Hans Christian Andersen How Andersen's Writings Mirrored his Life

One of the most beloved writers of fairly-tales is Hans Christian Andersen. He was a Danish author who searched his past and that of his native Denmark for ideas that could become children's stories. The fact is though that Andersen was writing for a large audience. Though his stories may have been told in the fairy-tale genre, he was relating morals that applied to all ages, genders and ethnicities. The legacy he created by telling the tales in the manner that he did was as a children's story writer, but he wanted to be more. This paper discusses the legacy that Andersen created with his stories and the legacy he sought vs. The one he achieved.

Hans Christian Andersen has always been remembered as someone who wrote children's stories, despite the fact that he wanted to earn much more important distinction as a serious writer. Andersen was a serous artist who wanted to be remembered as such. He wrote complicated stories that were infused with the beauty of life and its complexities. It is not possible to understand what Andersen thought by reading just a few of his stories. A person must look to several of his tales to get a true picture of what he thought about the prevailing issues of the time. Another problem that Andersen had which shows up in his later works is that of his inability to take criticism of his work. He had always had something of a thin skin where his work was concerned, but it became even more prominent late in his life. He was very harsh with critics.

However there...

Hans Christian Andersen became one of the most beloved figures in his native land. He is also known around the world for his work. Many of the accolades actually came during his life so that he knew what people thought of him and his work. But, the part that was difficult for him was that the fame he enjoyed just meant that he was open to a greater degree of criticism from people who did not appreciate what he had done.
In his works he dealt with some of the different dichotomies and dilemmas that plague artists. One of these, that was more prevalent at the time Andersen wrote was that of the divine vs. The demonic. Many of his stories had magical elements that could be construed to talk about the metaphysical world. In "The Flying Trunk," the protagonist introduces himself as a Turkish angel to the princess while at the same time the character was working hard to deceive everyone else (Andersen, 1838). Andersen could understand this dichotomy because though he wrote very moralistic stories he often thought of himself as an actor playing a part. He also dichotomy was that of creation vs. destruction. One story that explored this theme to some extent was "The Bronze Pig." Toward the end of the story, the boy is learning how to draw because he admires the pictures his artist friend has produced. At one point the little boy ties the head and tail of the little poodle he is trying to make stand still, and is thrown out of his home (Andersen, 1862). This shows that despite the need to be creative the boy was destructive in his…