Social class plays role in someone’s life as poverty can hurt their life or they can be viewed differently and walked upon. Hans Anderson has explored poverty and hierarchy in his fairy tales in great detail as major factors of social class division. This paper will evaluate the topics using three tales; the little match girl, the candles and the darning needle to critically analyze how poverty and hierarchy affect society. The paper will give an in-depth account of how Andersen raises the issues of poverty and hierarchy in his tales and the conclusions that we can draw from them.it will also focus on the topic of death as raised by Andersen in the tales.
In the tale of the little match girl, Andersen portrays the effects of poverty using children to show the role they play in a poor family and how they are expected to contribute to the family upkeep from their tender ages. He describes the deplorable appearance and condition of the girl who was expected to sell matches and take home pennies to help meet their daily needs. Andersen paints a picture of misery and pity in the description of the little girl being bareheaded, barefoot walking in the cold with an old apron and matches to sell. He brings out the girl’s family as unable to meet the basic needs like food shelter and clothes (Allen, 2009). The girl's decision to sleep outside was based on the fact that her father would beat her but more importantly, she saw the outside similar and not worse than her home where there were large holes in the roof that brought wind and cold. Hierarchy is brought out in the thoughts of the little girl before she was frozen. She dreams of a big house filled with food and comfort after which she flies off to heaven with her grandmother to be with God.
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In the darning needle, poverty is explored as a state of helplessness where one cannot move or change any aspect but has to endure the humiliation by creating illusions to numb the pain. The tale brings out big dreams and aspirations associated with the poor who always dream of working their way into rich successful lives (Allen, 2009). However, the descent of the needle to the trash and the bottom of the ditch and the fact that it is stuck there portrays the inability or difficulties encountered by the poor in a struggle to move towards their dreams in life. The needle, when picked up from the ditch by the playing boys and attached to the eggshell, creates an illusion of contrast, rather than face the reality of getting old and rusted. When the eggshell is crushed and the needle remains intact and hopeful Andersen tries to demonstrate survival in the hope of better things to come (Allen, 2009).
Hierarchy is displayed in the darning needle at the fall of the needle from the breast pocket of the cook where it was attached next to the pin. The falls of the needle into the sink and later to a ditch leaving the pin intact depicts positioning of different people in social classes where some stay on top and shine to all while others swim through the mud in an attempt to shine and progress to the next level of life. The status of the needle in the ditch is still stuck as paper and straws come floating along (Allen, 2009
The tale of the candles has also been used to discuss poverty and hierarchy of the society. The scene is set in a rich family hosting a ball in a display of candles each of different value and status. The tallow candle due to its low status is given out to the poor family to help the widow who sews into the night with lighting (Andersen, 1907). Andersen uses candles, matches, and needles which are important instruments in the day to day life to illustrate social class and emphasize the position of the poor. He portrays them as bright as full of potential but they have accepted their status in society and though they aspire to change it, they mainly do nothing to change and when they do they make no progress due to the numerous restraining factors (Allen, 2009).
Andersen examines the topic of death in the fairy tales, in the little match girl the fate of the girl after much struggling and poverty is death. He presents death as an escape from the world of troubles and struggles to a world of joy and hope. “Her grandmother had never looked so grand and beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and both flew together, joyously and gloriously, mounting higher and higher, far above the earth; and for them, there was neither hunger, nor cold, nor care;—they were with God. His crafty way of describing death displays belief in a superpower where there is better life especially for the poor after their death(Allen, 2009).
The darning needle incorporates the topic of death by illustrating the suffering that the poor must endure before they die and attain rest. In the candles tale, Andersen describes a poor widow who works throughout the night to feed her family.it shows how death strikes the poor in the society and adds more suffering and pain, especially to the young ones. Death also leads to judgment and discrimination because even the tallow candle was dismayed after learning the shift from the rich kitchen to the poor family lamenting on the kind of matches used for lighting (Andersen, 1907). It is clear that death forms an integral part of Andersen fairy tales especially its effect on the poor in society and the promise of a better world of happiness for them in the afterlife.
In his tales, Andersen has used narrative strategies such as foreshadowing in the little match girl. The description of the girl leaning on the wall and seeing the falling star and commenting that someone is dying foreshadows the fate of the girl at the end of the tale (Andersen, 1907). Eros Thanatos has been used to describe the love of the grandmother towards the girl that she encounters her even in death to soar with her to the heavens (Allen, 2009). The motif is brought out in the girls visions through the match light. The progressive lighting of the matches reveals different encounters of happiness and plenty to the girl until at last she witnesses her grandmother who takes her along to heaven. The motif is used to underscore the desolate state of the girl who is hungry, cold, afraid and alone in the darkness on the verge of death amid celebrations of the New Year in the surroundings. The issue of death especially of such a young beautiful soul is transformed into an episode of joy and delight filled with plentiful and comfort in contrast to the actual status of the girl against the damp wall (Allen, 2009).
The motif from the little match girl can be compared to the green light in the story of the Great Gatsby that symbolizes Gatsby dreams, desires, and hope to be reunited with Daisy the woman he has loved for a long time. In this context, Daisy is presented to the audience as a beckon used to pull Gatsby out of the darkness and propelling him in the right direction of his life. The green light, however, underscores the real issues that face the union of Gatsby and Daisy. It underplays the impossibility of Gatsby having a happily ever after with Daisy which is realized later in the story. The discussion presents critical social issues in the society such as poverty, hierarchies and death discussed by Hans Andersen in his tales to portray, highlight and empathize with the poor in their state and discuss the hierarchy that exists in society ascribing people into social classes. He also describes their transformation into the afterlife after suffering and pain in this world.
References
Andersen, H. C., Lucas, E., & Robinson, W. (1907). Fairy tales from Hans Christian Andersen . London: J.M. Dent.
Allen, J. K. (2009). More than just fairy tales: New approaches to the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. United States of America: Cognella.
