English- A Christmas Carol Quotes- Stave 1

"Marley was dead, to begin with."

- Establishing death and Marley as key element

- Sets tone of book

- Assumes we know who Marley is, makes the figure of Marley a universal idea.

- Contradictory statement, starting beginning with an end.

- Conveys situation at the time- demonstrates what Scrooge could become.

"Old Marley was as dead as a doornail."

- Repetition of death

- Emphasising death as key component of text-

ghostly, gothic feel

- Conflict between gothic elements, with joyous human element.

"Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!"

"tight-fisted" refers to greedy over money

"a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner"

- Aggressive verbs

- Trying to keep hold of all his money.

- Words of desperation- clutch

- Ownership

- Links to idea of Scrooge grasping everything around him/ grasps wrong things/ actually wants love

- Idea of physical connections of negative connections

- Covetous religious element

- Contrast between Cratchits as they appreciate everything whereas Scrooge grasps money.

"Hard and sharp as flint"

Simile:

Emotionless

Gives him non-human features

"self-contained and solitary as an oyster"

- Isolated

- Doesn't let anyone in

- Suggests that under this hard appearance, there is something good deep down within Scrooge.

"No wind that blew was bitterer than he,"

- Suggests Scrooge is bitter

- Superlative in bitter

- emphasises empitude of scrooge

"Nobody ever stopped him in the street"

People were scared of him due to his personality and his appearance.

Sense of isolation

"'No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!"

People prefer to not see at all than see things the way Scrooge does or be anything like Scrooge.

"It was cold, bleak, biting weather; foggy withal"

- Emphasis on weather

- Relates to Scrooge and conveys how Scrooge is presented within this novella.

- Pathetic fallacy

"Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like coal"

Emphasis on how selfish Scrooge is.

He has no care for anyone else but himself.

Forbids anyone around him have joy or warmth.

" A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you! cried a cheerful voice"

Theme of Christmas Spirit

- Introduces a new character with the use of speech.

- Conveys that this character is happy and cheerful unlike Scrooge.

- Shows a major contrast in characters.

" 'Bah!' said Scrooge. 'Humbug!'

- Theme of Christmas Spirit

- Conveys that Scrooge isn't a believer of Christmas.

- Miserable

Scrooge-

"What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough'"

- Theme of Christmas Spirit

Suggests that Scrooge thinks you have to be rich to be happy and that money is everything.

Scrooge-

" What's Christmastime to you but a time for paying bills without money;a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer"

- Theme of Christmas Spirit

- Clearly presents Scrooge's thoughts and opinions of Christmas.

-States that Christmas is all about paying bills, forgets the real values/ religious element to Christmas.

- Says that they are fools for spending money on presents and celebrating Christmas when they have bills to pay.

Scrooge-

' "Merry Christmas" on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart'

- Theme of Christmas Spirit

-His views on society

- Thinks that celebrating Christmas should result in being killed with a symbol of something they celebrate.

- Anything associated with christmas to be dead.

- Doesn't like happiness and joy as he doesn't feel these emotions.

Scrooge-

" 'keep christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine' "

Fred-

" 'Keep it!' repeated Scrooge's nephew. ' But you don't keep it' "

- Theme of Christmas Spirit

Conveys Scrooge's isolation

Doesn't have any association with Christmas.

Fred-

" as a good time; a kind forgiving, charitable, pleasant time"

- Theme of Christmas Spirit

- Emphasis on how people at christmas time should be.

- Everything Scrooge isn't.

Fred-

" And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good and will do me good"

- Theme of Christmas Spirit

- Suggests that Fred doesn't need money to be happy

- He's better off without needing money.

" 'Why did you get married?' said Scrooge.

'Because I fell in love.'

'Because you fell in love!' growled scrooge.

- Scrooge acts as if being in love is a crime but he actually is desperate for it.

- He lost the love of his life, and therefore doesn't want anyone else to have love.

"for the poor and destitute"

Theme of Poverty:

- Theme of Christmas Spirit

- Conveys that Christmas is a time for sharing and helping the less fortunate.

- Conveys how communities come together.

" 'Are there no prisons?' "

" 'And the Union Workhouses' "

" 'The Treadmill and the Poor Law' "

Theme of Poverty:

- Scrooge is looking for any other reason not to give money to the poor.

- Would rather them be in places with bad conditions then be healthy and safe.

"to buy the Poor some meat and drink"

Theme of Poverty:

Personified the word "poor"

Gives it a human emotions/features

Emphasises the importance of helping the poor at this time,

"When Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices."

"I can't afford to make idle people merry."

Ironic

He has lots of money and doesn't use it.

Would rather keep it then spend it on something useful.

" 'If they would rather die,' said Scrooge, 'they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.' "

" 'It's not convenient,' said Scrooge, 'and it's not fair."

"The clerk observed that it was only once a year"

When Bob Cratchit asks to have Christmas day off.

Scrooge is presented as mean as he's not letting Bob have one day off even though he never has a day off.

Could be a sign of jealousy as Scrooge wants a family to spend Christmas with deep down but his jealousy is taking over his true thoughts.

"Marley's face"

Short sentence emphasises significance of the line.

???

"To say that he was not startled, or that his blood was not conscious of a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, would be untrue"

"stranger" and "startled"

Stranger to fear

"melancholy dinner"

"Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it."

"it was made[...] of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy purses wrought in steel."

Chains metaphorically bind us to things. - Heavy, as they weigh us down.

"chilling influence of its death-cold eyes"

"A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheat"

He's in denial

Doesn't want to believe that this is happening.

"if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death."

- Theme of redemption

- Connotations if you dont succeed, you'll live the rest of your life and even after death regretting it

- "spirit" shows everything you represent, if you're bad then you'll face the consequences.

- Hints that this will happen to Scrooge

Marley-

" ' I made it link by link , and yard by yard;"

" 'the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself?"

- Theme of redemption

Suggests that the way Marley and Scrooge behave has major consequences.

They'll be haunted by their decisions forever.

"Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunities misused"

- Theme of redemption

Can't turn back time

Should take every opportunity you get.