The Matches’ Flames Symbol Analysis

When the little girl burns her matches to keep herself warm, their “strange light” brings wondrous visions of warmth, kindness, and celebration until she freezes to death when the flames burn out. The short-lasting flames, therefore, embody how the delight and comfort of escapism is only a temporary form of liberation from poverty. After spending a frigid day trying to sell the matches on the street, the girl uses them as a literal escape from the cold (to warm herself) and they also lead to an emotional escape through her visions, which make her feel comforted in a hostile environment. While these two aspects—physical warmth and emotional comfort—are nice for her, the escapism of the matches cannot last. After all, just as all the matches flame out, she is left with her unendurable reality and ultimately freezes to death. Andersen thereby suggests that escapism is an inevitable part of enduring such a terrible life because, though temporary, it can provide badly-needed comfort. However, in a sense, escapism is only useful when you’re in a situation that you need help enduring. The little match girl’s poverty is so dire that attempting to endure it doesn’t make sense—she needs not simple escapism, but rather real escape that can only come in the form of death. So, just as her situation is too dire for the matches to keep her warm, her poverty is too horrible and unendurable for emotional escapism to save her in any lasting sense, and the short-lasting warmth and fleeting visions of the matches represent this harsh reality—they are extinguished, and so, too, is the little girl’s life.