Exposed Ugliness

Tina               吕佳悦           190110325

Chapter One: Unacceptable ugliness  

With a sudden cry, an extraordinary baby is born. A tired mother takes the newborn baby excitedly. The baby, with wrinkled skin and nearly closed eyes, seems not to have inherited her mother’s big eyes, fair skin, and attractive cheeks. “But it doesn’t matter. She is just a baby, and sooner or later, she’ll grow up to be a beautiful girl,” her mother thinks.

As time goes by, the girl, Ann, doesn’t become beautiful as her mother expected. On contrary, she is somewhat ugly. Chubby cheeks, small eyes, and a wide mouth all contribute to her unlovely appearance. Her village is an ethnic minority area where nearly all of the people living there are beautiful or handsome. She is out of place among those superior people. Her mother tries to comfort her by saying appearance is not the most important thing; instead, it’s ability and personality that determines who she is. However, human beings are likely to judge people by their appearance first. So, in many situations, her appearance alienates herself from her peers. When she communicates with strangers, they can’t help looking at her strangely first, although they try to hide their astonished looks.

“I was born ugly. I have the sin of being ugly. I am a child abandoned by God!” She becomes stuck in inferiority and despair.

The day comes at last when Ann determines to run away from the village and work far away. So, after she graduates, she bids farewell to her parents and sets out on a new journey.

Chapter Two: An opportunity

Actually, Ann is unsure of where to go. She just wants to run away from her hometown full of beautiful people. She has always heard that the city Stream is an advanced city, so she decides to go there.

Getting off the train, Ann looks around the city and finds, to her shock, that the people there stylish and elegant. As a country girl, she feels out of place again, but she doesn’t want to give up and sends out resumes to some companies. Two weeks go by and nothing happens. Then she participates in a job fair and has an opportunity for an interview. Stepping into the office, she feels that the interviewer looks at her strangely, in the way that the people from her hometown did. She controls the urge to run away and sits facing the interviewer. The interview goes smoothly. However, he mentions that while she is indeed qualified for the job, her image is not good enough to represent his company. Her rivals are excellent as well, but their appearance adds to their score. Ann feels insulted and rushes out of the office angrily.

Days passed, some of interviews succeed, and she gains more hope. After all, appearance is not the most important thing. One day, while she is comparing the salaries provided by different companies, the phone rings.

“May I ask who’s calling, please?” asks Ann.

“This is NZND Media. I am David, the manager of the company. Sorry to bother you. We hope that you can cooperate with us,” David says.

“I am sorry. But I am not interested.”

“We can have a meeting. Our company can provide a high salary. You can think it over. And this is my address and number.”

“Okay, I’ll consider it.”

Hanging up the phone, Ann is curious and decides to meet him.

Chapter Three: The ugliest is the most beautiful?

After they meet, David says that they want her to be an anchor on a live stream program. She is shocked and says, “Are you kidding me? I mean that my appearance is .... You know.”

“Yeah, but nowadays people are tired of appreciating beauty. When beauty is the norm the ugliest is the most beautiful. I have a presentiment that you’ll be the most popular anchor,” David explains to her.

“I can’t understand. I don’t think people like ugliness.” Ann refuses him.

“You should be confident in yourself. You are special in this city. Don’t you want to be an internet celebrity? We’ll put in a great deal of energy and money to help you. You can try. Whenever you want to give up, you can quit....” David continues to coax her.

Ann is persuaded by his sliver tongue. Finally, she agrees and signs a contract. Every girl has a dream to be famous and popular. She has been discriminated by her appearance so many times, so she wants to prove herself.

Chapter Four   Dressed as a clown

The first day is an extremely successful live streaming. When she appears on the screen, the amount of people in the audience sharply increases. Ann introduces herself, and lots of people respond with enthusiastic comments. In her whole life, she has never enjoyed such popularity. After some weeks, her fans rise to 300,000. Her job is to expose her ugly face and deliberately makes some funny facial expression

Then David takes some ugly clothes and asks her to put them on to record short videos. Ann is unwilling to wear them because these clothes are outdated and vulgar. David mentions that her fans are starting to drop off, so she needs to be funnier to be attractive. After a long hesitation, she yields to him. As he says, her fans increase overwhelmingly. A month passes, she earns a large amount of money that far exceeds the jobs she had once interviewed for.

But over time, the audience loses interest in ordinary things. To be ugly can’t satisfy their desire. They ask for more and more excessive demands. David persuades her to follow their advice.

Chapter Five: Broken dream

She has become a star, so she goes shopping wearing a mask. For her, she doesn’t need to buy makeup or fashionable clothes. To be ugly is her living. as she picks up some groceries, she hears some girls’ talk about her.

“Have you heard of Ann? Such an ugly woman,” one girl asks.

“Certainly, her ugliness is unforgettable. I hate her so much. Every time I see her video, it’s a torment for my eyes,” another girl rolls her eyes.

“Me too. Why would God create her?”

Ann can’t stand their complaints and runs away. She had seen some wicked comments before and then was upset for a long time. However, she got over it. She is popular, which is enough for her.

However, she feels like a clown to please others. They even asked her to kiss a pig to please them. They have the superiority to judge and laugh at a person who is much uglier than them. She always wants to figure out why they like her. No! honestly, they don’t like her. They treat her like a clown; like an animal in the circus! Never respect her, never praise her, never understand her! She feels an immediate impulse to scream, to cry, to run.

Why am I proud of being ugly? I am a joke. I want to be a beloved star, but not a clown. I have the dream that I can be loved by people, but beauty actually is what they want and pursue, and is what I really want to pursue too. I give up the right to be beautiful.

Unavoidably, something is imperfect and flawed. We can choose to change them or not, but at least do not expose them to others as a joke. Only when we respect and treasure ourselves can we gain others’ respect.