Skip to main content

"The Little Match Girl"

Short Story


Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Year: 1845

Summary:
In a very dark and cold weather on the last day of the year, there walked a little girl. She was walking with no slippers on because she lost her slippers once she tried to scuffle away from a train. She tried to sell her matches to anyone who passed her but nobody wanted to buy her matches. She wanted to come back to her home but she was afraid that her father would be mad at her because she had not sold any single matches. Besides, her room was always cold, just like here on the street. The snow was falling through her hair but all she thought about is the warm food inside those houses. 

She sat on a corner between two buildings and tucked her feet underneath herself to try to keep warm.  She thought a single match could warm her body. She hesitated a while then lit a match. The match reminded her of a fireplace, but not for so long the match vanished and the cold remained again. She drew another match. She put her hand near the wall. There, a projection of a beautiful set table with a lot of food, a roasted goose with a knife and a fork on its chest appeared and approached her. It felt so real that she wanted to eat it. Not so long the match vanished. The projection disappeared. 
She lit another match. Then, appeared a giant Christmas tree full of decorations and candles. She held her hands to reach it but then it disappeared. The candles left a mark on the sky then she saw a single stars fell down. She remembered her grandma once told her that means somebody died. 
She drew another match. Her grandma appeared. She did not want her grandma leave her after the match burned down. She lit all of her matches. The next morning, she was found dead. Everybody commented that she just wanted to warm herself.

Moral Value:
A great story by Hans Christian Andersen. It is a good children story with a sad and wonderful ending. It reminds us to always take care of the children. There are lots of children out there who remained unknown, died from hunger, cold, and violence. Something that I learn from this story is that our mind is the strongest power to give us hope when life gets hard. Have a strong mind so you can beat the world and make it into a better place.




Mulia Wikan Subekti/16202241068

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Short Story Analysis : A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf

A Haunted Hous e by Virginia Woolf             Whatever hour you woke there was a door shutting. From room to room they went, hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure—a ghostly couple.             “Here we left it,” she said. And he added, “Oh, but here too!” “It’s upstairs,” she murmured. “And in the garden,” he whispered “Quietly,” they said, “or we shall wake them.”                But it wasn’t that you woke us. Oh, no. “They’re looking for it; they’re drawing the curtain,” one might say, and so read on a page or two. “Now they’ve found it,” one would be certain, stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, tired of reading, one might rise and see for oneself, the house all empty, the doors standing open, only the wood pigeons bubbling with content and the hum of the threshing machine sounding from the farm. “What did I come in here for? What did I want to find?” My hands were empty. “Perhaps it’s upstairs then?” The apples were in the loft. And so down a
1 comment
Read more

Short Story Analysis: The Flight of Icarus

Title                 : The Flight of Icarus Author             : Sally Benson Illustrator        : Len Ebert The characters 1. Icarus          : the main character. Daedalus’ son 2. Daedalus     : Icarus’ father 3. Theseus       : a man who tried saving a princess from King Minos’ labyrinth 4. King Minos : a buffalo-shaped king who kidnap a princess Plot -Exposition Daedalus and his son, Icarus, were imprisoned by King Minos in Crete Island because Theseus could escape from the labyrinth made by Daedalus. ·        -   Rising action Daedalus made two pairs of wings for him and his son to escape from the island through air because it was impossible for them to escape through the sea since King Minos kept an eye on it. ·        -   Climax Daedalus and Icarus flied away from the island together. Daedalus had told Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus kept on flying higher towards the sun. Icarus wanted to fly as high as he could. ·  
Read more

Poem Analysis : The Rose Family by Robert Frost

The Rose Family by Robert Frost The rose is a rose, And was always a rose. But the theory now goes That the apple's a rose, And the pear is, and so's The plum, I suppose. The dear only knows What will next prove a rose. You, of course, are a rose - But were always a rose.  ANALYSIS Rhyme Scheme : ABAB 1. First Line “The rose is a rose,” Diction: symbolic Tone: calming Meaning: Beauty is beauty no matter what, the rose is beautiful for what it is, not its smell or texture or any other specific characteristics. Roses have several different colors and each color represents something, red - love, energy; white - fresh, perfection; pink - best condition/degree, compassion; yellow - smart. 2. Second Line “And was always a rose” Diction: Symbolic Tone: Proud Meaning: The rose was always beautiful. 3. Third Line “But the theory now goes” Meaning: Logic and proof cannot be used to prove beauty. 4. Fourth Line "That the a
Post a Comment
Read more