Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl”
Episode 22
Today, join Professor Pipes in saying goodbye to 2020 with Hans Christian Andersen's classic holiday tale, "The Little Match Girl."
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases. I’m Professor Pipes, and, frankly, I am very ready for this year to be over. In honor of the utter mess that 2020 has been, I present you with a thoroughly appropriate New Year’s story: Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl.” Warning: You might need your tissues for this one... And a warm sweater.
Summary:
This short little tale begins with a bareheaded and barefooted girl, who lost her mother’s too large shoes while running around on New Year’s Eve. I know what you’re thinking! Yet another sorority girl out partying a little too hard to ring in the new year. But no, she was a little girl out in the streets attempting, and failing, to sell matches. The little match girl is feeling particularly alone, as she’s afraid to go home for fear that her dad will beat her, since she didn’t sell any matches. Downtrodden female protagonist, horrible home life? We’re one fairy godmother away from a Disney princess. The little girl heads into an alley, sits against the wall, shivering, and decides to light a match to warm herself. However, when she lights it, she sees more than a small flame. She sees a large, warm stove. When the match’s flame burns out, she lights another and sees a pleasant room set for dinner, with a cooked goose waddling its way over to her, just asking to be eaten. Again the match burns out and she lights another, this time seeing an enormous, fabulous Christmas tree covered in thousands of candles. One appears almost to be a shooting star, which reminds her of something her beloved grandma had told her: every time a star falls, someone has died. Hmm… not quite the same feel as “every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings.” Oh well. The next match elicits a vision of the little girl’s grandmother, whom, I should mention, is dead. Oh! Maybe this is our fairy… GRAND… mother… The little girl asks her grandma to take her with her and strikes a whole bunch of matches so the vision will stay. And dear grandma obliges, lifting the little girl and carrying her away to heaven, leaving her tiny body frozen in the alley, smiling. The story ends the next morning, New Year’s Day, with onlookers sympathetically commenting on the pathetic little figure, not knowing the beautiful visions she’s seen or the fact that she is happy with her grandmother in heaven.
Analysis:
I did warn you that you’d need tissues! Can’t blame me for the story! I am not Hans Christian Andersen. Had enough of a cry, yet? Shall we get started analyzing? Alright then. First, let’s discuss symbolism. This story, like most fairy tales, is full of it. And not in the, “you’re so full of it” kind of way. Fire can mean a lot of things, but in this case, I’d argue that it symbolizes hope and dreams. Each time the little girl lights a match, she sees what she desires: warmth, food, and love. The things she wishes or hopes for the most. But much like dreams, they fade. Sooooo, let’s move on to the Christmas tree, then. The narrator mentions that it is even more grand than the one she’s seen in the wealthy merchant’s house. The narrator also mentions that: “Thousands of candles burned on the green branches, and colored pictures like those in the printshops looked down at her.” Looked DOWN on her. Much as the wealthy around her in this unnamed town look down upon the poor and helpless. No one bought matches from the little match girl. No one helped her. The story doesn’t even give her a name! Hans Christian Andersen was clearly showing us the difference between the haves and the have nots. A society that doesn’t care for or protect the poor. Seems a little too real to be just a FAIRY tale, now doesn’t it? Social commentary. But then, aren’t all fairy tales just reality, disguised?
Ultimately, however, this is a story of hope and new beginnings. It is set at New Year’s, after all. I know, I know. You’re probably sitting there thinking, “How in the heck is this a story about HOPE!? A little girl dies of hypothermia and you’re saying HOPE!?” Yup. I’m crazy like that. Or, really, Hans Christian Andersen is. Again, I’m just the messenger. This story is religious in nature, and remember that the little girl dies smiling, happy to be with her grandmother again. While her life on earth was miserable, her new, eternal life in heaven is idyllic, perfect, everything she could ever wish for. She begins the new year with a new, better “life.”
I don’t want you getting the idea that this story is encouraging us to die. It certainly is not. I guess the lesson we should take from this as we head into 2021 is to remember that the new year is a new start. A new opportunity to help the less fortunate or to move away from the troubles of this year and toward our dreams. I mean, isn’t that exactly what new year’s resolutions are? Hopes, dreams, matches to light our way, even when the world seems dark.
Food for Thought:
Before I go, I’d like to leave you with some questions to consider.
First, why do you think all the locations and characters are unnamed?
Second, if the story had the ending we wanted, where someone comes to the rescue of the little girl, taking her in, feeding her, loving her, what impact would that have? Would the lesson be the same? Would the story be as impactful? Why or why not?
Finally, why in the heck is this story such a classic? Why is it a tale told to little children, even now, almost 200 years after it was written?
Thanks for watching this episode of Piper’s Paraphrases. I hope I didn’t bum you out too much. Now as you go forth into the new year, make sure you read a bunch, and be good people.
