Analysis of quotes

• 'I wear the chain I forged in life'

  • Stave 1
  • 1st- Metaphor
  • Jacob Marley is presented by Dickens to teach wealthy readers that if they don't change and act charitably they too will face consequences as he did.
  • 2nd- Personal pronoun 'I'
  • Shows Jacob Marley is accepting personal responsibility and his negligence towards lower classes
  • 3rd- Noun 'Chains'
  • Connotations: Imprisonment
  • Shows Marley is trying to warn Dickens readers to avoid through exercising charitable acts towards other people in society, especially people like Bob Cratchit
• 'a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, covetous old sinner'

  • Stave 1
  • 1st- Third person
  • Explicit judgement on the character Scrooge which ensures that the reader cannot misinterpret Dickens message that he is a miserly, cold person
  • 2nd- List of verbs
  • Synonyms which emphasises the lengths Scrooge will go to
• 'Hard and sharp as flint'

  • Stave 1
  • 1st- Simile
  • Emphasises scrooges tough and cold characteristics
  • Dickens use of 'Sharp' highlights Scrooges lack of sociability towards others
  • Adjective 'hard' suggests that he lacks warmth and empathy for others
• 'A lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire'

  • Stave 2
  • 1st- Motif
  • Warmth is used throughout the novella to highlight the importance of human compassion
  • 'Feeble fire' implies that it's small and insufficient for Bob Cratchit to be working which links to Scrooges cold hearted character and his obsession with money,
  • As readers we can also infer that the 'feeble fire' is highlighting how his hope if fading.
• 'Another Idol has displaced me... a golden one'

  • Stave 2
  • 1st- Biblical allusion
  • Dickens expresses his discontent towards the privileged Victorians through this novella. The creation of Scrooge shows how him, and many others in the 1840's would appear to worship to false god's in hope to receive a rewarding afterlife. However the lack of charity and compassion towards the poor showed how greedy and selfish.
• 'A small pudding for a large family'

  • Stave 3
  • 1st- Gratitude
  • 'small' shows the gratitude and recognition of hard work people displayed in the Victorian era to survive
  • 2nd- Symbolic to hard work
  • Deserving peoples efforts to provide for their family at Christmas
• 'Decrease the surplus population'

  • Stave 3
  • 1st- Attitudes towards the poor
  • Echoes Scrooges earlier comment to allow him to recognise his inhumanity and cruelty and the impacts of his ignorance towards the Cratchit family.
  • Dickens intention was for he reader to consider their attitudes towards others, aiming to promote kindness and a sense of compassion.
  • Links to the Malthusianism