducking) has generally been interpreted as a parable of

Andersen's own success story because the naturally gifted
underdog survives a period of "ugliness" to reveal its innate beauty.
(87)

Therefore, to understand the significance of the transformation, from

ugly to beautiful, it is important to view the passage against the backdrop
of Andersen's life.

Andersen's Life Influences

Hans Christian Andersen was clearly a product of the nineteenth

century, a period of broad-sweeping changes in both world and national
views, when tenets of biology, eugenics and race became subjects of
public discourse.
Andersen was born to poverty in 1805 in the old provincial Danish
town of Odense. The son of a cobbler who loved books and taught him-
self and his son to read, Andersen grew up hearing his father say that he
(the father) was of aristocratic origin. Andersen's mother worked as a
washerwoman; she was uneducated and superstitious, but introduced
Andersen to folklore. He was also greatly influenced by his grandmother,
a grounds person at Odense Hospital, a local workhouse. Andersen spent
a great deal of time there listening to elderly, female inmates who
repeated old stories and the traditional folk tales of Denmark. These
made a deep and lasting impression.
Andersen was a poor student and received little education. He spent
much of his time alone writing short plays and dreaming of becoming an
actor. Encouraged by his parents, he composed his own fairy tales and
arranged puppet shows. Andersen was fortunate to live in one of the few
towns outside of Copenhagen that housed a public theater. He often
accompanied his father to the town's playhouse.
THE UGLY DUCKLING

When he was 11, Andersen's life was seriously disrupted when his
father died, and the family became even more destitute. He was forced to
go to work. For a short time, he apprenticed to a weaver and a tailor, and
also worked at a tobacco factory. At the age of 14, he fled to Co-
penhagen to find his way in the theater. During his first years in Co-
penhagen, Andersen fought to gain a toehold in the theater as a ballet
dancer, actor and singer. Eventually, he succeeded in becoming associ-
ated with the Royal Theater, but had to leave it when his voice began to
change.
One of the directors of the Royal Theater, an influential government
official, Jonas Collins, provided Andersen the means to be educated and
eventually gain admission to Copenhagen University. These educational
experiences broadened Andersen's perspective and put him in touch with
the dramatic social changes of his day. Zipes notes:

Throughout the western world, a more solidified bourgeois

public sphere was establishing itself and replacing feudal sys-
tems, as was clearly the case in Denmark. (76)

It might be said that Andersen in his subsequent life became living proof
of the social mobility made possible by the bourgeois democracy that
arose after the signing of Denmark's constitution in 1849.
After his school years, Copenhagen at last came to mean something
positive for Andersen, and he began his writing in earnest. The
University of Southern Denmark's Center on Hans Christian Andersen
notes on its website:

Here the proletarian Andersen acquired the culture and educa-

tion associated with bourgeois circles in the Golden Age that
encompassed the last years of absolute monarchy. . . . Ander-
sen' s entire production of tales is, as it were, suspended be-
tween these two poles. . .

Having broken with his family and social class, but not yet a member of
the moneyed class, Andersen understood that he could realize his
potential and gain greater social standing only through the world of art,
the only outlet the times provided. The Center's web site also remarks:

Here, too, he came to know both the bourgeois upper class of

the capital and the very lowest stratum of its proletariat. He
came to know the fight for survival at the subsistence level and
the bitterness of being a supplicant dependent on the good will
of others.

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It is Zipes' s opinion that this duality produced deep self-doubts in

Andersen that impelled him to constantly reprove his value.

... to show his aptitude and disposition were noble and that
he belonged to the elect. This is apparent in the referential sys-
tem built into most of his tales which are discourses on the
dominated. (79)

His friends were patrons rather than intimates, and his constant sense of
indebtedness to them weighed heavily and perpetuated his isolation.
Throughout his life, from his own perspective and despite his fame as a
writer, Andersen was the dominated subject within the dominant social
circles. Andersen never felt himself to be fully accepted by any group. He
lived as an outsider, a loner, unable to enjoy the deep attachments and
obvious social identification that a wife and family would have bestowed.
Perhaps it is for this reason that he began to travel extensively. He
considered Germany to be his second home but was also comfortable in
Italy. His journeying paved the way for international literary fame as his
first work published in 1829 described his trek from Holmens Canal to
the east point of Amager, a fantastic tale set in the style of German
Romantic writers. The work was well received. Andersen was considered
to be the most widely traveled Danish writer of his day. He spent over
nine years of his life outside Denmark.
Andersen's literary fame grew rapidly from the mid-1830s when his
novels became widely accepted in Germany. However, from 1839
onwards, it was his fairy tales that earned him acclaim until his death in
1875. Imbedded in the straightforward narrative easily understood by
children are subtler and deeper meanings to which adults respond. It is
to these symbols and meanings that attention is next turned.

Understanding Tale Symbolism and Meaning

The Oxford English Dictionary defines symbol as something that

stands for, represents or denotes something else; a material object rep-
resenting or taken to represent something immaterial or abstract, as a
being, idea, quality or condition. Meaning is defined as that which is
intended to be or actually is expressed or indicated; the intent, the spirit.
Archeologists, seeking to discover historic and cultural meaning
from artifacts, offer an evolution of symbolic capacity. The Auckland
Center for the Arts notes that our physical and mental capacity for
symbolic thought and its representation in language is the result of evo-
lution. The ability to reason, plan and communicate in symbols sets us

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apart from other animals. This generates our culture capacity. Therefore,
the ability to derive symbolic meaning from tales helps preserve and
expand the cultural underpinnings that link us all. This is one of
storytelling's most important functions.
On an individual level, different cognitive maps guide personal ac-
tions. People sense/sample the world and then interpret! give meaning to,
according to these cognitive maps. Just as language has an internal
organization called grammar, cognitive maps are given organization and
structure through sets of related symbols and meaning. Folk tales, fairy
tales, myths, lore, are the organizing principles of cognitive maps.
Therefore, through either the collective or the individual pathways, the
symbolism of tales helps to organize the internal operating systems both
for culture in general and for its singular components. Thus, the
Auckland Center proposes that "approaches that look at symbols and
meaning may generate coherence and sense."
In Interpretation of Fairy Tales, Marie Louise von Franz speaks to
four basic cognitive maps for those interpreting fairy tales.

Actually you can interpret a fairy tale with any of the four
functions of consciousness. The thinking type will point out
the structure and the way in which all the motifs connect. The
feeling type will put them into value order (a hierarchy of val-
ues) which is also completely rational. With the feeling func-
tion, a good and complete fairy tale interpretation can be
made. The sensation type will just look at the symbols and
amplify them. The intuitive will see the whole package (of
fairy tale) in its oneness, so to speak; he will be most gifted in
showing that the whole fairy tale is not a discursive story but is
really one message split up into many facets. (24)

The cognitive map of this report will follow an intuitive interpretation of

the major symbols and meaning of The Ugly Duckling.

Symbolic Analysis of The Ugly Duckling

From the very first paragraph, story symbols that evoke multiple
meanings are plentiful. The opening paragraph that describes the long
golden days of summer, sweet air, tall com and freshly-cut hay leads the
reader to a pastoral/earth setting, a time of fullness and ripening, a time
of maturation after quickening. But, beyond the open sunlight, there are
the shaded deeps (cool lakes of the unconscious where new life can be
born.) Near the lake shore, storks (symbols of fertility and birth) wade.
Birds (symbols of freedom that fly with new hopes and dreams of the
future) chatter overhead.
Even the manmade objects like the old mansion surrounded by a
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moat are contained and defined by the watery unconscious. Along the
stone walls of the mansion, "huge burdock plants with leaves as big as
platters grow thick and tall. Beneath their leaves it was like a secret
room." (It is interesting to note that burdock leaves are usually heart-
shaped near the bottom of the plant and egg-shaped at the top.) In this
womb-like place, recreating the ancient mysteries, the mother duck waits
for her eggs to hatch, each egg enfolding its own primeval, cosmic
universe.
After the ducklings begin to hatch, "the mother let them look as
much as they liked, for green is good for the eyes." (Through the con-
nection with the green, fertile earth, all living things are made whole, and
life is supported.)
The mother duck must still sit on the nest to hatch the last and
largest egg. An older duck (crone/elder/shaman) cautions the mother
duck that the egg could be a turkey egg (note the quality of Trickster),
clearly inferior in the animal hierarchy. The mother duck was encouraged
to make sure that the product of this larger egg could swim (navigate the
world emotionally.)
When the Ugly Duckling hatched, he (advisedly a "he" in this case)
was gray, not a golden yellow like the other ducklings. This gray
duckling was suspect, "in the gray zone," not fully accepted, but not yet
rejected, while the yellow ducklings, the color of sun and summer and
life, were perceived as the "real ducklings."
After a swim in the moat (a journey of initiation), the mother duck
cautions the ducklings to beware of the "mean old cat" living the barn-
yard. The cat can represent the feminine aspect of the personality, the
unexplored unconscious. It is interesting to note that after the ducklings
had proven themselves by performing in the moat (masculine activity),
they were now being cautioned to pay attention to the feminine principle,
the aspect of being. They could even find it to be dangerous.
The exhortation to pay attention to appearances is primary. The
mother duck equates her worth to the perceived value that others place on
her "well bred" ducklings and, commensurately, on her success as a
mother. She instructs them to keep their toes turned out properly (be
outward turning and explore.)
Particularly evocative is her social instruction to bow to the re-
spected older female duck who is of Chinese heritage (ancient wis-
dom). She is also addressed as "Your Grace," a designation of nobility.
She notes that the older duck has a bit of red cloth on her leg so that
everyone would "take notice of her and treat her with respect."
Red is the color of blood, of kinship and, in some cultures, of ini-
tiation. (The ducklings were to be presented to their new tribe.) More
directly, in the Chinese culture, red is the color of good fortune and
abundance. (By honoring the duck of greater social standing, honor and
riches might also be conferred on the mother duck and her ducklings.)
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It was the old duck who commented on what a nice family the
mother duckling had, but notably excluded the Ugly Duckling from this
evaluation. She even went so far as to say "too bad you can't start over
again with him." (Abundance will not come to the Ugly Ducking in his
current form.)
On that first day, the barnyard animals' abuse of the Ugly Ducking
began. (The barnyard can be equated to the town square, the gathering
place of the lower classes where justice was dispensed.) Though the cat
never made an appearance, the chickens and ducklings shouted that "The
cat should grab you," an indication that they wanted some super natural
force to intervene in the destruction/transformation of the Ugly Duckling.
Early one morning (at the beginning of his quest), the Ugly Duckling ran
away. Almost immediately, he encountered animals in the wild and
assumed they ran/flew away because he was so ugly. The cognitive map
he carried had to be tested in the wild (the subconscious) to gain the truth
of his own inner map. Thus, he began a hero's journey, with the hero's
task of encountering and overcoming his demons.
He first met wild birds who flew away. (His hopes, his dreams had
changed.) Next, he met wild ducks who thought him strange and, curi-
ously, said that he could remain in the marsh as long as he didn't marry
into their family. (This is the psychological distancing device used to
guard and protect the status quo and keep the tribe intact.)
One morning, he met a pair of young, wild geese who invited him to
join them on their side of the marsh. They acknowledged his ugliness
(differences), but were willing to include him in their community.
(Through younger, less stultified beings, the order of the status quo
begins to weaken, and messages from the unconscious arise. Hints are
given to what is possible.)
Unfortunately, just as the clues are evidenced, a hunter shoots the
wild geese as they fly from the rushes. (So, too, are many new ideas
gunned down aggressively when they land in the sights of the guns of
established thinking and tried-and-true systems like the proverbial "old
boys network. ")
It was when a huge dog, "its eyes gleaming horribly," came upon the
Ugly Duckling, pushing his dog's nose right into the duckling's face, then
departing, that the Ugly Duckling decided to leave the swamp. (In
ancient Babylon, the goddess of Fate is represented by a dog, and often,
gods accompanying traveling goddesses took the forms of dogs. The dog
is a sign of protection and power.) It is interesting that it was the
appearance of a dog that precipitated the Ugly Duckling's hurrying out of
relatively known safety to the truly unknown.
Having left the marsh (the world in-between the solid land and the
watery depths), the Ugly Duckling came to a "sad-looking little farm-
house" which housed an old woman, a cat and a hen. Not seeing well, the
old woman thought that the duckling was a hen and put him on a
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nest in hope of his laying eggs. (Many will not see who we really are.)
After a period of time, "the duckling sat in the comer feeling very, very
sad. (His feelings began to match the sad environment.) Thoughts of
fresh air and sunshine came to his mind, and he was filled with an ex-
traordinary longing to swim" (to return to his true nature).
When he expressed his desire to the hen and cat, they were scornful.
They encouraged him to be grateful for "a warm room and pleasant
company." But the Ugly Duckling left the sure comforts of the poor
farmhouse (where he would have been safe but unrealized), and set out
on his own path. (The hero could not be seduced from his quest.) He
came to a beautiful pond (an enclosed pool of emotional content, where
he could explore his identity). He tried swimming near the other ducks,
but they turned away. (The journey to self-realization is a solitary one.)
Winter (the period of frozen time and inward space, the dark night
of the soul) was coming. A raven (the prophetic bird of death) squawked.
(Our hero was about to go through the transformative death to self.) One
evening, he saw a flock of swans fly overhead, and though he did not
know their identity, he called out to them and felt strangely excited. (His
intuition and his instincts were waking up, and he was beginning to know
himself differently.) His voice was so loud and so shrill it frightened him.
(He was afraid of embracing this new voice/identity that was emerging.)
Then he dived down to the bottom of the pond (the unconscious) and
"when he came up again, he was even more excited than before." (He
was willing to engage deeply for only a moment, but a moment was
enough to fire his imagination and keep him alive during the upcoming
wintry trial. It gave him a hint to his most secret, and his truest identity.)
Winter came. "The duckling had to swim round and round in the
water to keep it from freezing right up. But every night the pool in which
he swam grew smaller and smaller." (Self-actualization is not gained
through a mental process. Though our minds go "round and round,"
transformation happens only when the circuitous thoughts get smaller and
smaller, as we tire of the mind's game and let it stop.) "At last he froze
fast into the pond. " (We surrender to our fate, the outward, seemingly
constricting construct arising from our deepest unconscious.)
It was a peasant (someone of the land) who found the duckling,
"broke up the ice with his wooden clog" (a strong, sturdy shoe indicat-
ing that the duckling was headed in a new direction) and carried the
little ducking home to his wife (the feminine principle accessed fully
only when we allow ourselves to be carried along.)
The peasant's children who wanted to play with him made the Ugly
Duckling "afraid they might hurt him and he fluttered away." (Though
not necessarily malignant, we tend to be afraid of the primal, previ-
ously-unknown forces that present themselves and flee from them emo-
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tionally lest we be harmed.) The duckling flew into the milk (the sub-
stance of creation,) butter (a source of richness and abundance,) and
flour (a distillation of earth energy.)
Finally, he darted out of the open door (means of escape from our
darkest parts) and "lay exhausted in the new-fallen snow." (Having
courage to face his inner genius which is just as frightening as facing the
demons, the duckling comes to the neutral place of inner stasis where
transformation happens.) He drags himself to the reeds at the edge of the
frozen pond (suspended between two worlds where his mind no longer
works) and survives the winter.
When Spring came (the time of rebirth, renewal and igniting of the
light), the ducking "woke to find the sky bright and the larks (harbingers
of new life) singing." He found that his wings were stronger and carried
him swiftly away. (He objectified this new found strength not yet
realizing that it was a part of him.)
The duckling found himself in a large garden (a place of spiritual
growth and healing; renewal of energy and focus) where "apple trees
blossomed (death and rebirth, the fruit of the Tree of Life) and sweet-
smelling lilacs (rich, perfumed, sensory conveyors of new life and tan-
talizing possibilities) dangle their long branches over the waters of a
lake." (Larger that his former pond, the Ugly Duckling now claims a
larger space for himself.)
"Right ahead of him, out of the leafy shadows, came three beautiful
white swans." (Emerging from the unconscious into the light of day, the
duckling sees his desire embodied.) He felt a strange sadness (mourning
and letting go of the hero's journey space) and determined to be with
them "even though they will peck me to death because I am so ugly."
Though he feared personal harm and rejection (as he was living in his
old paradigm), he preferred death to winter's isolation or a return to is
former life. (Once there is transformation, there is no turning back.)
When the duckling bowed his head to the water, he saw his reflec-
tion (the outward manifestation of the inner transformation that had
taken place during the solitary winter). For the first time, he was then
able to see himself for who he truly had become. "It did not matter that
he was born in a duck's nest. He was hatched from a swan's egg!" This
time, he did not go round and round in his head in fruitless mental ex-
ercise. Instead, "the three lovely swans circled round and round and
stroked him gently with their beaks." (He made the transition from his
head to his heart. For this he was rewarded.)
Some little children (reflection of his newly-found ego; he was not
afraid of them as he was the peasant's children) came into the garden (the
protected space) and threw bits of bread (the foundational nourishment
of life). Note that three ingredients that previously he had fled from in
fear—milk, butter and flour—now, in the fire of his transfor-
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mation, had become bread, something that could sustain him). The outer
response (to his inward self acceptance) came from the smallest child.
"Look! A new swan! The new one is the prettiest one of all."
The old swans (those who had made a similar journey) bowed their
heads in agreement. (Instead of his bowing his head to the old barnyard
duck, these elegant creatures were now bowing to him.) "This made the
duckling feel quite shy, and he tucked his head under his wing. (Initially,
we are not always comfortable with the changes that transformation
brings and sometimes "hide out. ")
"His heart filled with joy, and he ruffled his feathers and raised his
slender neck, for he had never dreamed of so much happiness when he
was an ugly duckling." (Having once been bitten in the neck by the
chickens, and receiving the necessary wound that initiated the quest, the
duckling now stretches his elegant neck and claims his new swan self-
identity. The hero's journey is ended. )

Autobiographical Parallels to Andersen's Life

Andersen fled from his home to escape poverty and social status.
Though born in the slums, Andersen always believed himself to be
misplaced, an unacknowledged aristocrat, a beautiful swan. He suffered
at the hands of the "barnyard animals," those lesser childhood beings
who wounded him by their taunts about his appearance and his manner-
isms. Though the trappings changed, and he was later adopted by the
wealthy Collin family, Andersen was always out to prove to others (and
to remind himself) that he really had the right, despite his poor birth
circumstances, to "live in the large garden" of his life. He always wanted
"the little people" to exclaim at his talent and honor him for his
aristocratic spirit.
There is little mention made of Andersen's mother in his many
biographical sketches, though his father and grandmother play promi-
nently. In the tale, the mother duckling is resigned to his oddness and
gives the duckling a brief chance to fit into the family. But, she quickly
aligns with public opinion when family and neighbors turn against the
Ugly Duckling. Though not explicitly stated, one wonders how much of
this treatment is autobiographical as well. Andersen's family and friends
could not have been happy to have been so deliberately left behind. The
tale even describes the Ugly Duckling's family as "cruel."
The poultry yard scene is interesting. Clearly, the mother duck sees
herself and her family as more distinguished than the chickens, roosters
and geese, but not as distinguished as the elder China duck. Andersen
shows his bias here for hierarchy the titled, the pedigreed, qualities that
he obviously lacks. Zipes notes:

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A dominated voice of his narration does not condemn his for-

mer social class, rather Andersen loses contact with it by de-
nying the rebellious urges of his class within himself and mak-
ing compromises that affirmed the rightful domination of the
middle class ethic. . . . (Andersen) rarely suggested alternatives
or rebellion (in his tales.) Rather, he placed safety before
idealism and chose moral compromise over moral outrage, in-
dividual comfort and achievement over collective struggle and
united goals. He aimed for identification with the power estab-
lishment that humiliates subjects rather than opposition to au-
tocracy to put an end to exploitation through power. (83 & 84)

Andersen was not particularly interested in changing the system, but

in changing himself to fit into the system. This is further evidenced in the
instructions that the mother duck gives before the first barnyard foray
when she tells her ducklings that the world is a place of squabbling and
snapping. She implies that it is necessary to accept the world the way it
is. The goal is not to try to change the world, but to hurry past any frays
that are encountered and survive by looking good.
Going out into the world and meeting with other creatures who re-
jected the Ugly Duckling, who tried to use him, or who offered him help
have probable parallels to Andersen's international travels. In seeking out
the literati of his time, Andersen seemed to be seeking out "those of his
own kind." He did not return to his birth home, but, instead, searched for
outward validation of self-worth.
Like the Ugly Duckling, Andersen was slow to see himself as a
member of the company of swans. The ending of The Ugly Duckling is
like Anderson's cry for the world's accreditation. He wants endless con-
firmation that despite his poor beginnings, he had become a true swan-
and not just a beautiful swan, but the best of them all.
The story of The Ugly Duckling viewed from the perspective of
Andersen's life is a tale of one who achieved his dream, but who then
spent a lifetime trying to believe it.

Transformation Themes in The Ugly Duckling

The number three is frequently repeated in the story. The duckling

left the protection of the marsh on the third day. Three dwelled in the
small farmhouse (old woman, cat and hen). The duckling flew in a panic
into three household ingredients (milk, butter and flour). Some character
identification can be made with the Maiden/Mother/Crone, the Triple
Goddess archetype, as the reader watches the duckling from hatching to
maturity. After the winter, the Ugly Duckling was surrounded by three
swans. His transformation occurred in the third season. Three is the
number of completion, of perfection, the number of
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integrated divinity.
Three also mirrors the death-resurrection cycle found in many re-
ligions and traditions. It is also embodied in the three alchemical phases
of transformation where the crude prima material is transformed into
gold. von Franz describes the three-fold alchemical process as pro-
gressing through the negredo, the Latin word for the blackness of the
material when subjected to fire; the albedo, the white substance which
becomes silver when washed, and the rubedo (the red) which through
further heating turns into gold.

The albedo signifies the individual's first clear awareness of the

unconscious... It means the cool, detached attitude, a stage
where things look remote and vague, as though seen in the
moonlight. In the albedo, therefore, it is said that the feminine
and the moon are ruling. It also means a receptive attitude
towards the unconscious. "Washing off is the ordeal of coming
to terms with the shadow; whereas the former stage, the
negredo marks the first terrible facing of the shadow which is
torture, and should be followed by working on and differenti-
ating one's inferior side. The alchemists call this "the hard
work." With the progress of the albedo, the main stream is re-
lieved. Then simple heating changes the albedo into the rubedo,
which is ruled by the sun and heralds a new state of
consciousness. (117)

In The Ugly Duckling, the negredo is the period during the darkness
of the marsh and the subsequent "walkabout" of experience. The albedo
is the time of frozen white winter, and the rubedo is the rush of blood,
the emergence of sun in the return of spring, the season of trans-
formation.
Finally, in A Psychiatric Study of Myths and Fairy Tales, Julius
Heuscher notes:

It is admittedly an oversimplification to reduce the basic chal-

lenge to our evolution to three stages: one, progressive feeling
of loss of unity with our (spiritual) origins; two, gaining
awareness of our identity in the course of contact with the ma-
terial world; and three, eventual synthesis on a higher plane.
(95)

These three stages are congruent with the alchemical motif already de-
scribed.

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Role of the Mother/Stepmother Figure in The Ugly Duckling

Jacqueline Schectman, in The Stepmother in Fairy tales, makes in-

teresting observations pertinent to the role of the tale duckling.

The stepmother. . . is emblematic of whole family systems

gone awry in the face of inevitable growth and change. To
know the stepmother. . . is to understand her in the context of
relationship and the stages of her family life. (100)

The mother duck is rust introduced when she is nesting, waiting for
her eggs to hatch. "She had been sitting a long time, or so it seemed to
her, and she missed the company of all the other ducks." After the other
eggs hatched, she realized that the biggest one of all still remained
unhatched. She complains that she is "so tired of waiting," but settles to
do just that. The mother duckling seems content in her nesting until an
elder duck raises doubts about the real nature of the large egg. The
mother duck's response is, "But I've already waited so long. I may as
well wait a little longer," reflecting the mother duck's concern about her
time investment, but not necessarily about her duckling.
When the first ducklings hatch, she quacks at them for maternal
identification, and they respond with the predictable peeps. However,
when the Ugly Duckling finally hatches, she "just looked at him" won-
dering about his true identity. Her first thought is, "Into the water he'll
go, even if have to push him in myself." From the very beginning, the
mother duckling was worried about how the Ugly Duckling would reflect
on her.
During the first swim, when she saw how well the Ugly Duckling
"uses his legs and how straight he holds himself," she concluded that "he
is my own child after all, and really not so ugly when you look at him
properly." Though not indicative of unconditional love, the mother duck
evidences at least some maternal acceptance.
Before the ducklings enter the barnyard, the mother duck explains
how to look good and behave correctly so that they are considered to be
a fine, well-bred family, and she, then, is deemed to be a good mother.
Soon after they enter, the Ugly Duckling is attacked by the chickens. The
mother duck cries, "Leave him alone! He's doing no harm." She even
defends him to the old China duck, "He is good tempered and he swims
as well as the others. And I am sure he will turn out all right."
Andersen states ominously, "But that was only the first day." Af-
terwards, the Ugly Duckling's troubles grew until even his own brothers
and sisters chased him and made fun of him. At this point, "the mother
duck looked at him sadly and wished he were far away."
That is the last the reader hears of the mother duck as she is not
mentioned after the Ugly Duckling runs away. One can only hope in
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 ANITA GAMBOS

Schectman's words that

. . . in becoming who they truly are, her (stepmother's) chil-

dren bring a necessary healing to the home. (101)

In The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Alice
Miller explores in detail the mother-child dynamic. In treating children,
she states:

If we start from the premise that a person's whole development

(and his balance, which is based on it) is dependent on the way
his mother experienced his expression of needs and sensations
during his first days and weeks of life, then we must assume
that it is here that the beginning of a later tragedy might be set.
If a mother cannot take pleasure in her child as he is but must
have him behave in a particular way, then the first value
selection takes place for the child. Now "good" is differentiated
from "bad," "nice" from nasty," and "right" from "wrong."
Against this background will follow all his further valuations of
himself. (Italics are Alice Miller's) (85)

Given that The Ugly Duckling is a semi-autobiographical tale and so few

facts are available about his mother, the conclusions are obvious. That is
why the Ugly Duckling's flight from the barnyard and subsequent
solitary winter were so critical. As Miller states,

His plight is no doubt the result of social pressures, but these do

not have their effect on his psyche through abstract knowledge;
they are firmly anchored in his earliest affective experience with
his mother. Thus his problems cannot be solved with words, but
only through experience-not merely corrective experiences as an
adult but, above all, through a conscious experience of his early
fear of his beloved mother's contempt and his subsequent
feelings of indignation and sadness. (104)

Mothers who derive their own value and self-worth by vicariously

living their children's lives can create real tragedies. These women,
having never received nurturance from their own mothers, create another
generation of emotionally-truncated individuals, another tragic
reenactment of lack and isolation.
Until the gifted child, the true swan, takes the first step out of the
barnyard and into the marsh to begin the hero's journey of transforma-
tion, nothing changes for the individual or for the mother. Miller notes,

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THE UGLY DUCKLING

In order to become whole we must try, in a long process, to

discover our own personal truth, a truth that may cause pain
before giving us a new sphere of freedom. we choose instead
to content ourselves with intellectual "wisdom," we will re-
main in the sphere of illusion and self-deception. (I)

Conclusion

The Ugly Duckling is a tale for all persons, a tale for those who
wish to dive deeply into the realm of the unconscious. It is a story of
transformation, of liberation, of rebirth. Written by a man caught be-
tween two worlds, two times, it reveals valuable insights for this time,
this history.
Life is the hero's journey. It's time to stop blaming our mothers, fa-
thers, sisters, brothers, life in general. Transformation is a choice.

WORKS CITED

Heuscher, Julius. A Psychiatric Study of Myths and Fairy Tales. Springfield,

IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1974.
Miller, Alice. The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self
New York, NY: Perseus, 1997 revised edition.
Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 2002.
Schectman, Jacqueline. The Stepmother in Fairy tales. Boston, MA: Sigo, 1993.
von Franz, Marie Louise. Interpretation of Fairy Tales. Dallas, TX: Spring
Publications, 1970.
Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. London, England:
Methuen., 1988.
University of Southern Denmark, Website of the Center of Hans Christian An-
dersen, "Short Biography." http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/liv/minibio/ in-
dex_e.html

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