Scrooge

• dickens uses Scrooges character tot criticize the divide between those who have money and those who don't
• we follow his change as a character - show the readers that they can change too
• dickens repeatedly tells us that Scrooge is a lonely character at the start of the play - summarises through his role with Marley - repeats saying 'sole' when talking about his relationship with Marley - the repetition of the adjective emphasises how alone both men were/are
• Dickens also describes Scrooge as 'hard and sharp as flint'

  'hard' -lacks warmth, empathy and compassion

  'flint' - dehumanises- no emotion, can create fire (there's more to him then it seems)

  'sharp' - pain ('grating voice'), implies Scrooge is Merciless
• 'solitary as an oyster'

  'oyster' - noun - dehumanises Scrooge, looks ugly (shell), at the bottom of the ocean (isolated - 'solitary'), tough, hard but...

  also contain pearls, which could show there is something to him he hasn't shown which foreshadows his change
• humour -

  when talking to Marley, Dickens says - 'there is more gravy than of grave about you' - word play with 'grave' and 'gravy'- makes Scrooge seem less two dimensional, reader is likely to engage and celebrate Scrooges transformation
• reader feels empathy when he returns to his childhood with the ghost of past - ghost describes Scrooge as a 'solitary child neglected by his friends' (solitary as an oyster) - left alone by others not his choice unlike when he's older and chooses to be alone - juxtaposition with 'neglection' and 'friends' creates sympathy -- Scrooge sobbed showing us empathy and compassion have power to make an emotional response - start of transformation
• start of transformation - scrooge sobbed but also seen when Scrooge see's Fan, Fezziwig and Belle - Scrooge see's relationships, not money make happiness - encourages reader to feel sorry for him -- he's becoming less greedy
• ghost of present - Scrooge shows he is prepared for the lessons that await him-- still imagery of money 'profit' transformation is on-going
• Scrooge shows empathy for Tiny Tim - 'tell me if Tiny Tim will live' - 'Tell me' = imperative - Scrooge really cares - contrasts earlier comments about the poor dyeing will 'decrease the surplus population'
• climax of the novella - Scrooge reads his own name on the gravestone and realises that everyone has been talking about him - Dickens uses statements to show the significance of the moment
• Final section - Dickens uses more similes to describe the changes of Scrooge ;

  'I am as light as a feather' - got rid of restricting chains, 'feather' = freedom, flight, heaven (relates to Christianity) - 'angle'-goodness

  'I am as happy as an angle'

  'I am as merry as a school boy' - contrasts when we visited his past and saw how sad his school life was, might hint at what Scrooge longed for in his childhood
• the ghost of Christmas past shows us Scrooge as a child in school, he spent Christmas at school which could show why he doesn't like the holiday as all his memories of it are bad, he also didn't have money back then which is probably why he is so stingy with his money as he is scared to loose it again
• his change shows society is a better place if we all look out for one another