The Similarities and Differences Between The Little Match Girl and Number the Stars

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This essay compares and contrasts the similarities and the differences between "The Little Match Girl" and Number the Stars. "The Little Match Girl" and Number the Stars are stories about young girls who suffer. They are similar in both girls were running away from someone, both girls are brave, and both girls have change that effect their lives. On the other hand both girls are different in the reasons for change and the way it affects them. "The Little Match Girl" which has written by Hans Christian Andersen (1845), told the story of a poor girl named Molly who was walking in the cold weather on New Year's Eve.

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The poor girl was wearing large slippers, but she lost them because two cars rolled by awfully fast. She held a big amount of matches in an old apron to sell.

However, nobody bought anything of her. She couldn't return with the matches because she was afraid of her father punishment for not selling them.

Therefore, she tried to sell the matches by continuing walking. However, it was without benefit because no one was on the street except her. She found a corner formed by two houses and sat down. By that time she felt cold, and she looked at the matches in her hand. She thought if she took one and lit it, it would help her get warm. She drew a match against the wall. It gave her a little warmer, but as soon as it was done she felt cold again.

She kept lighting one after one and she dreamed at her grandmother, the only person who had loved her. As soon as all her matches were burned, she leaned her head against the wall with a smile on her face and died. Both of stories are similar in both girls were running away from someone, both girls are brave, and both girls have change that effect on their live.

Molly was running away from her father. In a like manner Ellen was running away from the Nazi soldiers. Molly was brave while she was continued walking in cold weather to sell her matches. Also, Ellen was brave when she told the Nazi soldiers her name was Lise Johansen (Lowry 1990 P. #47). Both girls had changes in their lives which forced them to do something they had to do; Molly was trying to sell matches to avoid punishment from her father, and Ellen lived with the Johansen family to avoid Nazi soldiers (Lowry 1990 P. #37). Both girls are different in the reasons for change and the way it affects them. Molly was selling matches because her family was poor, and her father was forcing her to sell matches. However, for this reason, Molly lost her life. On the other hand Ellen lived with the Johansen while her parents ran out of Copenhagen because the Nazi soldiers were looking to arrest all Jewish people, and it might be risky for her if she went with them.

For this reason, Mrs. Johansen took Ellen to Uncle Henrik's house to protect her (Lowry 1990 P. #54). These are many similarities and the differences between "The Little Match Girl" and Number the Stars. As we can see, both girls had changes affect their lives. One of them died because of that change and another one got help from another family to be safe. Also, both of them didn't know what might happen to their lives with those changes, but they were brave. As Lois Lowry explains in Number the Stars (1990), when Uncle Henrik explained to Annemarie, she doesn't have to know everything to be brave (P. #76). Bravery is important when looking at the similarities and differences in these two stories.