A bit of analysis on how the Little Match Girl connects to Komari
First, let’s begin with summarizing the Little Match Girl.
Summary
A poor girl was selling matches on the street on new year’s eve night.
She pleaded to people to buy her matches but no one shared a glance at her.
Soon, everyone on the street disappeared (went home) and her feet were frozen from walking on the snow bare foot ( she had shoes but they were removed ).
The girl sat on the corner of an alley hoping to avoid the snow. She tried to keep herself warm so lit one of her matches.
It was then a furnace appeared in front of her. To keep herself from freezing, she took a step towards the furnace.
The fire suddenly disappeared along with the furnace. The cold weather attacked her again from all sides.
She lit another match and this time, a table with an amazing feast appeared. The goose roast ( it was something she wanted to eat for a long time) seemed to be walking towards her.
Once again as she stretched her hands, the fire disappeared and so did the feast and the table.
Lighting another match, she saw a Christmas tree full of candles. However, as she went closer to the tree, the match died out and all the candles flew up to the sky (no they didn’t disappear this time) .
The candles turned into stars to fill the night sky. It was then a shooting star passed by. The girl thought, “Oh someone is dying” as her late grandmother told her that when a comet falls, someone is dying and going up to heaven.
The girl lit another match and saw her grandmother. She was just standing there, smiling.
The girl knowing that her grandmother would too disappear if the candle dies out, she lit all her remaining candles. It was much warmer than before and her grandmother’s silhouette turned much clearer. In order not to lose her grandmother, she jumped towards her silhouette.
The girl’s grandmother hugged her tightly. It was no longer cold nor hungry. They both ascended to heaven surrounded by a warm light.
I personally felt that Komari’s broken state is the story of the Little Match Girl. Here are some reasons why I think that :
- The repeated delusions that kept disappearing can be compared to Komari’s cycle of struggle when she had to come to terms that Takuya is dead.
- Lighting another match each time can be seen as an equal to Komari choosing a substitute for her “Onii chan” each time since both the actions are coping mechanisms to avoid the sad reality.
- They both chose to avoid reality each time it came to bite them back and instead chose a delusion in which nothing sad happens.
- The ending of the Little Match Girl is the bad end to Komari’s route. In the ending of the book, the girl chooses to avoid reality forever. In the bad end of Komari’s route, Riki states that Riki and Komari are separated from the outside world forever.
It was then, Riki came to rewrite Komari’s story once and for all. The main reason that the Little Match Girl died was because no one was there to help her. When Riki told Komari that he will always be there for her (as Riki Naoe not as Onii chan). Komari felt that she could be able to accept sad things if she were with Riki.
In other words, the Little Match Girl found a reason to live in the world which is a mixture of happiness and sadness.
Or at least I felt that way. What do you guys think?