Someone Must Be Dying (Dramatic Irony)
In an instance of dramatic irony—in which the reader knows more than the character—the little girl sees a shooting star and says to herself that someone must be dying. She understands a shooting star as a sign that a human soul is ascending to heaven; what she doesn't understand is that she herself is dying from hypothermia, and that the shooting star is foreshadowing her own death.
People Assume She Lit Matches for Warmth (Dramatic Irony)
At the end of the story, the little girl's stiff, frozen body is surrounded by spent matches. People who see her assume she lit them to keep warm. The moment presents an instance of dramatic irony, because the reader knows the little didn't light the matches solely for warmth. The narrator comments that they have no idea what was in her mind in her dying moments and how much joy felt as she experienced her visions.
