The Little Match-Girl

A fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ig26YFmgdc

This fairy tale is set in winter. We are told, "It was terribly cold, it snowed and was already almost dark, and evening came on, the last evening of the year. In the cold and gloom a poor little girl, bareheaded and barefoot, was walking throught the streets."

The setting of the tale depicts not just the outer atmosphere, but the inner atmosphere, that is the psychological state of being. The weather is cold, this corresponds to a place of solitude, perhaps a loveless state of being--devoid of the warmth of real human contact.

This particular cold atmosphere is one which is not sought after by our little heroine but one imposed on her. She does not go to it willingly but instead she seeks warmth. We know this because of her fantasies--fantasies that emerge when she strikes the matches she has with her.