Little Match Girl
In the snowy streets of the city, a pitiable young girl is selling matches on New Years Eve in a desperate attempt to appease her father's violent anger. Alone with her matches and their accompanying visions, the girl passes on and is found later the next day with a smile playing across her face. The plot of The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Anderson, is meant to inspire a charity of tears for this young girl and her untimely death. However, not in all instances should such a death be so unfortunate. In the little match girl's case, " [...] death would not be the worst of all evils [...] [but] an alleviation to mortals who are worn out with sufferings" ( Metastasio). Thus, death can come as a relief to those whose toils and cares overcome the will to live, and when a better life can only be satisfied by fate. Firstly, for some, peace and comfort can only be obtained in death. The little match girl seeks such comfort in the streets, but obviously finds none in the bitter, bleak night. Once she is, "quite numb with cold" (1) she thinks: "Ah but a little match - that would be a comfort" (1). So, light here represents the comfort of heat. For example, when she does light the match, it blazes into a, "clear warm flame"
] gloriously" (1) and it becomes "brighter than broad daylight" (1). This display of love is so strong that the, "matches [flare] up [. Right up to the poor little girl it came. The little girl then notices one of the stars "rushing down the sky with a long fiery streak". The glow which surrounds both the little girl and her Grannie represents the bond of love which has been rekindled in death. Thus, a better life can only be found in death for one as unfortunate as the little match girl. So, light symbolizes all the things that our young girl was unable to obtain in life: comfort, imagination, care and love. But the little girl of our story shall only know monotony and misery in this society. The same applies to our little match girl. By lighting the match, she is able to take down the constraints upon her thoughts: "where the gleam fell on the wall this became transparent like gauze" (1). When the match goes out, "the stove vanishes" (1) and she is left again to suffer the icy night.
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Acceptance Essays
