ICSE Class 10 English Literature project answer For ICSE 2023

ENGLISH LITERATURE

PROJECT

[Date]

 

 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher Mr. Bappa Das and to our principal Sr. Christine who gave me the golden opportunity to do the project of English Literature, which also help me doing a lot of research and I came to know so many new things.

Secondly, I would like to thanks my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalising the project within this stipulated time.

(Date)                                                                            Shreyash Ghosh

                                                                                   (Signature)

 

 

Serial No.	Title	Page No.
1	The Little Match Girl	3
2	Character Analysis	4-5
3	Summary	6-7
4	Conclusion	8
5	Bibliography	9

Content

 

 

 

The Little Match Girl

--- Hans Christian Andersen

 

Character Analysis

The girl

The little girl is the main character of the story, while the other characters are in the background. The slippers she wore can somewhat guess the girl's age, because she wore her mother's slippers that were too big for her, so we can conclude that she was not more than nine or ten years old.

She belonged to an extremely poor family, which is clear from the description of her house - it was so cold at home because they had nothing but a roof above and the wind was whistling through it, even though the biggest cracks were covered with straw and rags. Moreover, her father did not like her, otherwise, he would not have sent her to sell matches in the winter when she did not have enough warm clothes.

She was so obedient that she did not oppose her father and preferred to suffer rather than return home to face her father's rudeness. He didn't care for her and he knew how to treat her badly. She was deprived of all the love and affection she should have received from her father. She longed for the love she once received from her grandmother who is now dead.

All these dreams came to life in the form of visions when she froze. Her hallucinations when she lit a match showed her desires. At first, she saw herself sitting in front of a large furnace because she needed heat then. Then she saw the sumptuous food laid out on the table, which showed her need for food.

In her third vision, she saw a beautiful Christmas tree depicting her desire to celebrate. In her last vision, she saw her grandmother and prayed that he would take her to heaven. Her last wish came true, and a smile remained on her face when she met and talked to her grandmother in her imagination.

 

Grandma

Dead Grandma is the only person who has ever shown love to a girl. Grandma appears in the vision as bright and beautiful. She hugs the girl and takes her to heaven, where she will be placed in warmth and joy. In this story, the grandmother appears as the only bright spot in the girl's life and the only positive person, while the girl is surrounded by the cruelty of adults who ignore her existence and let her die.

"Grandmother had never been so grand and beautiful."

Father

Although the girl's father does not appear in the scenes of the story, his presence hovers over her because she knows that he will beat her if she returns home without money from the sale of matches. Immeasurably bad character, knowing that the girl does not have warm clothes and that it is winter outside, lets the child go to the street under the threat of beatings if he fails to sell all the matches.

"She was getting colder and colder, but did not dare to go home, for she had sold no matches, nor earned a single cent, and her father would surely beat her."

The boy thief

Narrator explains that the girl was left barefoot because the boy stole one of her slippers when she lost them in the snow. The boy cruelly keeps her to himself, claiming that one day he will use the slipper as a cradle for his child. In the same situation as the girl and the boy, he is forced to react at a given moment to "seize the opportunity". Thinking about the future, this child is also forced to support himself on the street, only unlike the girl, the boy turns to cruelty and chooses another direction in life - fighting, stealing.

 

 

Summery

The story entitled The Little Match Girl is a famous story written by Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published in 1845. The story is famous not only because of its poignant tragedy but also because of its beauty. It is possibly one of the saddest holiday stories ever told. This story is about a little girl who is sent out to sell matches on New Year’s Eve. No one buys any of her matches and so she is afraid her father will beat her if she goes home empty handed. She ends up huddled in a corner lighting match after match. With each match she imagines a beautiful scene. In one match she sees her recently deceased grandmother who takes the little girl to heaven with her. In the morning, the little girl is found frozen to death.

This tragic short story paints a dismal picture of life for the poor in the 1840s. It also carries with it that grim hope of a fairy tale with visions of huge Christmas trees and shooting stars appearing before the young match girl—her dying wishes and dreams. In the story, titular character dies by the end, but the story is much more about the perseverance of hope. In these sparse, unforgiving lines, the author packs so much simple beauty and hope : ‘The girl is cold, barefoot and poor-without a friend in the world (it seems)- but is not without hope.’ The girl dreams of warmth and light, of a time when she will be surrounded by love and filled with happiness. It is so far outside of the realm of her current experience that most of us would have long since given up such dreams, but she holds on.

Still, the harsh realities of poverty haunt the little girl’s reality- she must sell a match for fear of being beaten by her father upon returning home and this fear propels her to stay outside all night which ultimately leads to her death by hypothermia.

Conclusion

One of the morals, or lessons, of The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen is to behave charitably toward those who are less fortunate. Despite her dire circumstances, the little girl dreams of warmth and food as she tries to earn money for her family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

I have taken help of the following sites and book to my project.

1.    ICSE Treasure troves Book.

2.    ICSE Solutions.

3.    Wikipedia.