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The Little Match Girl

177 statements
33 feature instances
26 referencing feature instances

The Little Match Girl	type	TVTItem
The Little Match Girl	label	The Little Match Girl
The Little Match Girl	page	TheLittleMatchGirl
The Little Match Girl	comment	"The Little Match Girl" (Danish: Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne, meaning "The Little Girl with the Matchsticks") is Hans Christian Andersen's Short Story about a dying child's hallucinations on New Year's Eve. First published in 1845, it has been adapted into different media such as a Disney short and a Made-for-TV Movie. While technically a New Years' Eve story, it works at any time during the winter, especially Christmas Eve.On a cold New Year's Eve, a little girl is freezing in the streets. She has bundles of matches to sell, but she hasn't sold any, and she knows her father will beat her if she returns empty-handed. Huddling in the shelter of a house, she looks in the window and sees a celebration inside. Imagining how nice it would be to celebrate with them, she begins to strike her matches one by one, at first to derive a little warmth, and then to keep seeing the images of warm fires, fancy dinners, and brightly-lit trees she sees in the flame. She looks up and sees a shooting star, and recalls that her beloved grandmother once told her that when a star falls, a person is going up to heaven. With the strike of another match, she sees her grandmother, and she desperately lights all of her matches at once, begging her not to leave. She feels her grandmother take her in her arms and carry her away, leaving the cold behind forever.On New Year's Day, passers-by see her frozen body curled against the building. They are filled with pity at the sight of her surrounded by burned-out matches, but it doesn't matter because the little girl is now happy in heaven.Just a reminder: it's considered by its fans to be one of the saddest stories ever written (to the point its detractors have called it "Tragedy Porn"). The chances of it making you cry is somewhere above 90%. The full English translation can be found here.
The Little Match Girl	fetched	2023-12-01T10:05:06Z
The Little Match Girl	parsed	2023-12-01T10:05:06Z
The Little Match Girl	processingComment	Dropped link to Hogfather: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Little Match Girl	processingComment	Dropped link to MissKobayashisDragonMaid: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Little Match Girl	processingComment	Dropped link to RobotChicken: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Little Match Girl	processingComment	Dropped link to TheLittleMatchGirl1937: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Little Match Girl	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Little Match Girl / int_14e014a8	type	Stars Are Souls
The Little Match Girl / int_14e014a8	comment	Stars Are Souls: Inverted, falling stars represent someone dying.
The Little Match Girl / int_14e014a8	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_14e014a8	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_14e014a8
The Little Match Girl / int_25256404	type	Barefoot Poverty
The Little Match Girl / int_25256404	comment	Barefoot Poverty: A variation. The girl had slippers on when she left home, but they used to belong to her mother, so they were too big for her, and she lost them while running across the street. She had to continue walking barefoot in the freezing winter, which was part of the reason that she froze to death.
The Little Match Girl / int_25256404	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_25256404	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_25256404
The Little Match Girl / int_25dc6ef5	type	Apathetic Citizens
The Little Match Girl / int_25dc6ef5	comment	Apathetic Citizens: The average people in the story are indifferent to the point of cruelty to the girl's suffering. Two carriages nearly run her down, a little boy steals her remaining shoe, and she's in her current predicament because no one has bought any matches. They feel some pity when they find her dead, but by then it's too late.
The Little Match Girl / int_25dc6ef5	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_25dc6ef5	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_25dc6ef5
The Little Match Girl / int_269e82c1	type	Death of a Child
The Little Match Girl / int_269e82c1	comment	Death of a Child: Part of the reason it is considered such a tragic story — the titular character freezes to death on New Year's Eve.
The Little Match Girl / int_269e82c1	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_269e82c1	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_269e82c1
The Little Match Girl / int_2af11f0	type	Survivorship Bias
The Little Match Girl / int_2af11f0	comment	Survivorship Bias: An aversion of the Rags to Riches variant. It's about a poor girl who tries to make money selling matches in the middle of winter, and ends up freezing to death.
The Little Match Girl / int_2af11f0	featureApplicability	-1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_2af11f0	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_2af11f0
The Little Match Girl / int_40cc0c7e	type	Bittersweet Ending
The Little Match Girl / int_40cc0c7e	comment	Bittersweet Ending: The little girl freezes to death. From her perspective it is a happy ending — she goes to Heaven with her grandmother, finally free from misery and suffering — but those who find her the next morning realize how tragic and unnecessary her death was.
The Little Match Girl / int_40cc0c7e	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_40cc0c7e	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_40cc0c7e
The Little Match Girl / int_55180ce	type	Snow Means Death
The Little Match Girl / int_55180ce	comment	Snow Means Death: The girl dies of exposure on a snowy night.
The Little Match Girl / int_55180ce	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_55180ce	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_55180ce
The Little Match Girl / int_5e65514f	type	Afterlife Welcome
The Little Match Girl / int_5e65514f	comment	Afterlife Welcome: The grandmother's arrival to welcome the girl to paradise.
The Little Match Girl / int_5e65514f	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_5e65514f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_5e65514f
The Little Match Girl / int_5eb7e838	type	Let's Meet the Meat
The Little Match Girl / int_5eb7e838	comment	Let's Meet the Meat: One of her dying visions is of a roast goose, which then gets up off the plate and comes over to her, fork and knife still in its breast (as in the page illustration).
The Little Match Girl / int_5eb7e838	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_5eb7e838	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_5eb7e838
The Little Match Girl / int_64f3ea6e	type	Disneyfication
The Little Match Girl / int_64f3ea6e	comment	Disneyfication: Less than you expect: The Michael Sporn version which is part of HBO Storybook Musicals where she had a Disney Death, being revived and it ends Happily Ever After. The Castle Films version has the girl be rescued by the Virgin Mary. In The Little Match Girl (1937) she is taken to heaven by a classic-looking angel, with nothing to indicate the angel is (or isn't) her grandmother. Disney's adaptation mostly averts their own trope, with the girl dying at the end. When Hogfather did a Whole-Plot Reference to the story, she ends up being saved at the last minute by the local equivalent of Father Christmas... Or rather, Death, who for reasons too complicated to go into here is standing in for him and takes great satisfaction in the fact this lets him Rules Lawyer his way out of having to reap her.note If Death intervenes to save someone then the balance of the universe is upset and Very Bad Things Happen, but if the Hogfather does it then that's a Hogswatch miracle and therefore doesn't count.
The Little Match Girl / int_64f3ea6e	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_64f3ea6e	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_64f3ea6e
The Little Match Girl / int_66d13ab9	type	Talking in Your Dreams
The Little Match Girl / int_66d13ab9	comment	Talking in Your Dreams: The girl talks to the image she sees of her grandmother, asking her to take her with her.
The Little Match Girl / int_66d13ab9	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_66d13ab9	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_66d13ab9
The Little Match Girl / int_7453bc5b	type	Spared by the Adaptation
The Little Match Girl / int_7453bc5b	comment	Spared by the Adaptation: Some versions (mostly modern ones) change the ending to a family rescuing the little girl before she could die and giving her food and a warm bed.
The Little Match Girl / int_7453bc5b	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_7453bc5b	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_7453bc5b
The Little Match Girl / int_794f3589	type	Adaptation Explanation Extrication
The Little Match Girl / int_794f3589	comment	Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Several adaptations of the already grim story (such as the Disney short) leave out the part about how the girl's father will beat her if she doesn't sell everything. This, however, means that there's no explanation for why the girl is so persistent on selling her matches. A few go with "She feels the need to make money for her family" or "She'd feel bad if she didn't make any money", however many just ignore the issue.
The Little Match Girl / int_794f3589	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_794f3589	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_794f3589
The Little Match Girl / int_7dbd52b8	type	Light Is Good
The Little Match Girl / int_7dbd52b8	comment	Light Is Good: The light of the little girl's matches bring her warmth and comfort and visions of happiness. The light of the stars reminds her of heaven.
The Little Match Girl / int_7dbd52b8	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_7dbd52b8	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_7dbd52b8
The Little Match Girl / int_82fc5bdf	type	Bratty Half-Pint
The Little Match Girl / int_82fc5bdf	comment	Bratty Half-Pint: That little boy who stole one of the girl's slippers after she loses the other (which was too big for her feet). Apparently, he stole it with a 'joke' about using it as a cradle for his own children someday.
The Little Match Girl / int_82fc5bdf	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_82fc5bdf	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_82fc5bdf
The Little Match Girl / int_887da4ea	type	Died Happily Ever After
The Little Match Girl / int_887da4ea	comment	Died Happily Ever After: The Little Match Girl, after having finally reunited with her grandmother in the afterlife.
The Little Match Girl / int_887da4ea	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_887da4ea	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_887da4ea
The Little Match Girl / int_88f16cee	type	Go Out with a Smile
The Little Match Girl / int_88f16cee	comment	Go Out with a Smile: The Little Match Girl dies smiling because the last thing she sees is her beloved grandmother.
The Little Match Girl / int_88f16cee	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_88f16cee	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_88f16cee
The Little Match Girl / int_89897126	type	New Year Has Come
The Little Match Girl / int_89897126	comment	New Year Has Come: The story takes place on New Year's Eve, and the girl is found the next day.
The Little Match Girl / int_89897126	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_89897126	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_89897126
The Little Match Girl / int_8c41d6e9	type	Nameless Narrative
The Little Match Girl / int_8c41d6e9	comment	Nameless Narrative: Nobody is named in the story.
The Little Match Girl / int_8c41d6e9	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_8c41d6e9	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_8c41d6e9
The Little Match Girl / int_9c5e78d0	type	Kill the Cutie
The Little Match Girl / int_9c5e78d0	comment	Kill the Cutie: The girl dies at the end, surrounded by all the matches she had used up while hallucinating.
The Little Match Girl / int_9c5e78d0	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_9c5e78d0	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_9c5e78d0
The Little Match Girl / int_a10f3840	type	Heaven
The Little Match Girl / int_a10f3840	comment	Heaven: When the little girl dies, the spirit of her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven: "They both flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God."
The Little Match Girl / int_a10f3840	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_a10f3840	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_a10f3840
The Little Match Girl / int_a4414a05	type	Adaptation Dye-Job
The Little Match Girl / int_a4414a05	comment	Adaptation Dye-Job: The girl is blonde in the story. Disney's short made her a brunette.
The Little Match Girl / int_a4414a05	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_a4414a05	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_a4414a05
The Little Match Girl / int_accd97de	type	Actionized Adaptation
The Little Match Girl / int_accd97de	comment	Actionized Adaptation: Yes really. Robot Chicken had a version where her Grandmother in the match tells her that she has a plan. She sets her father on fire, gets her Grandmother's jewels, and retires to a beach in the Caribbean. Then it ends on an action film credit sequence. In the anime Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, the Dragons plan to put on this as a play. After deciding to make the story more interesting, it mutates into a tale involving two Magical Girls, one of whom's the old man from the Japanese Kasajizo folktale, who set a mansion on fire, then team up with Kuranosuke Oishi to fight Kouzuke-no-suke Kira, who turns out to be a dragon.
The Little Match Girl / int_accd97de	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_accd97de	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_accd97de
The Little Match Girl / int_b11ac9f5	type	Abusive Parents
The Little Match Girl / int_b11ac9f5	comment	Abusive Parents: The original story says that her father will beat her and not let her stay at home if she returns without selling all of her matches. Her grandmother was apparently the only person who ever expressed any genuine love and care for her.
The Little Match Girl / int_b11ac9f5	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_b11ac9f5	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_b11ac9f5
The Little Match Girl / int_c83f40d8	type	Bystander Syndrome
The Little Match Girl / int_c83f40d8	comment	Bystander Syndrome: If a few people had bought some matches or noticed that the little girl was obviously not dressed for the cold, the story could have ended very differently.
The Little Match Girl / int_c83f40d8	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_c83f40d8	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_c83f40d8
The Little Match Girl / int_d67e900a	type	Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job
The Little Match Girl / int_d67e900a	comment	Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: The girl's family has no money. They have to make matches (a common job for the desperately poor) and she has to go out and sell them.
The Little Match Girl / int_d67e900a	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_d67e900a	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_d67e900a
The Little Match Girl / int_de32cc52	type	Winter of Starvation
The Little Match Girl / int_de32cc52	comment	Winter of Starvation: The little girl is trying to sell matches during winter in order to make money, but nobody's buying them. She is very hungry and starts imagining happy things like a roast goose for dinner as she lights her matches to stay warm. She freezes to death over the night but is taken to heaven by her grandmother.
The Little Match Girl / int_de32cc52	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_de32cc52	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_de32cc52
The Little Match Girl / int_ee9877ea	type	Too Good for This Sinful Earth
The Little Match Girl / int_ee9877ea	comment	Too Good for This Sinful Earth: The innocent Little Match Girl dies and is carried to heaven by her loving grandmother. To quote from that page, "the narrative does not so much carry this trope as flamboyantly juggle it while singing the complete score to Handel's Messiah." Part of the reason most versions of the story are called "Tragedy Porn".
The Little Match Girl / int_ee9877ea	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_ee9877ea	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_ee9877ea
The Little Match Girl / int_f6624c30	type	Together in Death
The Little Match Girl / int_f6624c30	comment	Together in Death: The Little Match Girl and her grandmother reunite in Heaven.
The Little Match Girl / int_f6624c30	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_f6624c30	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_f6624c30
The Little Match Girl / int_f765e2d3	type	Dying Alone
The Little Match Girl / int_f765e2d3	comment	Dying Alone: The little girl dies alone, but by striking her matches she imagines her grandmother there with her.
The Little Match Girl / int_f765e2d3	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_f765e2d3	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_f765e2d3
The Little Match Girl / int_f792bc7b	type	Dying Dream
The Little Match Girl / int_f792bc7b	comment	Dying Dream: The whole second half of the story is a series of hallucinations which the little girl sees as she freezes to death. She finds these visions comforting, and at the end she strikes all her matches, desperate to hold onto them.
The Little Match Girl / int_f792bc7b	featureApplicability	1.0
The Little Match Girl / int_f792bc7b	featureConfidence	1.0
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	The Little Match Girl / int_f792bc7b
The Little Match Girl / int_ff7e9adf	type	Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold
The Little Match Girl / int_ff7e9adf	comment	Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: The Match Girl's blonde hair highlights how young and innocent she was.
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The Little Match Girl / int_name	type	ItemName
The Little Match Girl / int_name	comment
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The Little Match Girl / int_name	itemName	The Little Match Girl

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Fantasia / Disney	seeAlso	The Little Match Girl
TheLittleMatchgirl	sameAs	The Little Match Girl
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Afterlife Welcome / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Alice Allusion / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Barefoot Poverty / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Bittersweet Ending / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Died Happily Ever After / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Dying Dream / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Fan Music / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Fractured Fairy Tale / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Go into the Light / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Go Out with a Smile / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Karmic Twist Ending / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Let's Meet the Meat / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Man on Fire / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Public Domain Character / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Snow Means Death / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Stars Are Souls / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Survivorship Bias / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	seeAlso	The Little Match Girl
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Too Good for This Sinful Earth / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Transatlantic Equivalent / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Winter of Starvation / int_c10e13c7
The Little Match Girl	hasFeature	Wise Fool / int_c10e13c7
HoukagoNoKamishibaibu	seeAlso	The Little Match Girl

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