Explanation:
Background
'The Little Match Girl' is possibly one of the saddest holiday stories ever told. This story, by Hans Christian Andersen, is about a little girl who was sent out to sell matches on New Year's Eve. No one has bought any of her matches, and so she is afraid her father will beat her if she goes home empty handed. She ends up huddled in a corner lighting match after match. With each match she imagines a beautiful scene. In one match she sees her recently deceased grandmother who takes the little girl to heaven with her. In the morning, the little girl is found frozen to death.Setting, Physical Location, and Time
This story occurs on New Year's Eve on a particularly cold day. 'Most terribly cold it was; it snowed and was nearly quite dark.' It appears to be a bustling and busy city since earlier in the day she lost her slippers when two carriages ran past her quite quickly. After that one slipper 'had been laid hold of by an urchin, and off he ran with it' and the other could not be found. So we get the feeling that it is a busy city.
This little girl was afraid to go home. Besides, home was not much better than out here in the cold. She would have a roof over her head but 'the wind still whistled, even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw and rags.' And since she would certainly receive a beating (for not selling any matches) once going home, she decided it would be best to simply curl up between two houses. Here she eventually decided to light a single match (which turned into several matches) in order to stay warm. With these matches she began to picture much nicer places.
This setting clearly shows a poor girl. This is a girl out in the cold, but even sitting out in the elements is better in her mind than going home. This goes to tell us just how bad her home must be.
Setting and Imagination
Once this little girl has settled down and lit a match, the scene changes into a much nicer one - the scene of imagination. We now see 'a large iron stove, with burnished brass feet and a brass ornament at top.' This isn't just a nice sight, but it also offers warmth and comfort. We can feel the warmth coming from the stove as she puts her feet up. But suddenly it disappears with the match.
This story is typically pictured occurring in a large, busy city such as Copenhagen since the author is from Denmark and lived much of his adult life in Copenhagen. The main setting of this story is the corner between two houses where this little girl sits huddled. More important are the places that this little girl imagines seeing within each match. This lesson will look at all the settings of the story.
hope this helps you.
