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'It's enough for a man to understand his own business'
Scrooges self-centred individualism - rejects social responsibility
This reflects his capitalist views which Dickens critiques and instead, he promotes a didactic lesson of social responsibility
'Solitary as an oyster'
Similie - of an oyster - dickens uses stone imagery and the idea of oysters having a hard exterior to represent SC being shut off from society - isolated
Harsh sibilant sounds - could allude to scrooges seclusion and concealment - suggests threat
‘squeezing, wrenching… covetous, old sinner'
Asyndetic list of verbs: emphasise the EXTENT OF HIS GREED - Scrooges immoral characteristics are ongoing, casting him as unrepentant ‘sinner’
‘sinner’ : Dickens makes it clear how MORALLY CORRUPT he is; ‘sin’ specifically is a challenge to Christian values and meaning of Christmas
7 negative adjectives mirrors how there are 7 deadly sins - Dickens parallels Scrooge and sins to highlight how the rich are more inclined to moral transgression than the poor
‘he carried his own low temperature’
Extended metaphor - COLD: emphasises how COLD-HEARTED SC is; emotionally isolated from others; unfeeling
‘edge his way along the crowded paths of life’
METAPHOR - ‘edge.. paths’: path = society; re-enforces how SC REJECTS SOCIETY; anti social; DELIBERATLEY AVOIDS THE COMPANY OF OTHERS; ISOLATES HIMSELF
‘dismal little cell’… ‘sort of tank’
metaphor ‘cell’ - reflects how BC is trapped in his job by his poverty;
similie ‘tank’ - suggests BC is TREATED LIKE AN ANIMAL/ DEHUMANISED by SC
‘you’ll keep your Christmas by losing your situation’
Highlights how SC has complete POWER over BC - threatens to sack him;
SC’s LACK OF COMPASSION / IGNORANCE of B’s poverty
'‘idle people’
Sc shares the Victorian STEREOTYPE of the POOR as lazy; shows their IGNORANCE
‘decrease the surplus population’
DEHUMANISING TERM for the poor; reflects SC’s LACK OF HUMANITY;
compares with Bob’s ‘tank’
‘Are there no prisons?’
REPEATED QUESTIONING; reflects SC’s AGGRESSION towards the charity gentlemen;
Shows how Sc SUPPORTS THE HARSH MEASURES TAKEN AGAINST THE POOR at the time
Marley - ‘it was made of cash bokes, keys, padlocks…’
Metaphor ‘chain’: weighed down with items associated with money/ business - REPRESENTS MARLEYS GREED - PARALLEL TO SCROOGE;
Listing: reflects the extent of his greed when he was alive
Marley - ‘I made it link by link and yard by yard’
symbolism of chains - Chains are interconnecting which shows Marley warning Sc that his covetousness is connected to his
Re-enforces the idea of ETERNAL SUFFERING and consequence of being parsimonious and perpetuating social injustice
Personal pronoun - ‘I’ represents Marley acknowledging remorse for his own personal selfishness and greed
Marley - ‘an infernal atmosphere of its own’
Metaphor: ‘infernal’: imagery of fire and Hell; links to the theme of ETERNAL SUFFERING and PUNISHMENT;
Re-enforces the idea of GREED AS A SIN
Nephew - ‘as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave’
‘fellow passengers’ : Dickens PROMOTES the idea of COMMUNITY and SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY;
‘creatures’: Dickens’ WARNS AGAINST THE PREJUDICE and DEHUMANISING THE POOR
Parallels Marley’s lesson: ‘Mankind was my business’
‘a solitary child neglected by his friends’… ‘a lonely boy’
adjectives ‘solitary’ and ‘lonely’: highlight how he suffered SOCIAL ISOLATION as a child;
‘neglected’: reveals how Sc himself was a VICTIM OF THE UNKINDNESS OF OTHERS
Ghost of Xmas past description
‘a tunic of purist white’ - white = purity = biblical reference, God
has winter holly in hand and summer flowers on its dress - hope, new life and resilience, suggets there’s hope for SC to change
‘a bright clear jet of light’: spirits purpose is to ENLIGHTEN SC - contrasts SC’s moral blindness
CONTRASTS SC’s association with darkness
‘what idol has displaced you?’
‘a golden one’ - Belle
METAPHOR: ‘golden idol’ - represents GREED/AVARICE
biblical reference: the worship of false values —> a sin
Shows how SC chooses money over love, over belle, and isolates himself with his greed
‘bright clear jet of light’… ‘purest white’ - Past
motif of light - hope and radiance - ghost is a beacon of enlightenment - illuminating Sc’s path towards moral awakening and personal transformation
‘if he’d be like to die, he better do it and decrease the surplus population’ - Present
Repetition - ghost repeats Sc quote - emphasising his callous neglect and ignorance towards the plight of the lower classes
Poverty and starvation are dismissed as inevitable outcomes of a ‘surplus population’
Plosives - harshness emphasises the harsh callousness of upper class views towards the destitute
‘shrouded in a deep black garment’
symbol of death - reminiscent in archetypal portrayal of grim reaper; a symbol of death
‘'black’ - ominous image juxtaposes motif of light seen through the other spirits
Sc ironically ‘solitary’ death is imminent. Sc longed for a solitary existence and the ghost is showing him the consequences of his selfish and isolated existence- emphasises need for transformation and redemption
‘quite a baby’ ‘merry as a schoolboy’
Infantile language - indicated re birth;
‘baby’ is the start of life - signifies sc has been reborn and gone from ‘old sinner’ back to the most innocent form of human life - ultimate rebirth
Christian values - links to Chrits rebirth to provide salvation - Sc’s rebrth is to provide salvation to the poor - eg, saviing TT
