Students’ Reception of Intrinsic Elements and Moral Values in Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v14i1.11114Keywords:
reception analysis, intrinsic elements, , moral valuesAbstract
This study examines students’ reception of the intrinsic elements, moral values, and impressions of Hans Christian Andersen’s short story The Ugly Duckling. The study responds to the need for literary learning that not only identifies textual elements but also explores how students interpret moral meaning through reader response. A descriptive qualitative design was employed. The participants were 27 second-semester students from class B of the English Education Department at Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo in the 2025/2026 academic year. Data were collected from February 24 to March 10, 2026, through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The interview data were transcribed, coded, and interpreted, while the document analysis was used to support the interpretation of intrinsic elements in the short story. The findings show that students identified four main themes: bullying, discrimination, hardiness, and the search for self-identity. The main characters identified were the ugly duckling, the mother duck, and the ugly duckling’s siblings. Students also recognized several messages, including not judging people by appearance, appreciating differences, avoiding bullying and discrimination, maintaining confidence, being patient, and never giving up. The moral values found in the story were patience, empathy, care, tolerance, justice, and struggle. Students were impressed by the ugly duckling’s patience, persistence, and refusal to take revenge. The study implies that The Ugly Duckling can be used as a meaningful literary text to support character education and moral reflection in English literature learning.
References
Adhitya, N. (2023). Reader reception analysis of the novel “Disaster on Planet Poa” in Goodreads cyber literary site. The Journal of English Language Teaching, Literature, and Applied Linguistics, 5(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.37742/jela.v5i1.91
Ahmad, M. M. (2021). Teaching of literature in the EFL/ESL classrooms: An effective tool to instill moral values. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(3), 1536–1550. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.111
Arifin, A., Safari, D. M., & Mohadib. (2024). Realitas nilai moral dalam novel Orang-Orang Proyek karya Ahmad Tohari kajian sosiologi sastra. Jurnal Bindo Sastra, 8(1), 62–69. https://doi.org/10.32502/jbs.v8i1.6661
Bauer, K., & Hermann, J. (2024). Technomoral resilience as a goal of moral education. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 27(1), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-022-10353-1
Chung, F. M.-Y. (2023). Implementing moral and character education policy through music integration: Perspectives of school leaders in Hong Kong. Cogent Education, 10(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2286416
Coşgun, G. E. (2022). An exploration of literary genres through the eyes of pre-service English teachers. Educational Process International Journal, 11(1), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.22521/edupij.2022.111.2
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Pearson Education.
Fareh, S., Jarad, N., & Yagi, S. (2022). Integrating literature into teaching the language arts. International Journal of Arabic-English Studies, 22(2), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes2000.22.2.4
Girsang, M., Ginting, B. B. T. P., Tamba, A. R. P., Samosir, A. C., & Kianlin, J. A. (2023). Intrinsic elements in digital short stories “The Oval Portrait” by Edgar Allan Poe. Journal of Language, 5(1), 241–247. https://doi.org/10.30743/jol.v5i1.6737
Girsang, M., Sitio, E., Sihombing, R. M., & Manullang, M. C. A. (2025). Intrinsic elements in short story The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. Jurnal Riset Ilmu Pendidikan, 5(1), 165–169. https://doi.org/10.56495/jrip.v5i1.880
Holub, R. C. (1984). Reception theory: A critical introduction. Routledge.
Iser, W. (1987). The act of reading: A theory of aesthetic response. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Muhandra, A. P., Siregar, A. N., Pratiwi, R., Rizky, H., & Sopha, D. (2023). Analysis of intrinsic elements in short stories by Widya Suwarna. Philology: Journal of English Language and Literature, 3(2), 49–55.
Naeem, M., Ozuem, W., Howell, K., & Ranfagni, S. (2023). A step-by-step process of thematic analysis to develop a conceptual model in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231205789
Prahaladaiah, D. (2021). Value-based teaching English language and literature. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 12(2), 59–66. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2021.2.59.66
Ramírez, M. L. (2017). “Racialized beauty”: The ugly duckling in Toni Morrison’s “God Help the Child.” Complutense Journal of English Studies, 25, 173–189. https://doi.org/10.5209/CJES.55255
Sanjaya, M. D., Sanjaya, M. R., & Mustika, D. (2021). Analisis nilai moral dalam kumpulan cerpen Keluargaku Tak Semurah Rupiah karya Rayi Hendrawan Supriadi dan relevansinya terhadap pembelajaran sastra di SMA. Jurnal Bindo Sastra, 5(1), 19–24.
Sauli, M., Ohorella, H. M., & Ibrahim. (2024). The analysis of intrinsic elements of Sally Rooney’s novel Beautiful World, Where Are You. Journal of Linguistic and English Studies, 1(2), 71–78. https://doi.org/10.33506/jole.v1i2.3404
Stephens, J. M., & Tricia, B. G. (2024). Enhancing moral sensitivity in the aftermath of academic misconduct: Results from a quasi-experimental field study. Journal of Moral Education, 53(3), 592. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2023.2268298
Tamrin, A. F., Basri, & Putri, A. E. (2023). The response of readers in the novel The Call of the Wild. Surakarta English and Literature Journal, 6(2), 270–287. https://doi.org/10.52429/selju.v6i2.154
Wiyatmi. (2017). Metode penelitian sastra dan aplikasinya dalam sastra Indonesia. UNY Press.
Zahra, F. R., Wardianto, B. S., Diwansyah, F. A., & Hadiansyah, F. (2023). Literary reception in Tere Liye’s novel Rembulan Tenggelam di Wajahmu: Aesthetic studies of experimental reception. International Proceedings of Nusantara Raya, 2, 44–51. https://proceedings.uinsaizu.ac.id/index.php/nuraicon/
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Tri Jampi Setiyorini, Ape Segenil
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See the Effect of Open Access)
