The Little Match Girl

 

The Little Match Girl Plot & Setting

The popular fairy tale is based on a snowy landscape with very low temperature. It is the festive period between Christmas and New Year when most people remain at home surrounded by their friends and loved ones. The plot of the story mentions very few characters and the tale is entirely based on a young little girl and her magical fantasies just before she dies freezing outside in the cold. Since the author is from Denmark, the story was originally written and published in the Danish language, titled Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne.

The Little Match Girl Summary

The narrative begins on a brutally cold winter evening which also incidentally happens to be the New Year’s Eve. A little girl is walking over snow with bare feet and uncovered head trying to sell matches to people. Since it’s the evening before New Year, there are not many people outside in the cold as they are all busy celebrating the occasion in the warmth of their houses with their families. This poor lonely girl roamed around in the snow in the hopes of selling a bundle of matches before she returned home.The reason why she was without slippers she left her house wearing her mother’s slippers which were too huge for her small sized feet. While she was crossing an icy path she came in front of two carriages which hurried past her and left her dazed. She lost one of her slippers in this process and then came along a mischievous little boy who stole her slipper thinking he can put it to use someday in the future as a cradle for his offspring.

The miserable little girl couldn’t even go back to her house which was her only shelter because she was afraid of her father who would beat her if she didn’t procure any money. The house she lived in was in anyways a broken run-down little cottage which was kept unkempt. The wind whistled through the gaps in the roof and it was never warm inside so she decided to stay outside for as long as she could. Although she carried some match boxes in her pocket, she didn’t dare light them because they were given to her for the purpose of selling. But there were hardly any people about and the lanes were all deserted.

After having roamed around for a while and when her tiny hands and feet turned blue with cold, she came across a corner in the middle of two houses. The girl sat herself down there and decided to light a few matchsticks to warm her numb fingers. The light flared bright as soon as the match was lit and it seemed to the poor innocent child that she was holding a candle in her hand. In the light she visualizes a warm iron stove with a flaring flame inside and she dreams that she is getting cosy in the warmth it let out. Then the match burns out and her vision disappears. She decides to burn another matchstick because in the purity of her child-like mind she believes that if she keeps burning the matches her fantasies will come alive. So the little girl starts to play this game to keep herself sustained in thelone and dark of the icy cold night.

Her excitement rose to a new level when she strikes another match and the sight of a deliciously cooked Christmas dinner floats in front of her eyes. The meal included cooked goose with baked plums and fruits that made her drool with hunger. Surprised and perplexed she continues to strike more matches and then she sees a beautifully decorated tall Christmas Tree with dazzling lights and her dead grandmother whom she dearly loved and missed. The visions showed her everything she ever desired in her young neglected life and she took her momentary pleasure, even though it was not real. In the distant night sky, she suddenly sees a star falling down and remembered what her grandmother had once told her. According to the lore, a falling star is said to be the sign of someone dying and going to heaven. The little girl becomes sad upon seeing the star as she feels the intuition that someone is about to die.

Her premonition comes true when in a desperate attempt to make her grandmother reappear she lights a big bundle of matches together to create a larger flare. In the brilliant light she sees the apparition of her grandmother and runs into her arms. The grandmother happily picks her up and they are at last united in a warm embrace. They both then together leave the terrestrial plane of hunger and poverty to a place where such anxieties do not haunt the poor. They went up to God.

The next morning, at the still cold hour of dawn, a crowd of people gather around the corpse of the little girl lying on the snowy corner. Her red cheeks and smiling mouth never betrayed the pain she went through. But the burnt out matches that lay strewn around her, told her sad story. The people in sympathy, looked at the matches and said with a sigh that the poor girl only wanted to warm herself. None of the onlookers could guess the brilliant sights she witnessed before she died or how happy she was to fly away with the spirit of her grandmother into a New Year. 

The Little Match Girl: Theme

There are many important themes in this beautifully crafted short story, but the most important would be the themes of child abuse and child poverty. Children are nearly never responsible for their parents’ actions and, without reason, suffer a life full of destitution and deprivation. They are exposed to the ruthless world of the poor and the fallen from the minute they were born, and their miserable life more often than not ends due to hunger and lack of necessities and like warm clothes and proper shelter. They are the unfortunate victims of poverty, and they live within a hazardous circle of illiteracy, unemployment, and eternal hardships.

The author also speaks about the reassurance of the self against the tide of difficulties. The subconscious mind of the little girl was strong enough to hold on to her memories of the grandmother to provide her some sense of comfort and respite even in the darkest of times. The people see only the frozen dead girl lying uncared for on the snow, and they feel sorry for her. They do not understand the reality of the situation, where death came as a welcome relief to her otherwise tortured life. According to the author, in some cases, when a life cannot be saved or ignored by others, death can end the painful existence. This is a much-debated and controversial topic, and it has been proved that others should do their utmost to help and save a life in such situations.

The small child had a beautiful ending to bleak and dreary life, as described by the storyteller. Her imaginary visions were strong enough to carry her through the night and send her off smiling into the afterlife. She was so lost in her delusions that she didn’t feel the pangs of starvation and cold near the end. In her mind, she died peacefully in the arms of her dear grandmother, who didn’t leave her alone in the night and took her away to a safe place with her.

The Little Match Girl: Analysis

The little girl is sent off to sell matches by an abusive, cruel father at an age when she should be protected and nourished by her parents. This motherless girl child has nowhere else to go, so she wanders off alone in the snow to avoid her father. Usually, father figures are respected and honored by daughters in all cultures, but here we see a little girl running away from her father. It is unfortunate when children cannot even count on their parents for safety and love since the outside world is always full of harsh and exploiting people. We see an example of such an uncaring world in the character of the boy thief and the carriages that rushed past her as if she was an invisible figure. Even during the festive season of Christmas and New Year, her suffering continues, and she gets respite only through the hallucinations. Only in the trick of the fire does she truly live a glorious life.

The character of the father and mother are mentioned only sparingly in the story, but we realize that they have an essential role to play as the tale unfolds. The reckless and abusive father and cares very little about his daughter. He is shown to be the kind of person who places the responsibility of earning cents for food on his daughter and beats her up when she cannot procure any money.

The girl is only a child, and he seems to be some monster for having inflicted such an ordeal upon her. The father and the missing mother have made the girl feel very alone in her life, and perhaps her happiest memories of family come from her grandmother, who loved and cherished the little girl a lot when she was alive. The impact of a dysfunctional family on the psychology and actions of a child can be very disastrous.

The legendary author and poet Hans Christian Andersen have weaved a beautifully tragic story that also includes a message of hope and redemption. The story, The Little Match Girl, has all the elements of a typical Christian winter tale, but here the character is redeemed by not the good deeds of fellow human beings or a Christmas miracle but death. The narrative’s subtext is thought-provoking, and the readers are compelled to think about the young and the needy who require necessities to survive the long winter season. The festive month is the time for merriment and the time for compassion for the poor.