It's feathers all dirty and brown.. and in so many words the other birds said quack get out of town,
But when spring comes and the "ugly duckling" becomes a swan all of a sudden all the other birds want to be friends.
This childrens song has always upset me, even from a small child, almost reducing me to tears at times. I felt so sorry fo the cygnet who was outcast and rejected for being ugly and brown. As an adult this song still upsets me, I don't just feel sorry for the cygnet but outraged and the implicit racism of being "ugly and brown" rather than beautiful and white as it later becomes. But at the way the other birds stop bullying it and want to be friends, I almost feel this is reflection of so many peoples struggles about being different and how others are encouraged through this song that it's OK to bully others who don't look the same as you or come across the same as you. It's only when the cygnet becomes a beautiful white swan that it's socially acceptable, what does that imply about those of us who are "ugly and brown"? Do we have to become white, do we have to transform ourselves entirely to be acceptable? To me this is a metaphor for not just racism, but for anyone who's different.
