Why does the girl have “rosy cheeks” and “smiling lips”?

QuestionsWhy does the girl have “rosy cheeks” and “smiling lips”?
Arif Jamal asked 6 years ago

What do the expressions “rosy cheeks” and “smiling lips” signify in Hans Christian Andersen’s short story “The Little Match Girl”?

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1 Answers
Staff answered 6 years ago

When people found the poor little girl frozen to death in the morning, the girl’s expression was as if she was smiling. Her rosy cheeks and smiling lips indicate to the eternal happiness she found in the company of her dear old grandmother. 
 
Though people of society at large could only see her as dead, they had no eyes to see that it was the beginning of a whole new life for the girl. They didn’t know what joy she had felt in that moment of her spiritual journey. It is the inconsistency between appearance and reality, between the physical and spiritual existence.

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