The Little Match Girl
Hans Christian Andersen
Context Questions
I. (i) It was New Year’s Eve. It was terribly cold, snow was falling and darkness was gathering.
(ii) The slippers that the girl was wearing belonged to her dead mother. So they were too big for her
and hence were of no use. They had slipped off her feet when she ran across the street. One was lost
and the other one was taken by a boy.
(iii) Refer to Poverty and Wealth, under Critical Appreciation, Page145.
(iv) The girl was sent out in the cold by her father to sell matches. Since she could not sell any
matches, she was afraid of going back home because of the fear of being beaten by her father.
(v) Refer to The Title, Page 138.
II. (i) The protagonist of the story — the little match girl. The little girl had lost her slippers as she ran
across the street to escape from two carriages that were being driven terribly fast. One slipper could
not be found and the other was taken away by an urchin.
(ii) She was carrying matches as she was sent by her father to sell matches to earn some money.
(iii) The child is poor and motherless. She does not get any affection from her father but is sent out
in the biting cold to sell matches. The child spends her entire night by huddling herself against a wall
battling cold, hunger and abuse. The girl is thus rightly described as “a very picture of sorrow.”
iv) Nobody had bought any matches from her. It was a cold evening and everyone was rushing home
for the New Years so nobody noticed her nor bought any matches. This act of selling matches was
used as a front for begging as “no one had given her a single penny.”
(v) Refer to Didactic Story, under Style, Page 144.
III. (i) The girl was sitting in a corner formed by two houses, one of which projected further out into
the street than the other. To warm her fingers, she pulled a match from the packet to light it by
striking it on the wall.
(ii) The little girl did not go home because if she went home empty-handed her father “was sure to
beat her”. Also her house he was very cold.
(iii) Refer to second paragraph in Class Differentiation, under Themes, Page 141.
(iv) Refer to Class Differentiation, under Themes, Page 141.
(v) Refer to Treatment of children in Victorian society, under Critical Appreciation, Page 145. Poverty,
illiteracy and unemployment are the common factors between rural India and Victorian society.
Hence the treatment of children is similar in both societies.
IV. (i) ‘She’ is the little match girl who was sitting in a corner formed by two houses trying to protect
herself from the cold. When she lit the first match, she had a vision of a large iron stove and felt its
warm and bright flame.
(ii) When she lit the second match, the girl saw a feast laid on table. The feast comprised a roast
goose stuffed with apples and dried plums. These things vanished as soon as the match burnt out.
Hans Christian Andersen
Context Questions
I. (i) It was New Year’s Eve. It was terribly cold, snow was falling and darkness was gathering.
(ii) The slippers that the girl was wearing belonged to her dead mother. So they were too big for her
and hence were of no use. They had slipped off her feet when she ran across the street. One was lost
and the other one was taken by a boy.
(iii) Refer to Poverty and Wealth, under Critical Appreciation, Page145.
(iv) The girl was sent out in the cold by her father to sell matches. Since she could not sell any
matches, she was afraid of going back home because of the fear of being beaten by her father.
(v) Refer to The Title, Page 138.
II. (i) The protagonist of the story — the little match girl. The little girl had lost her slippers as she ran
across the street to escape from two carriages that were being driven terribly fast. One slipper could
not be found and the other was taken away by an urchin.
(ii) She was carrying matches as she was sent by her father to sell matches to earn some money.
(iii) The child is poor and motherless. She does not get any affection from her father but is sent out
in the biting cold to sell matches. The child spends her entire night by huddling herself against a wall
battling cold, hunger and abuse. The girl is thus rightly described as “a very picture of sorrow.”
iv) Nobody had bought any matches from her. It was a cold evening and everyone was rushing home
for the New Years so nobody noticed her nor bought any matches. This act of selling matches was
used as a front for begging as “no one had given her a single penny.”
(v) Refer to Didactic Story, under Style, Page 144.
III. (i) The girl was sitting in a corner formed by two houses, one of which projected further out into
the street than the other. To warm her fingers, she pulled a match from the packet to light it by
striking it on the wall.
(ii) The little girl did not go home because if she went home empty-handed her father “was sure to
beat her”. Also her house he was very cold.
(iii) Refer to second paragraph in Class Differentiation, under Themes, Page 141.
(iv) Refer to Class Differentiation, under Themes, Page 141.
(v) Refer to Treatment of children in Victorian society, under Critical Appreciation, Page 145. Poverty,
illiteracy and unemployment are the common factors between rural India and Victorian society.
Hence the treatment of children is similar in both societies.
IV. (i) ‘She’ is the little match girl who was sitting in a corner formed by two houses trying to protect
herself from the cold. When she lit the first match, she had a vision of a large iron stove and felt its
warm and bright flame.
(ii) When she lit the second match, the girl saw a feast laid on table. The feast comprised a roast
goose stuffed with apples and dried plums. These things vanished as soon as the match burnt out.
