The Little Match Girl Flashcards
by Hans Christian Andersen — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Little Match Girl
On what night does the story take place?
The story takes place on New Year's Eve, the last and coldest evening of the year.
Why is the little girl walking barefoot in the cold?
She lost her slippers crossing the street to avoid two fast carriages — one slipper vanished and an urchin stole the other, running off with it.
What is the little girl selling, and how much has she earned?
She is selling matches, and she has earned nothing — not a single farthing all day.
Why does the girl fear going home without money?
She knows her father will beat her, and home offers little warmth anyway — the roof leaks and the cracks are stuffed with only straw and rags.
What does the first match vision show her?
The first match conjures a vision of a large iron stove with brass fittings, giving her a brief sensation of wonderful warmth.
What vision appears with the second match?
She sees a room with a snow-white tablecloth, fine porcelain, and a steaming roast goose that even hops off the dish and walks toward her.
What does the third match reveal?
A magnificent Christmas tree, larger and more decorated than any she has seen, blazing with thousands of lights and colorful pictures.
Who appears in the fourth match vision?
Her deceased grandmother appears, radiant and loving — the only person who ever truly loved the little girl.
What does the girl do with the remaining matches, and why?
She strikes the entire bundle at once against the wall, desperate to keep her grandmother's vision from fading as the other visions did.
How is the girl found the next morning?
She is found frozen to death in the corner, with rosy cheeks and a smiling mouth, a burnt bundle of matches beside her.
Who is the only named or described family member who loved the little girl?
Her grandmother, who is already dead at the start of the story, is described as the only person who had ever truly loved her.
How does Andersen describe the little girl's physical appearance?
She has long fair hair in beautiful curls, tiny feet red and blue from cold, and nearly numb hands — but she is outwardly pretty even in her suffering.
What does the grandmother's appearance in the vision represent?
The grandmother represents unconditional love and heavenly salvation, offering the girl escape from earthly suffering into divine joy.
What is the central theme of the story?
The central theme is the contrast between poverty and plenty — the girl's desperate physical reality set against visions of warmth, food, and love she can never possess.
How does Andersen treat the theme of death in the story?
Death is presented not as tragedy but as merciful release — the girl dies smiling, escaping cold and hunger to enter divine joy with her grandmother.
What social critique does the story make?
Andersen critiques the indifference of society — passersby ignore the freezing child, no one suspects her suffering, and the warmth and feasting visible through windows remain completely out of her reach.
What literary device do the match visions represent?
The visions are a combination of hallucination and magical realism, also functioning as dramatic irony — readers see the beauty the girl experiences while knowing she is dying.
What role does contrast play in the story's structure?
Andersen uses stark contrast throughout — the freezing street versus warm windows, the starving girl versus the steaming goose, her joyful death-vision versus her frozen corpse.
What is the symbolic meaning of the matches?
The matches symbolize brief hope and fleeting comfort — each flame lights a moment of beauty and warmth that is extinguished as quickly as it appears.
What does the falling star symbolize in the story?
The falling star symbolizes a soul ascending to God — a belief the grandmother taught her, which foreshadows the girl's own imminent death and spiritual ascent.
What does the word 'farthing' mean in the story?
A farthing was a very small British coin of minimal value, emphasizing that the girl earned absolutely nothing despite selling matches all day.
What does 'cowered' mean as used in the story?
To cower means to crouch down and huddle, shrinking from cold or fear — the girl cowers in a corner between two houses to escape the biting wind.
What does 'lustre' mean in the context of the grandmother's vision?
Lustre means a radiant, glowing light — used here to describe the bright, shining quality of the grandmother's apparition in the match flame.
Complete the quote: "Someone is just dead!" said the little girl; for her old grandmother had told her, that when a star falls...'
"...a soul ascends to God." The girl recalls this belief when she sees a falling star, just before her grandmother's vision appears.
What are the final words of the story, and what do they convey?
"No one even dreamed of the splendor in which, with her grandmother, she had entered on the joys of a new year." They convey that the girl's true experience — beautiful and transcendent — was invisible to the indifferent world around her.