fred

• keywords:

  • Magnanimous (generous), model Christian, sincere, optimistic (positive), jovial (cheerful and friendly)
• Fred is a foil to Scrooge as he emphasises Scrooge's miserly and inconsiderate qualities.

  • However, Fred is benevolent and magnanimous (generous) - he is full of vitality and life compared to his cantankerous (bad-tempered) uncle.
• His optimistic and jovial attitude is shown through his abundance of exclamative sentences:

  • "A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!"
• "A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!"

  • The comma before "uncle" creates a pause, showing Fred's sincerity towards Scrooge as he emphasises their familial bond.

  The exclamative sentences compound this as he is both overjoyed at this festive time and thrilled to be in the presence of a beloved family member.
• Fred starkly contrasts his misanthropic (unsociable) uncle who calls people who are festive an "idiot" and belligerently (aggressively) suggests:

  • They should be "buried with a stake of holly through the heart"
• Fred's religious and jovial words juxtapose Scrooge's pessimistic words surrounding death.

  • Thus, Dickens constructs Fred to exacerbate how Scrooge's characteristics; parsimonious (unwilling to spend money), misanthropic (anti-social), miserly and pessimistic, are not desirable traits for society.

  Instead, individuals should be a like Fred as this would lead to social reform and a progressive society.
• Jovial presentation:

  • "More blest in a laugh than Scrooge's nephew"

  As Fred is "blest in a laugh", it alludes to how Fred's energy is infectious as God has blessed him with benevolence and joy.

  • This foreshadows how Fred's abundance of benevolence and compassion will eventually infect Scrooge - Stave 5, for example, when Scrooge embraces Fred at Christmas.
• Fred's elation is described hyperbolically, even in the way he laughs is "twisting his face into the most extravagant contortions".

  • This again makes him a foil to Scrooge who is "squeezing, wrenching".

  As this connotates a struggle, it could suggest how Scrooge struggles to assimilate (understand fully) into society and be jovial alike to Fred.
• The motif of light is used with Fred as he is described as "all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled".

  • "Glow" and "sparkled" demonstrate this motif.

  As light frequently symbolises hope and enlightenment throughout the novella, this could show how Fred provides hope for Scrooge's redemption - his magnanimous (generous and forgiving) nature provides hope that Scrooge will emulate this.
• Alternatively, alike to the ghosts and Belle, the motif of light suggests that Fred catalyses Scrooge's enlightenment.

  • Scrooge's interactions with the ghosts make him realise his immoral miserly interactions with people such as Bob and Fred.

  Thus, Fred's interaction with Scrooge is pivotal in Scrooge understanding his wrong doings.
• The motif of light is a direct juxtaposition with the semantic field of darkness and cold surrounding Scrooge in stave 1:

  • "Darkness is cheap and Scrooge liked it"
  • "Frosty rime"
  • "He iced in his office"

  This highlights how Scrooge thrived in being misanthropic and cold-hearted, hence he "liked" the bitter darkness as this meant he could be hidden and forgotten.
• As Dickens uses fiction to ignite social reform - he creates Fred to be an exemplary model of the perfect citizen, compassionate, empathetic, and religious, to show the reader how social reform will be easier if everybody in society was more alike to Fred and less like Scrooge.
• Fred's understanding and compassion is clear as he says about Scrooge:

  • "His offences carry their own punishment, and I have nothing to say against him"

  Fred does not make it his business to condemn - he knows the real condemnation will be in the afterlife.

  • Thus, he remains objective regarding Scrooge and leads with love.
• Fred feels empathetic towards Scrooge's misery filled life he inflicts upon himself:

  • "I am sorry for him; I couldn't be angry with him if I tried".

  The lexis on "couldn't be angry" reinforces how Fred is constructed and unable to be hateful and spiteful. He only knows how to be solicitous (caring) - a model example for society.
• At the end of the novel, Scrooge holds more resemblance to the characteristics of Fred than he did at the beginning.
• Fred's presence allows the reader a character to measure Scrooge's redemption.

  • As Fred is the epitome of a moral citizen, when Scrooge becomes alike to him at the end, the conformation that Scrooge has become society's paradigm (model example) of a moral member of society.