The Brave Tin Soldier is one of the most unusual fairytales by Andersen. It doesn’t have a happy ending and the main characters suffer a tragic "death". It talks about the love between a one-legged soldier, who represents those who are different, and a beautiful paper ballerina.
The soldier met different characters from the children’s room and in the end, despite all the temptations, he managed to get to his loved one.
The moral of the story is that in life we will encounter many obstacles but that in the end love is the one that will save us. The soldier stays strong even though he spent his life standing on one leg. He is small but still manages to fight off the temptations in order to see his ballerina one more time. It’s a warm and emotional story about two lovers who are completely different than others because of their looks.
Once upon a time tin, soldiers were an inevitable asset in a children’s room but, unfortunately, today they have been forgotten. Reading this fairytale gives us a chance to reminisce about past times and enjoy the values of love, hope, game, and imagination.
Book Summary
Once upon a time a little boy got a box of tin soldiers for his birthday. The little soldiers, 25 of them to be exact, had red and blue uniforms, guns and stood tall. They were the same, like brothers, except for one soldier who missed one leg. He was different from the others because during his making they ran out of tin. Despite everything, the one-legged soldier stood proudly.
The boy took his soldiers out and placed them all next to a castle where all his others toys were. It was a beautiful, colorful castle in front of which were trees and a mirror that represented a lake. Wax swans were on the lake and they looked at each other. There was a certain girl that stood out from the crowd.
When the one-legged soldier saw the beautiful girl he thought she was just right for him. She was made out of paper, had long hair and wore a ballet dress. Her hands were raised to the sky and she stood on one leg while her other leg was bent at the knee. She had the posture of a ballerina. It seemed to the soldier that she also had one leg. They looked at each other and when the night would come all the other toys would have fun except for the two of them who would keep on looking at each other.
The soldier thought that it wouldn’t be nice if such a beautiful girl lived in a box because she deserved to live in a castle. He was still determined to get to know her.
The next day the boy took his soldier and placed him by the window. When the wind started to blow it knocked the soldier to the street. Two boys found him there and placed him in a paper boat and let him sail down the drain. The boat reached the river and then it sank. The soldier started drowning and a fish swallowed him. Luckily, the fish was caught and the next day it was sold on the market. The boy’s mother was in that market every day and she bought the fish in which the soldier was.
The boy’s mother got ready to prepare the fish for lunch when she saw the soldier. Both of them were very surprised. The soldier was excited for having the chance to be with his beloved ballerina and with all the other toys. The boy placed him on his regular spot by the castle so he could observe the ballerina again. Their glancing lasted for days until it was interrupted by the boy’s brother. He took the soldier and threw him in the fireplace. To make things worse a strong wind started to blow and it blew the ballerina to the fireplace.
The soldier didn’t know if he was burning with the fire of the fireplace or by the fire of love. His color disappeared but he still watched his beautiful ballerina. Even though he felt he was disappearing he still held his gun and stood proudly.
The only thing left of the two of them was a little diamond stuck on a heart shaped piece of tin.
Genre: fairytale
Place: boy’s room
Characters: tin soldier, ballerina, boy, mother
Character analysis
Tin soldier - a brave little soldier was in love with a paper ballerina. He was different from all the other soldiers because he missed one leg but it didn’t stop him in his intentions to meet the ballerina. Even though he went through a lot of troubles he managed to see her one last time. Their love was eternal because her diamond and his tin united forever in the fire.
Ballerina - a paper girl which was seen by the soldier like his equal because she was also standing on one leg. She hoped to see her soldier again after he disappeared one day because she had no one to look at the whole night.
Hans Christian Andersen Biography
Hans Christian Andersen was born April 2nd, 1805 in Odense. He was born into a poor family. His father was a shoemaker, and his mother did not have a job. Even though they did not have much Hans was happy for growing up next to a father who recognized his love for adventures and stories. Since he was a boy, his father told him many stories and helped him build a puppet theater.
His life got hard when his father died. His mother had to clean other people’s laundry to provide food, shelter, and clothes for herself and her son. Even though she wanted to send him to a school to study something he wanted to go into a big city and make something out of himself.
He had only 14 years when he came to Copenhagen. He lived in an attic and worked a lot to make it. He even danced for a short time. When he was 17, he decided to go to school, so he sat in school with 12-years old. He even went to a university.
He wrote and studied at the same time. He wrote many fairy tales and "The Ugly Duckling" was considered to contain elements of his life. Some of his other famous fairy tales are: "The little Mermaid", "The Emperor’s New Clothes", "The Snow Queen"…
He died in Copenhagen August 4th, 1875.
Leave a Reply