Epsidoe 143: Hans Christian Anderson: "The Little Match Girl"

She carried a quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought anything of her the whole livelong day; no one had given her a single farthing.She crept along trembling with cold and hunger--a very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing!What makes The Little Match Girl so striking is its simplicity. A young girl wanders the snowy streets on New Year’s Eve, trying to sell matches. She’s cold, starving, and afraid to return home. Every time she lights a match to warm herself, she’s transported—briefly—into visions of warmth, love, and comfort. In her final vision she sees her grandmother, and she follows her into a world free from pain. Throughout his life, Andersen felt like an outsider—because of his class background, his lanky appearance, and his unreturned romantic attachments. This sense of longing shows up again and again in his stories, especially the sadder ones. You can feel it in The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, and of course The Little Match Girl. These are stories about characters who dream of belonging somewhere else, somewhere kinder.

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