Thumbelina Questions:
1. Focus on nature. What is hostile? What isn't? What do you think the purpose behind the natural world might have been? Think also about cycles of life/death in the text.
2. Do you think Tiny has agency (power over the self)? Think about mobility in the text as well. How does she move from place to place, and what do you think it means?
3. Consider all of Tiny's proposed marriages, most of them against her will. Do you think the text is trying to make any arguments about marriage? What about social class?
4. Do you think this text is religious? How so?
5. Discuss renaming. Why does Tiny get renamed Maia? Does it give her greater agency? Or do you think the prince might be a Christ figure? Has Tiny died and gone to heaven?
6. Compare this tale to the others you read by HCA. How does Tiny compare with the other heroines we studied last time?
"The Little Mermaid"
1. What happens to her? Were you surprised by the ending?
2. Think about religion in the story. Do you think Anderson wanted to convey any Christian messages?
"The Little Match Girl"
3. Compare her with the little mermaid. Are they similar? Do you think this story has a similar message?
4. Do you see the story as Christian--perhaps offering some kind of Christian moral?
5. What do you think of morality in Anderson's tales? Do you think he wanted to represented things as they were or wanted to effect change?
"The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf"
6. What do you think is the message in this story? Do you think it offers a moral?
"The Red Shoes"
7. What do you think the shoes symbolize? Do you think there is a moral to the story?