Text analysis: The little girl

1) The summary
The little girl, Kezia was afraid of her father. She always stuttered when speaking with him. Kezia had
to take off father's boots and he was not satisfied with that. Kezia always went to the church with her
father. On Sundays afternoons grandmother sent Kezia down to the drawing-room to have a "nice talk
with father and mother", but they were always busy and had no time for her. One day grandmother told
Kezia that father's birthday was next week and Kezia decided to make a pincushion for a present. She
had nothing to fill it with. She went into mother's bedroom to look for "scraps". She found there many
sheets of paper and broke them into pieces and stuffed the case. Father found out the truth and
whipped Kezia with a ruler. The papers were very important for him. The child never forgot that.
One day Kezia looked through a hole at the neighbouring house. Father was playing with his 5
children. They were happy. One day mother became ill and Kezia was left alone with Alice in the house.
Alice put her to bed, but Kezia was afraid that she would have a nightmare and she really had one.
Father took her into his bedroom. Tired out Father slept before the little girl. Kezia understood that her
father was working hard every day and had no time for her. She thought that her father had a big heart.
2) The title
In my opinion the author chose the title The little girl, because he wants to accentuate the
idea that our story is about a girl. The title is directly connected with the story. The words from
the title are present in the text through complete reccurence.
The title of the story refers to everyone. Their presence in the story is suggested by the name
Kezia, who is the main character. Beginning with the title the author introduced a very
interesting plot that makes us to ask ourselves what could happen if the little girl had behaved
in other way. The author shows a negative attitude toward the father and the little girl, who
made something mad without realizing it.
The title is effective as the author shows the relationship between Kezia and her father and how
she is affected. She was afraid of her father. He only wanted her to be obedient, disciplined,
organized and a perfect person She wanted his love and company. As a result she couldnt build
up self confidence and didnt feel free to talk. If she tried to talk she would end up stuttering.
A good title for this story can be The relationship between father and daughter. I think this is
of course very actual problem in our society. The children dont have an open relationship with
their parents. The inter-personal relationships between parents and their children are very
important for a successful life and a congenial atmosphere in the family.
3) The subject/ the theme
The subject The relationship between parents and children runs thorough the story. The actuality of
this subject comes from the reality, because we live in a society in which the parents dont have a good
relationship with their children. For better relationship the first factor is mutual interaction and regular
communication among the members of a family because through communication only we can
understand each others aspirations, expectations, desires, strengths in a better way. It is essential that
parents should spend time with their children. They should give them freedom and opportunities to
express themselves. Parents should give them respect and due attention to boost their self esteem and
self confidence. Children dont like when parents thrust their view point and decision on them. This
attitude curbs their free thinking, creativity, independent decision making ability, in other worlds the
spontaneous development of personality gets hampered. Another important factor affecting
relationship is that each member- child or parents should feel the necessity of fulfilling responsibilities
towards one another. Otherwise things dont work and there cannot be mutual understanding and
comfortable atmosphere in the family.
The idea is that fathers are too tired, work too hard and sometimes don't have time time for their
children. Parents shouldn't be indifferent to their children. They love their children.
4) The characters
The author endows the characters with their following traits. He uses the direct and indirect
characterization. Directly, the author endows the characters with the following traits. Indirectly, the
speech habits of the characters betray your temperament and attitude that one of them assumes to
another. The little girl and the father are the main (major) characters, because the action is passing
with them and they takes part at all the storys events. The mother, grand-mother and Alice are the
secondary (minor) characters of the story, because they appears in only one passage and the author
introduced them to help the little girl in different situations, providing educational results.

The little girl is the protagonist of the story, because she developed positive traits and he doesnt want
any conflict. His father is the antagonist, because he opposes his daughter and denies his opinion
having negative traits. The daughter is peaceful and tolerant, while his father is nervous.
The dynamic characters of the story is the father and the little girl who dont change during the
action, but their personality transform in the end of the story because he proves to his daughter that he
has a big heart and he is a good person and the little girl understood that. The static characters are the
mother and the grand-mother, because they dont transform and evolve. The father is also the round
character, because he has a complex personality, at first having a negative behaviour and changing it
completely in the end. He is a contradictory person who has a different point of view, but finally he give
up. The mother and grand-mother are the flat characters, because they dont develop any traits. Alice
is like the mather a flat character who is only preoccupied by her services and she doesnt have any
characteristics except those of being a servant.
The father is one of the two main characters, characterized by his actions, speech and by the
attitude he assume to his girl. He is the antagonist of the story, so he has rather negative traits. To
mould the moral portrait of the father the author uses the indirect characterization and he appears as
a serious and severe person. The author characterizes him indirectly by showing his actions and the
way he talk with his daughter He has a figure to be feared and avoided. He always gave her a
perfunctory kiss, father had a loud voice,wore spectacles. He looked at the little girl in a terrifying way.
He believed in God because he went to the church....
He is a round character, too severe with his daughter. Father loved his daughter, this being seen at the
end of the story. He is hard-working and too tired. She is afraid of her father, loves her father, she is
obedient, stuttered when speaking with her father, aspired for love on the part of her parents (wanted
to make a present for her father), she had little, pink palms. She was happy when she saw the
neighbour playing with his children. Finally she understood that her father was too tired and had no
time for her. He had a big heart. The father is a dynamic and round character, because his personality
evolves and his bad traits change in the end.
5) The conflict
The author uses the external conflict to show the problem that the little girl has with his father. It is an
external conflict because the girl opposes the dad in the way she thinks and acts. The conflict of our
story is: man against man. The main character shows a direct opposition in thinking, thus the little girl
thinks that his father is bad and severe with her and she is afraid of him. The dad is always busy and
he doesnt spend more time with his daughter.
This is a classic type of conflict, when one character wants to change and to educate the opponents
mind. And in this case the little girl is punished for what she did. Its a very actual type of conflict when
the parents try to have a good relationship with their children. They shouldn't be indifferent to them
and they should forgive them when make a mistake.
In our case the father had a good influence on his daughter who finally understood that he has a big
heart. In my opinion its a favourable conflict, because the purpose of the father was realized and the
conflict was solved providing a moral to the little girl.
6) The plot (The plot is the essential component os the story.)
The author structured very well the text. The plot follows the chronological order of events.
Exposition is at the beginning when we got acquanted with the main characters.
Rising Action is a series of events that move the story to a climax. In our story the rising action
represents the moment when Kezia is afraid of his father and when she stutters when speaking with her
father. Climax is when Kezia breaks the papers into pieces. Falling Action represents the moment
when Kezia is punished and after that she has a nightmare.
Denoument represents the moment when Father takes Kezia into his bedroom and she
Narration is dynamic and it gives a continuous account of events.III rd person narration or
heterodiegetic narration represents the narrator himself.The focalization is fixed because the events are
presented from one constant point of view.The omniscient author moves in and out of character's
thoughts and comments on what they say,think and do.Narration is intercepted with dialogue.Through
the dialogue the characters are better portrayed.It also brings the action nearer to the reader, makes it
seem more swift and more intense.
Tone conveys feelings and emotions.From the very beginning the author keeps the readernin
suspence.The reader is eager to find out who this "he" is. Drammatic mood- Father's attitude towards
his daughter,the suffering of the daughter. The principle of recurrence:"the little girl" repeated for
many times. Divergences: fathers-Kezia's father does not play with his daughter,the other plays with
his children.Kezia is not happy,the other children are happy. Analogy father-mother, both did not stay
much with their child.

7) Stylistic devices
Stylistic devices: simile:your hands jog like an old lady's (Kezia).You look like a little brown owl.
Comparison:Thinking about him alone in the nursery was like thinking about a giant(father).
Inversion and personofication: Down came the ruler on her little,pink palms. Colloquial language:
Pa-father,Grandma, grannie. Repetition: She heard the noise of the buggy growing fainter and fainter
down the long road. Detachment: she never stuttered with other people-had quite given it up-but only
with father.Aposiopesis is at the end. Enumeration: the little girl always found mother reading "The
Sketch" and father streched out on the couch,his handkerchief on his face,his feet propped on one of
the best sofa pillows. Anadiplosis: she saw the boys turn the hose on him-turn the hose on him.
Alliteration: She stirred suddenly,and sighed.