‘The Little Match Girl’ by Hans Christian Andersen: Review notes

Analysis of ‘The Little Match Girl’ by Hans Christian Andersen. Find notes and question and answers.

Children from the weaker sections of the society are often forced to become wage earners in order to support their family. Such children are deprived of normal childhood and are forced to grow up prematurely.

‘The Little Match Girl’ (also titled The Little Matchstick Girl), by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen showcases a poor girls suffering and brings to the fore apathy of people and the rich-poor divide that exists in the modern world.

Little Match Girl: Complete Text

It was terribly cold and nearly dark
on the last evening of the old year,
and the snow was falling fast.
In the cold and the darkness,
a poor little girl, with bare head and naked feet,
roamed through the streets.

It is true she had on a pair of slippers when she left home,
but they were not of much use.
They were very large, so large, indeed,
that they had belonged to her mother,
and the poor little creature had lost them in running across the street to avoid two
carriages that were rolling along at a terrible rate.
One of the slippers she could not find,
and a boy seized upon the other and ran away with it,
saying that he could use it as a cradle,
when he had children of his own.
So the little girl went on with her little naked feet,
which were quite red and blue with the cold.

In an old apron she carried a number of matches,
and had a bundle of them in her hands.
No one had bought anything of her the whole day,
nor had anyone given her even a penny.
Shivering with cold and hunger, she crept along;
poor little child, she looked the picture of misery.
The snowflakes fell on her long, fair hair, which hung in curls on her shoulders, but she
regarded them not.
Lights were shining from every window,
and there was a savory smell of roast goose,
for it was New-year’s eve—yes, she remembered that.

In a corner, between two houses,
one of which projected beyond the other,
she sank down and huddled herself together.
She had drawn her little feet under her,
but she could not keep off the cold;
and she dared not go home,
for she had sold no matches,
and could not take home even a penny of money.
Her father would certainly beat her;
besides, it was almost as cold at home as here,
for they had only the roof to cover them,
through which the wind howled,
although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags.
Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold.

Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good,
if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers.
She drew one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered as it burnt!
It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle,
as she held her hand over it.
It was really a wonderful light.
It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet
and a brass ornament.
How the fire burned!
and seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them,
when,
lo! the flame of the match went out,
the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.

She rubbed another match on the wall.
It burst into a flame, and where its light fell upon the wall it became as transparent as a veil,
and she could see into the room.
The table was covered with a snowy white table-cloth,
on which stood a splendid dinner service,
and a steaming roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried plums.
And what was still more wonderful,
the goose jumped down from the dish and waddled across the floor,with a knife and fork in
its breast, to the little girl.
Then the match went out, and there remained nothing but the thick, damp, cold wall before
her.

She lighted another match, and then she found herself sitting under a beautiful Christmastree.
It was larger and more beautifully decorated than the one which she had seen through the
glass door at the rich merchant’s.
Thousands of tapers were burning upon the green branches, and colored pictures, like
those she had seen in the show-windows, looked down upon it all.
The little one stretched out her hand towards them, and the match went out.

The Christmas lights rose higher and higher, till they looked to her like the stars in the sky.
Then she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak of fire. “Someone is dying,”
thought the little girl, for her old grandmother, the only one who had ever loved her,
and who was now dead, had told her that when a star falls,
a soul was going up to God.
She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the light shone round her; in the brightness
stood her old grandmother, clear and shining, yet mild and loving in her appearance.

“Grandmother,” cried the little one, “O take me with you;
I know you will go away when the match burns out;
you will vanish like the warm stove, the roast goose, and the large, glorious Christmastree.”
And she made haste to light the whole bundle of matches,
for she wished to keep her grandmother there.
And the matches glowed with a light that was brighter than the noon-day, and her
grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful.
She took the little girl in her arms,
and they both flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was
neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.

In the dawn of morning there lay the poor little one,
with pale cheeks and smiling mouth, leaning against the wall; she had been frozen to death
on the last evening of the year; and the New-year’s sun rose and shone upon a little corpse!
The child still sat, in the stiffness of death,
holding the matches in her hand,
one bundle of which was burnt.
“She tried to warm herself,” said some.
No one imagined what beautiful things she had seen,
nor into what glory she had entered with her grandmother,
on New-year’s day.

Analysis of the Little Match Girl

‘The Little Match Girl’ is about a destitute little girl, whose insensitive father makes her sell matches at such a tender age. The author also draws attention to the rich-poor divide in the story. Being New Year’s Eve, while some people were celebrating and were feasting, the poor girl was out in the severe cold to sell matches. Now wonder, the girl hallucinates and sees food, celebrations and love all around. Even in the harsh weather, the girl doesn’t go back home for fear of her father, and eventually dies of bitter cold and starvation.

There are many children who are unable to lead a normal childhood and instead have to toil hard to support their family. Life is tough for some families living in hostile environments, where people struggle for survival on a daily basis. Children born in such families are marked for work, right from a young age and have to work for the rest of their lives. Even in cities, where most families in the neighbourhood seem to have all the means to celebrate, some unfortunate ones live in abject poverty.

These stories encourage people to be empathetic to others, to be more charitable, and to think twice before ignoring someone in need without offering help. However, when it comes to teaching empathy to children, there is no substitute for actually demonstrating it yourself; as parents, you should practice what you preach and treat humans with respect and compassion.

‘The Little Match Girl’

Detailed Analysis

The story is set on New Year’s Eve

The story is set on New Years eve an an extremely cold evening. It was snowing and darkness was growing. It was the last day of the year and thus the New Year’s Eve.

Poor little girl on her own

A poor little girl is walking without footwear and head cover on that extremely cold evening. She had worn her mothers slippers when she left home which were too big for her feet.

She lost them while running across the street to escape the two fast driven carriages. A boy took the other slipper (he was making fun of her big sized slippers).

Having lost her footwear, the poor little girl had to walk barefoot on the extremely cold streets because of which her feet turned blue and red.

The poor little girl

The author describes the girls clothes, her feet and her hunger to describe her pathetic condition.

The girls was wearing an old apron and was carrying a lot of matches which she had to sell. That evening she could sell none of her matches and had not earned a single penny.

So she could not go back home and was moving along the streets shivering with cold and hunger. 

People around were celebrating

Snowflakes fell on her long golden hair but the little girl wasn’t thinking of her appearance. Families all around were celebrating and enjoying the New Years eve by lighting their homes and cooking delicious food

Unable to bear the cold

Unable to bear the cold and hunger, the girl sat in a huddled position in a corner formed by two houses.

She was scared to go home because she had not sold any matches and was scared of being beaten by her father. Besides, her house just had a roof and no walls which could not protect her from the cold.

She lights the match sticks

Unable to bear the cold, she pulled out a matchstick from a box and lit it. The light from the match stick created a strange warmth and was symbolic to hope and comfort. In the light, the girl could see visions that reflected her unfulfilled wishes and dreams.

The light from the first matchstick made her feel as if she were sitting right in front of a great iron stove with polished brass knobs and ornaments.

However, the joy is short-lived. Soon the flame went out, and the stove disappeared. 

The light from the second matchstick fell on the wall of the house where she was sitting. She could see through the wall, inside the room, where the family was having a delicious meal, including a roasted goose. The girl could see the goose walking slowly towards here.

Again, the light goes off and there is darkness.

So the girl is getting happiness, though short lived, by lighting the matches.

Lighting the third matchstick makes her see a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. The little girl tried to touch that tree, but the light from the match went out.

The several candles on the Christmas soared higher up through the air and she could see them changing into bright stars. One of those stars fell, emitting light.

Soul goes to God

The little girl’s old grandmother, who is no more alive and who was the only one who was good to her, had told her that a falling star indicates a soul going to god.

In the light from the next match, the little girl could see her old grandmother standing in the glowing light. The girl desperately calls out to her grandmother and requests her to take her along with her because she knows that just like the stove, roast goose and Christmas tree, even her grandmother will disappear once the light from the match goes out.

She lights up all the remaining matchsticks as she fears losing her grandmother once again. In the bright light from these matchsticks, her grandmother carries the poor little girl in her arms and flew up to heaven where there was no sorrow, fear and hunger. 

This paragraph sums up the mental state of the little girl who is unable to deal with her misery, and instead prefers to die. 

People find her in the morning

In the cold morning of the New Year, the girl is found dead in the corner of the two houses with her rosy cheeks and smiling lips, in a huddled position. She still held the matches with half of them burnt.

The people could guess what had happened but no one knew about the beautiful visions the little girl had before her death, and how her grandmother took her to God where the girl had finally found peace and happiness in the New Year.

Academic Questions on ‘The Little Match Girl’

Question: Explore the treatment of the girl child with close reference to the texts in The Little Match Girl and The Blue Bead. What lessons do you learn from them and how are their lives different from yours?

Question: Write a critical appreciation of the short story,‘ The Little Match Girl’. Comment on the rich use of symbolism and imagery in the story.

Question: Answer the questions that follow the extract –She was evidently …… a New Year.

• a) Who is ‘she’ in the given extract? What had happened to her?
• b) With what evidence could the people say that she was trying to ‘warm herself’?
• c) How and when did she get the beautiful visions? List any three of her visions.
• d) Why did the little girl not want to go home? Describe her outer appearance in brief.
• e) Bring out the irony of the story as narrated by the author and discuss in brief how this adds pathos in the story

Question: Discuss in brief how apt according to you is the title ‘The Little Match Girl’ for its story?

Question: How does the author show that dreams are important to remain happy even if for a short while? Discuss in light of the visions that the little girl had each time she lit a matchstick.

Question: ‘The little girl with rosy cheeks and smiling lips’ was found dead on the morning of the New Year. Keeping her living conditions in mind, do you think it was a happy or a sad ending?

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