Little Match Essay

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A fairytale analysis of 'The Little Match Girl' story by Hans Christian Andersen should take into consideration the fact that many grim fairytales were originally written or narrated for adults, as folk tales representative of various cultures. This one begins with a little girl who appears to be a street urchin alone at night. The weather is also against the ’ little “maiden.” It is snowing – the sort of sub-zero weather where even the poorest person would not have dared to lose precious body heat by venturing out unprotected. Furthermore, no self-respecting mother would have allowed a fragile child outside without some protection from the cold. Yet The Little Match Girl‘s golden tresses are uncovered, her head unprotected from the bitter excesses of the icy blasts. Her “tiny white feet” are also bare, as she has obviously been sent out to sell matches in the snow in a pair of ill-fitting slippers. These soon come adrift in the panic of avoiding the relentless wheels of the ruthlessly driven carriages whose drivers are oblivious or indifferent to her sad circumstances. Firstly, the weather is against the little girl.It is snowing – the sort of sub-zero weather where even the poorest person would not have dared to lose precious body heat by venturing out unprotected. Furthermore, no self-respecting mother would have allowed a fragile child outside without some protection from the cold. Yet The Little Match Girl‘s golden tresses are uncovered, her head unprotected from the bitter excesses of the icy blasts. We hear that the slippers may have belonged to her mother, and in the face of such neglect, we wonder if her mother is dead. We deplore the injustice of the theft of one of her slippers as we imagine her tiny feet, reddened by the frost-biting chill of the snow and ice under their soles. Andersen gives us an accurate depiction of the mottled effect on the skin of

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