What is the writing style of the author in this story?

Andersen uses ambiguous language to show that the girl is in an unfortunate situation for many different reasons. When the girl realizes that she cannot return home for fear of being beaten by her father, the narrator states that “it was almost as cold at home as it was here” (12). This line has two meanings. On one hand, it refers to the literal temperature, in that the girl would be no warmer if she were at home. On the other hand, the coldness could represent the lack of love and support, so the girl would not be in a better situation at home because her father does not love or support her.

Andersen repeats the same line at the top of a few pages to demonstrate the girl’s hope and desperation. At the top of pages 20, 22, and 24, Andersen includes a line about the girl lighting another match. This repetition emphasizes the fact that lighting the matches is the only way that the little girl can escape the cold, and since her visions come from the fire, she keeps lighting the matches to experience her imagined scenarios, hoping that one of them will stay after the match burns out.

The dialogue of the passers-by at the end of the story serves to emphasize the cruelty in the society of this story’s world. Andersen has already established the indifference towards the underprivileged in various ways throughout the story, as has been discussed earlier in this guide (referring to the girl as a ‘creature,’ for example). However, the dialogue at the end is a final emphasis to support this point. When the passers-by notice the little girl’s dead body, the only comment from them is that “she must have tried to warm herself” (30). There are no expressions of pity or sadness; just a cold analysis of how she could have died.