11. Analysis

The poem 'The Tale of Custard the Dragon' by Ogden Nash emphasises the concept of courage and bravery. People often tend to brand other people/creatures with labels such as weak, coward, unkind, cunning etc. Often they do not think about the consequences of simply branding other people like this. When a person cries, they immediately call them weak and urge them to show more strength. When a person is scared of a lizard, they are immediately teased for being a coward. But people should understand that nobody out there is perfect. We all have our own fears and limitations, which we are all struggling with. Secondly, creating stereotypes is a very harmful thing to do. We have set standards for how each one in this Universe should behave, and if anyone tends to slightly not follow them, they are ostracised. Custard being a dragon faces the same issue as he does not behave or fit into the set standards for a dragon. A dragon is supposed to be evil and dangerous, but he is a scared one who looks for comfort. But Custard knows when to act and how. People tend to flaunt and boast about themselves, but there is no use in it if they cannot act on it. Custard does not talk about his courage, but when there was a crisis, he rose to the situation and saved Belinda.