The Emperor's New Clothes
Hans Christian Andersen
The Fairy Tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes” tells the story of an emperor who is a total narcissist. He spends his time and his money focusing on his appearance. One day these two men come into the emperor’s town claiming to be able to design the most amazing clothes, with the most amazing fabric. This fabric is so special because only the wise people could see the suit. These two men get the emperor to give them copious amounts of money to pay for the magic cloth as well as their time. They sew and sew and sew, and everyone who “sees” the outfit exclaims of its beauty, because he or she does not want to been considered a fool. On the day of completion the emperor dawns the amazing outfit made of amazing cloth and proceeds to strut around town in a parade. Everyone is “Oooh”-ing and “Awe”-ing at the majestic cloth, when suddenly a child in the crowd exclaims “Why he isn’t wearing anything at all.”
This story has two different morals that could strike conversation and show examples of social justice to students. The first moral is the importance of not lying. The emperor lies, the townspeople lie, and they all end up looking foolish and making a mockery of themselves.
The second moral that can be extrapolated from this story is that it is important not to put oneself above others. The emperor considers himself more regal, more attractive, and more significant than all the people in his town, and he ends up being the greatest fool of all.
This story has two different morals that could strike conversation and show examples of social justice to students. The first moral is the importance of not lying. The emperor lies, the townspeople lie, and they all end up looking foolish and making a mockery of themselves.
The second moral that can be extrapolated from this story is that it is important not to put oneself above others. The emperor considers himself more regal, more attractive, and more significant than all the people in his town, and he ends up being the greatest fool of all.