Lexical and Syntactical Analysis of "The little Match Girl"

1. The Little Match Girl
A Lexical-Syntactical Analysis

2. StoryboardThe Little Match Girl

3. Scene 1

4. Scene 2

5. Scene 3

6. Scene 4

7. Scene 5

8. Scene 6

9. 1.
Brief Introduction of “The Little Match Girl”
Characters, Themes and
Over-all Stylistic Device/s Used

10. What is it all about?
»This story is about a little girl
who freezes to death while
trying to sell matches to make
money for her abusive family.

11. Character Analysis
» The Unnamed Little Match Girl
⋄ the main character in the story.
⋄ The girl is young, poor, and
neglected.
⋄ the girl remained imaginative and
dreams of warmth and a great feast
in the story.

12. Character Analysis
» Grandmother
⋄ A minor character in the story.
⋄ She is the deceased grandmother of the
main character.
⋄ The grandmother represents the love, joy,
and security that the girl will never find at
home with her parents.

13. Character Analysis
»Father
⋄A minor character in the story.
⋄An abusive and neglectful figure to
her daughter

14. Primary Themes
»Loneliness, darkness, cold, hunger
and death
»Contrasting themes: Comfort,
light, warmth, and the hope of the
afterlife (Heaven)

15. Comparative Themes
» Acceptance (grandmother) versus Rejection
(father)
» Life (terribly miserable in her current state)
verses Death (the strong belief in “Heaven” as a
place where we reunite with the dead people we
love)

16. » Based solely from the text, Andersen’s
style of writing prominently makes use
of Epithets & Metaphors/Personification
(Lexical) and combined words, phrases
or sentences through Gap-sentence-link
(Syntactical).
Over-all Stylistic Device/s Used

17. Epithets
Examples Interpretation
“Nobody had bought anything of her the
whole livelong day…”
the word “livelong” suggest a
period of time
“She crept along trembling with cold and
hunger – a very picture of sorrow”
a very picture of sorrow = an
upsetting scene
“The flakes of snow covered her long fair
hair...”
used the word “flakes” as a
property of snow
“…to go home she did not venture, for she
had not sold any matches and could not bring
a farthing of money.”
farthing = currency of their
money
“…the burnt-out match in her hand.” burnt-out = extinguished

18. Epithets
Examples Interpretation
“On the table was spread a snow-white
tablecloth;”
used “snow-white” as the color
of the tablecloth
“And the matches gave such a brilliant light
that it was brighter than at noon-day”
used “brilliant” and “brighter
than at noon-day” to describe
the brightness of the flame.
“at the cold hour of dawn”
used “cold hour” to describe
the time and temperature of
dawn
“…sat the poor girl, with rosy cheeks and
with a smiling mouth.”
used the properties of “rosy” to
describe the main character’s
cheeks and “smiling” for her
mouth

19. Metaphors/Personification
Examples Interpretation
“two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast” rolled = drove
“One slipper was nowhere to be found; the other
had been laid hold by an urchin, and off he ran
with it.”
lay hold = grabbed
ran off = quickly escaped/left
“at home it was cold too, for above her she had only
the roof, through which the wind whistled…”
describing the sound of the wind
“The small flame went out, the stove vanished.”
she compared the small flame like
the stove which was extinguished
“The light fell on the wall”
she scratched a match against the
wall

20. Examples Interpretation
“the goose hopped down from the dish, reeled
about on the floor with knife and fork in its
breast…”
serving the food (the goose) on
the table like a Christmas
feast.
“The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher
and higher…”
rose higher = shined brighter
“She (the grandmother) took the little
maiden, on her arm, and both flew in
brightness and in joy so high, so very high”
this means that the main
character is dead
“Thousands of lights were burning on the
green branches.”
burning = shining
Metaphors/Personification

21. Gap-sentence-link
Examples Grammatical Corrections/Explanations
“So the little maiden walked on with her tiny
naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold.”
the emphasis/focus is brought on
the last part of the sentences
separated by the punctuations,
comma [,], semi-colon [;], colon [:]
and hyphen [-]
“Nobody had bought anything of her the whole
livelong day; no one had given her a single
farthing.”
“It was a warm, bright flame, like a candle, as she
held her hands over it: it was a wonderful light.”
“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.”

22. Gap-sentence-link
Examples
Grammatical
Corrections/Explanations
“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.”
the emphasis/focus is brought
on the last part of the
sentences separated by the
punctuations, comma [,], semi-
colon [;], colon [:] and hyphen
[-]
“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.”
“…leaning against the wall – frozen to death
on the last evening of the old year.”

23. 2.
The Little Match Girl
Lexical Analysis

24. Metonymy
Examples Interpretation
“from her father she would certainly get
blows.”
blows = battering
“…the light fell on the wall” light = the match
“a splendid porcelain service”
porcelain service = dining
presentation at the table
“Thousands of lights were burning on
the green branches.”
lights = Christmas lights

25. Interjections and Exclamatory Words
Examples Interpretation
“…the poor little thing!” a pitiable expression
“Oh! A match might afford her a world of
comfort…”
an unearthing expression
“ ‘Rischt!’ how it blazed, how it burnt!” a surprised expression
“Oh, take me with you!” a wishful expression

26. Simile
Examples Interpretation
“there the wall became transparent like
a veil”
The use of like and as to
compare the objects from
each other in the texts.
“she saw them (the Christmas lights)
now as stars in heaven.”
“…you vanish like the warm stove, like
the delicious roast goose, and like the
magnificent Christmas tree!"

27. Periphrasis
Examples Interpretation
“the last evening of the year.” New Year’s Eve
“no one had given her a single farthing”
a single farthing =
concern/care

28. Euphemism
Examples Interpretation
“…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.”
who was now no more =
already dead
“they were with God.”
The main character and her
grandmother are dead.

29. Hyperbole
Examples Interpretation
“Thousands of lights were burning on
the green branches.”
Many Christmas lights
“…leaning against the wall – frozen to
death on the last evening of the old
year.”
The main character felt
very cold and numb

30. Cliche
Examples Interpretation
“Expression of love”
manifestation of love/care
to each other

31. Quotation
Examples Interpretation
“…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.”
the quote came from the
protagonist’s grandmother

32. 3.
The Little Match Girl
Syntactic Analysis

33. Stylistic Inversion
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“Most terribly cold it was”
[At] most, it was terribly
cold.
“her little feet she had drawn close up to
her.”
She had drawn her little
feet close up to her.
“…and to go home she did not venture.”
and she did not venture to
go home.
“…from her father she would certainly
get blows.”
she would certainly would
get blows from her father

34. Stylistic Inversion
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“On the table was spread a snow-white
tablecloth”
A snow-white tablecloth was
spread on the table
“sat the poor girl” the poor girl sat
“Stiff and stark sat the child there with her
matches, of which one bundle had been
burnt.”
the child sat there, stiff and
stark, with her matches of
which one bundle had been
burnt.

35. Detached Construction
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“The little maiden stretched out her
hands towards them when – the match
went out.”
(remove the hyphen)
“When – the match went out and
nothing but the thick, cold, damp wall
was left behind.”
(remove the hyphen)

36. Parallel Construction
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“How it blazed, how it burnt!”
“blazed” and “burnt” were
used to show identical
qualities of the flame

37. Suspense
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“In a corner formed by two houses, of
which one advanced more than the other,
she seated herself down and cowered
together.”
The italized text is the
“suspense” phrase in the
sentence.

38. Climax (Gradation)
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“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”
this showed an ascending
series of how the goose was
served

39. Enumeration
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“…you vanish like the warm stove, like
the delicious roast goose, and like the
magnificent Christmas tree!"
it enumerated statements
between the disappearance
of her grandmother and the
objects comparing to it.
“…never formerly had the grandmother
been so beautiful and so tall.”
it enumerated the
grandmother’s physical
appearance

40. Asyndeton
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“It was a warm, bright flame, like a
candle, as she held her hands over it: it
was a wonderful light.”
no use of conjunctions

41. Polysyndeton
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“It snowed, and was nearly quite dark,
and evening-- the last evening of the
year.”
overuse of the conjunction,
“and”
“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.”
overuse of the conjunction,
“and” & “nor”

42. Question in the Narrative
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“When she left home she had slippers on, it is
true; but what was the good of that? They
were very large slippers, which her mother
had hitherto worn.”
Question: “but what was the
good of that?”
Answer: “They were very large
slippers, which her mother
had hitherto worn.” (the
answer indirectly means that
the slippers were useless since
it was too big for the
protagonist to wear)

43. Uttered Represented Speech
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“She crept along trembling with cold and
hunger--a very picture of sorrow, the poor
little thing!”
An actual utterance of the
language’s language: “the poor
little thing!”
“Her little hands were almost numbed with
cold. Oh! A match might afford her a world of
comfort, if she only dared take a single one
out of the bundle, draw it against the wall,
and warm her fingers by it.”
The author suggests an
unearthing advice to the
protagonist to light a match so
she can warm herself.

44. Unuttered Represented Speech
Examples
Grammatical
Correction/Explanations
“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.”
This expresses the character’s
feelings and thoughts wherein if
she would light “a whole bundle of
matches”, she would figuratively
keep seeing her grandmother
who’s already dead.
Furthermore, the depiction of the
scene where the protagonist sees
her grandmother is either a ghost
or a figment of her imagination.

45. 4.
The Little Match Girl (Conclusion)
Lexical-Syntactic Analysis

46. Conclusion
Anderson’s short tale is not only a sad holiday story
reminding us to give during the season, but a reality
check. His way of portraying the characters and his
youthful theme brings us closer to becoming aware of
relevant social issues and transcends us beyond
human comprehension with his depth of imagination
and a knack for the dramatic. Also, his style of using
various stylistic devices such as metaphors, epithets,
metonymy, simile, euphemism and the list goes on
softens the narrative to further encapsulate his
readers. Lastly, he makes sure to take the reader’s
attention by building emphasis on the important
parts of the story with his use of gap-sentences-link,
stylistic inversion and other more. This way, it creates
more impact and influence readers to carry a certain
amount of responsibility in the hopes of becoming
better individuals.

47. THANKS!
Any questions?

48. Matching TypeThe Little Match Girl

49. Match column A with the correct answer on column B,
write only the letter of your answer in a 1/4 sheet of
paper. (Part 1/3)
Column A Column B
1. “a splendid porcelain service”
2. “they were with God”
3. “the flakes of snow covered her long fair
hair”
4. “the last evening of the year”
5. “the goose hopped down from the dish”
A. Metaphor/Personification
B. Metonymy
C. Epithet
D. Periphrasis
E. Euphemism
F. Cliché

50. Match column A with the correct answer on column B,
write only the letter of your answer in a 1/4 sheet of
paper. (Part 2/3)
Column A Column B
1. “you vanish like the warm stove, like the
delicious roast goose, and like the
magnificent Christmas tree.”
2. “So the little maiden walked on with her
tiny naked feet, that were quite red and
blue from the cold”
3. “sat the poor girl”
A. Stylistic Inversion
B. Detached Construction
C. Parallel Construction
D. Enumeration
E. Gap-sentence-link
F. Polysyndeton

51. Match column A with the correct answer on column B,
write only the letter of your answer in a 1/4 sheet of
paper. (Part 3/3)
Column A Column B
4. “How it blazed, how it burnt!”
5. “then above was neither cold, nor hunger,
nor anxiety”
A. Stylistic Inversion
B. Detached Construction
C. Parallel Construction
D. Enumeration
E. Gap-sentence-link
F. Polysyndeton