CRITICAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE: READERS’-RESPONSE

CRITICISM ANALYSIS IN SHORT STORY “LITTLE MATCH GIRL” BY

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN COMPARED WITH GINTAMA EPISODE
201 BY HIDEKI SORACHI

Written By

1. Denes Permadi (16321036)

2. Aldi Wihananto (16321046)
3. Bayu Permana (16321054)

DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH TEACHING

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING

UNIVERSITY OF PGRI MADIUN

A. READERS’-RESPONSE CRITICISM
 In a school of literary theory that focuses on the reader (or “audience”)
and his or her experience of a literary work, in contrast to other schools and
theories that focus attention primarily on the author or the content and from of
the work.
Although literary theory has long paid some attention to the reader’s
role in creating the meaning and experience of a literary work, modern reader-
response criticism began in the 1960s and ’70s, particularly in the US and
Germany, in work by Norman Holland, Stanley Fish, Wolfgang Iser, Hans-
Robert Jauss, Roland Barthes, and others.
Reader-response theory recognizes the reader as an active agent who
imparts “real existence” to the work and completes its meaning through
interpretation. Reader-response criticism argues that literature should be
viewed as a performing art in which each reader creates their own, possibly
unique, text-related performance. It stands in total opposition to the theories of
formalism and the New Criticism.

B. THEORY OF READERS-RESPONSE CRITICISM

Subjective Readers’-Response is a theory of Reader Response

Criticism that attached by David Bleich. Bleich believes that a reader’s
response become the text itself, and that all meaning of a text lies in the
readers’ interpretation. To Bleich, a literary text comprises a real entity—the
text, the words on the page, which is a concrete object—and our interpretation
of the concrete text, which can be seen as a symbolic object. We
“resymbolize” the text through our perceptions and beliefs. Meaning, then, is
negotiated: our reading response (highly personal) is often brought to a larger
body (communal) to discuss the meaning of a piece of literature. The
classroom is a perfect example: you are assigned to read something, you read
it and develop a personal interpretation, and then you share that interpretation
with the class; ultimately, the class creates a more communal interpretation. In
subjective criticism, knowledge is seen as socially constructed from the
 interaction of all readers; thus, interpretation is seen as personal, yet
communal, the common element being that reading is subjective. The
transaction that happens in subjective criticism is between the personal reader-
oriented response statement and the more public-oriented response statement,
which reflects the themes in the text.

Subjective Readers’-Response focuses on negotiation for meaning

which makes the view from each reader is not wrong if it based on some
objective reading of the text.
C. KINDS OF READER IN READERS’ RESPONSE CRITICISM
According to a literary critic by the name of Wolfgang Iser, “an
Implied Reader is a hypothetical figure who is likely to get most of what the
author intended.” (Iser, 2017) When an author writes a book or article they do
so with certain readers in mind and they believe that those known as the
implied reader will understand or appreciate the metaphors and ironies which
the author as written. (Iser, 2017).
According to Iser, the Actual Reader who may eventually manage to
get through the book, such as when one is struggling to enjoy it because the
book is either too complex or they do not understand the metaphors and
ironies which the author has written. (Iser, 2017).
In here, we would like to analyze the short story “Little Match Girl”
by Hans Christian Andersen to Anime titled Gintama in episode 201.
D. GINTAMA EPISODE 201

GinTama (English: Silver Soul, Japanese: 銀魂) is a Japanese manga

written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi also known as Gorilla that in fact
no one know his real identity. His first anime aired in April 4th 2006. Synopsis
of Gintama, aliens from outer space named Amanto have invaded Earth and
taken over feudal Japan. As a result, a prohibition on swords has been
established, and the samurai of Japan are treated with disregard as a
consequence. However one man, Gintoki Sakata, still possesses the heart of
the samurai, although from his love of sweets and work as a Yorozuya, one
might not expect it. Accompanying him in his jack-of-all-trades line of work
 are Shinpachi Shimura, a boy with glasses and a strong heart, Kagura with her
umbrella and seemingly bottomless stomach, as well as Sadaharu, their
oversized pet dog. Of course, these odd jobs are not always simple, as they
frequently have run-ins with the police, ragtag rebels, and assassins,
oftentimes leading to humorous but unfortunate consequences.. Gintama have
nine seasons and more than 400 episodes, with 2 movies and 2 live-actions.
While the last episode of the latest season published in October 8 th 2018.
episode of 201 in Gintama story is tell about competition to show who is the
real santa by telling a story. In the scenes of Kyuubei tell a story, the story that
she told was adopted from a story titled "the little match girl"

E. ANALYSIS
1. Event 1
a) The Little Match Girl
Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark,
and evening-- the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness
there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with
naked feet.
b) Gintama
Kagura is a young girl that wearing a Chinese cloth with glove
trying to sell “Pachi” (Pachi is one of the character in Gintama that his
original name was Shinpachi, but in this part of this episode his name

changed into Pachi) on Christmas Eve. No one want to buy her

“Pachi”, everyone just passed her and ignoring her.
c) Analysis
Gorilla made the character of Kagura based on Chinese culture,
that is why when she sells Pachi, in the cold and dark evening she is
wearing Chinese cloth. Factor of culture make the character between
the girl in “The Little Match Girl” and Kagura in Gintama have
differences in their appearance. We know that Andersen is a writer
from Denmark and Gorilla is a famous unknown writer but he makes
Kagura based on Chinese culture.
2. Event 2
 a) The Little Match Girl
In a corner formed by two houses, of which one advanced
more than the other, she seated herself down and cowered together.
Her little feet she had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and
colder, and to go home she did not venture, for she had not sold any
matches and could not bring a farthing of money: from her father she
would certainly get blows.
b) Gintama
In the cold situation she said that she scared to go home.
“Pachi” imagine the reason why she scared to go home because her
father going to blow Kagura for she had not sold any matches and
could not bring any money (played by one character in gintama named
Hasegawa). Kagura continued to talk and explain the reason why she
scared to go home and apparently she said scared to go home because
of cockroach in her house, while the cockroach is Hasegawa wearing
attribute to looks like a cockroach.
c) Analysis
It is very different with the original story, Pachi thinks that
Kagura afraid to go home because of her father but apparently she
afraid to go home because the cockroach in her house. Genre of
Gintama is comedy, that is why Gorilla tries to make a parody of the
cockroach instead of showing the violence of the father in the original
story.
3. Event 3
a) The Little Match Girl
She rubbed another against the wall: it burned brightly, and
where the light fell on the wall, there the wall became transparent like
a veil, so that she could see into the room. On the table was spread a
snow-white tablecloth; upon it was a splendid porcelain service, and
the roast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing of apple and
dried plums. And what was still more capital to behold was, the goose
hopped down from the dish, reeled about on the floor with knife and
fork in its breast, till it came up to the poor little girl; when--the match
 went out and nothing but the thick, cold, damp wall was left behind.
She lighted another match. Now there she was sitting under the most
magnificent Christmas tree: it was still larger, and more decorated than
the one which she had seen through the glass door in the rich
merchant's house.
Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, and
gaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows,
looked down upon her. The little maiden stretched out her hands
towards them when--the match went out. The lights of the Christmas
tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one
fell down and formed a long trail of fire.
"Someone is just dead!" said the little girl; for her old
grandmother, the only person who had loved her, and who was now no
more, had told her, that when a star falls, a soul ascends to God.
She drew another match against the wall: it was again light,
and in the luster there stood the old grandmother, so bright and radiant,
so mild, and with such an expression of love.
"Grandmother!" cried the little one. "Oh, take me with you!
You go away when the match burns out; you vanish like the warm
stove, like the delicious roast goose, and like the magnificent
Christmas tree!" And she rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly
against the wall, for she wanted to be quite sure of keeping her
grandmother near her. And the matches gave such a brilliant light that
it was brighter than at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother
been so beautiful and so tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm,
and both flew in brightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then
above was neither cold, nor hunger, nor anxiety--they were with God.
b) Gintama
Kagura turn back and said she want to warm herself by using
one of the Pachi (in fact, there is only one Pachi showed in Anime).
She starts to warming her body using Pachi by hitting and kicking
Pachi like a sandsack. Pachi shocked that the meaning of what Kagura
 said to warm her body is just moving her body to kicking and hitting
Pachi, he asked for help but no one care. While kagura hitting Pachi,
she said that she can see something coming out, she can see some food
called Monja and Monjayaki (food with a vomit-like texture) but those
are Pachi’s vomit. Shinpachi scream to ask some help and Santa
appears on the building behind Shinpachi. “Tasukete Santa-san!”
(translate: help me Mr. Santa) Pachi said. But Santa asking to Kagura,
if punching Pachi would make whatever your wishes come true, then
Santa joined with Kagura to hitting Pachi.
c) Analysis
Gorilla makes three major character in Gintama, they are
Kagura, Shinpaci, and Gintoki. Character Pachi (Shinpaci) in Gintama
is commonly get bullies by another character in the story to show the
comedy side of Gintama in different way. Little Match Girl rubbed the
match to get warm in original story and the vision of a table full of
food comes out from her imagination, while in Gintama showed the
violence scene of Kagura kicking and punching Pachi to warm her
body until Pachi vomiting his food. In Gintama, Shinpaci known as
Tsukkomi character, Tsukkomi is the angry character and often used to
describe a Japanese anime character who is frustrated, unappreciated,
or just plain ticked off. The Tsukkomi attempts to keep a calm facade,
only to be thwarted by someone, or something they find irritating.
Tsukkomi often resulting in violent actions. In the last vision of the
original story, little match girl saw her grandmother, while in Gintama,
the grandmother replaced by the appearance of Santa. The reason
replacing Grandmother with Santa because in the original one, her
Grandmother symbolize a hope, and so do Santa.
4. Event 4
a) The Little Match Girl
No one had the slightest suspicion of what beautiful things she
had seen; no one even dreamed of the splendor in which, with her
grandmother she had entered on the joys of a new year.
b) Gintama
In the morning, people found Kagura, Pachi, and Santa are
fainted in the sidewalk with their body full of vomit.
c) Analysis
In the original one, the little match girl died because
hypothermia and founded in the morning of new year. In Gintama
showed all of the character are founded faint in the sidewalk in the
morning full of vomit. The reason is the author of Gintama make it
parody from the original one as humor as Gintama genre.
 References
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/reader-response-
criticism-suggested-replacement/

https://myanimelist.net/anime/918/Gintama

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tsukkomi

Bleich, David. Subjective Criticism. John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 1978,
p.95