Hans Christian Anderson - An Ugly Duckling

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An Ugly Duckling Hans Christian Anderson was a Danish author, poet, and playwright. He is best probably best known for his fairy tales. His fairy tales have been translated into over eighty languages. Anderson was born into a very poor family. However, with his father’s encouragement and a lot of personal ambition, Hans became a very successful writer. Ascending from the lowest class to become the greatest contributor to children’s literature, Hans Christian Andersen was the first Danish author to break from traditional Danish literature by adopting the perspective of the poor and suffering to create uniquely memorable stories. Hans Christian Andersen began life in the lowest economic class of society. He was born into poverty on April 2, 1805 in Odense, on the island of Funen, Denmark. Hans’ family was a very unusual cast of characters. His mother, Anna Maria Anderdatter, was an illiterate washerwoman. His father, Hans Andersen, was a poor shoemaker (De Mylius). His grandfather was mad. His sister was an illegitimate child of his mother who later grew up to become a prostitute. Because of the family’s poverty, Andersen had to start working at an early age. Hans labored as an apprentice weaver and tailor. He also worked in a cigarette factory to help support himself. Hans earned money by singing in local salons. Because of his good singing voice, Andersen was known as the “little nightingale of Fyn” (Young Andersen). Hans Christian Andersen briefly joined the Copenhagen’s Royal Theater choir. While he was very interested in writing plays and acting in them, Andersen was not a very good actor. He was uneducated with no formal training in dancing or acting. Andersen submitted several of his plays theater, but they were turned down. However, that did get the attention of certain people that would later help Andersen. Because of his low social class, he

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