What is the significance of the story “the little match girl”.
Answers
Answer:
In the short story “The Little Match Girl”, Hans Christian Andersen explores the theme of human wishes and aspiration through the transportation into the realm of dreams and hallucinations. Such momentary journey into the dream world is far away from the little girl's ordinary life full of hardships.
Explanation
The short story “The Little Match Girl” is all about the poverty, hunger and helplessness of a little girl who is sent to sell matches when she is supposed to stay at home or at school. When all the world seems to be celebrating the New Year’s Eve, the girl is deprived of the joy. But the readers are caught in the riddle whether it is sheer poverty of the family, or the cruelty of a father to his daughter; may be both.
Whatever the case may be, the author has shown us how sometimes death can be better than life on earth. The poor girl got nothing here in this life. All the visions she had in the light of the matches only reflected her unfulfilled wishes and dreams. She also wished to enjoy some delicious food, to sit under a beautiful Christmas tree, and to have the company of her dear old grandmother. But it was not to be in her earthly life. She could only get those after death, in the Heaven. That is why the writer says —
But no one knew what beautiful visions she had seen and in what a blaze of glory she had entered with her dear old grandmother into the heavenly joy and gladness of a new year.
So the New Year’s Eve is a symbol for the beginning of a new life (after death) of the girl in heaven. The last evening of the old year was the last evening of the girl’s miserable life. The new year brings glorious changes to the girl’s life which others have no eyes to see.
With this irony the author takes a dig at the so-called civilized society where we don’t have the eyes to see through the plight of thousands of such hungry faces in our cities and towns even today. So, in its appeal, this story transcends all ages and cultures. Even the girl is unnamed; the place and year of the story is untold. These might be deliberate attempt from the writer to keep the story universal in its appeal.
About the title of the story “The Little Match Girl”, it is very straightforward and represents the protagonist of the story, the poor little girl. As, the story deals with the miserable life of the girl, her dreams and wishes and how she got rid of the cruelty of this world to reach the heaven, the title is thematically appropriate.