Point: materialism and social indifference

d i c, a S l i

Dickens emphasises Scrooge’s miserliness through his assertion that “darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it”. Dickens characterises greed through Scrooge, as he refuses to spend money on basic comfort, choosing gloom over paying for candles or coal. Furthermore, darkness represents Scrooge’s cold, unfeeling heart and his emotional isolation from society. The motif of light in A Christmas Carol often symbolises charity, kindness and human connection - all of which Scrooge actively avoids. By living in the dark, Scrooge tries to control his environment and hoard every single penny.

B, H!

Scrooge often repeats the exclamation, “Bah, Humbug!” whenever frustrated. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge uses “Humbug” to invalidate anything that lacks literal cash value (eg: joy, love, charity). It acts as a linguistic shield to shut down human connection. Towards the end of Dickens’ didactic novella, his vocabulary shifts to cosmic and spiritual gratitude. Upon waking on Christmas morning, he cries, “Heaven and the Christmas Time be praised for this!” Similarly, his speech begins to appear obsessed with scarcity and division. He tells his nephew to “keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.” He views time off as “a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket.” However, towards the end, he embraces totality and connection. He proclaims, “I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!” His sentences grow longer, bursting with exclamation marks and laughter.

I d’t m m a C a I c a t m i p m

Scrooge argues that “I don't make merry at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry”. Dickens’ repetition of the pronoun ‘I’ could suggest Scrooge’s self-centred character, while the repetition of ‘merry’ paired with the harsh consonant sounds emphasises his bitter tone. Dickens uses Scrooge to criticise quintessential upper-class attitudes towards the poor. Many wealthy Victorians believed the deprived were “idle” and responsible for their own suffering. Dickens presents Christmas as a symbol of generosity and community, contrasting selfish capitalist values.

m o w m

a i h d m… a g o

Dickens highlights how Scrooge’s materialism costs him significantly more than it benefits him - a theme first introduced by Jacob Marley in the opening stave when he refers to Scrooge as a “man of worldly mind”. This is shown to the reader when Scrooge visits his old fiancée Belle who tells him that she is leaving him because an idol has displaced me… a golden one” She continues by saying he has become a man who “fears the world too much”, conveying the severe cost of Scrooge’s materialism.