A Christmas Carol

• ''i wear the chain i forged in life... I made it link by link'' stave 1 - as chains are made of links, which are all interconnecting, this is alike to how Marley is warning scrooge that his infatuation with money and abandonment of compassion for others, is directly connected to his anguish
• 'his chain was long and wound about him like a tail'' stave 1 - the simile ''like a tail'' implies that his egoism and selfishness has led to his animalistic treatment in hell- his disregards for other in his life, has led to him being disregarded as an animal in his after life. Thus, due to the soical injustice he contributed to, he is now having to lead a dehumanising and animal existence in his afterlife
• 'dragging a heavy chain'' stave 1 - a chain symbolises restriction and entrapment. Through Marley ''dragging a heave chain'', his chian is a conceit for the restricring and eternal consequences of being parsimonious. The tiresome verb ''dragging'' exacerbates that the eternal punishments he is enduring as it appears he has been carrying these punishments for a long time - God has made him subejct to this eternal suffering in hell.
• Political diatribe, didactic, allegories
• Apathetic, frugal, misanthropic, microcosm, miser, parsimonious, lack of social conscience...
• The innoncence of children was a typical trope within Dickens' work. This was aligned with the focus on the angelic portrayal of children in victorian literature. This juxtaposed the portrayal prior to the victorian era where children where seen as sinnners due to not finding god yet. 
• Tiny Tim highlights this victimisation as he is a victim to poverty. Although his health conditions are not because he is poor, it raises the question of - would his death have been so imminent if he had access to healthcare like the rich? 

  Dickens highlights how child neglection is a by-product of having malthusian views. When Scrooge demands to ''decrease the surplus population,'' the actuality of these demands means that the ''surplus population'' may be decreased at the expense of innocent life.

   
• • '' 'My little, little child!' cried Bob 'My little child' ''
• • ''as good as gold'' said Bob '' and better''
• Bob and Tim are both emblems of the negected poor- both display nothing but virtuous characteristics yet endlessly suffer. This juxtaposes Scrooge who undegoes no suffering yet is the epitome of a victorian miser. Dickes' social commentary is crictical of this hypocritical treatment of the classes. Treatment of an indiviudal should be based on their character, ot their financial status
• • The repeated adjective ''little'' to describe Tiny Tim connotes fragility and innocence, reinforcing that innocent and fragile children are frequently victims to the belligerent cycle of poverty without social change, the unjust issues of poverty will continue
  • Dickens provides a solution to breaking the cycle of povertyy. He shows through the development of a collective social conscience, as developed by Scrooge when he becomes a ''second father'' to Tiny Tim, society can unite and alleviate this neglection and suffering of the poor.
• Dickens contructs Bob as an emblem of the neglected poor to highlight how compassionate individuals like Bob, are stuck in the unrelenting cycle of poverty as perpetuated by the rich upper class. He laos constructs Scrooge to be an emblem of the upper class to be scathing of the vast neglect and mistreatment the poor undergo due to ignorance and prejudices from the rich
• 'if he would rather die, he ahd better do it, and decrease the surplus population (ghost repeating those words back to scrooge) This resulting in Scrooge being ''overcome with pentinence and grief'' - stave 3 the ghost emulates Scrooge's heartless malthusian view. Scrooge feels intense remorse as he has seen the physical effects of his blissful ignorance towards the plight of the poor- Tiny Tim is microcosmic for the victimisation of poor children because of individuals like Scrooge seeing them as an inconvenience to society.
• • ''Hear me! I am not the man I was'' stave 4 - the imperative phrase ''hear me!'' shows Scroog'es desperation to be allowed a chance at redemption and salvation. The exclamative sentence compounds this desperation as he is shouting and pleading the ghost.
• • ''I am as light as a feather. I am as happy as an angel. I am as merry as a schoolboy'' stave 5 - ''i am as light as a feather'' is the antithesis to his simile in stave one of him being ''as hard and sharp as flint''. the juxtaposing simlies highlihgts how Scrooge feels as he has been liberated and now feeling ''light'' from the burdens of carrying his once ''own low temperature''
• • ''Quite a baby, as merry as a schoolboy'' stave 5 - as both ''baby'' and ''schoolboy'' connote innocence and youth, Scrooge is showcasing how through him repenting for his sins, he has regained his youthful innocence and ability to see the world in an untainted light. as being a ''baby'' is the start of life, this signifies that scrooge has been reborn as he has gone from an ''old sinner'' bacl to the most innocent form of human life- he has had the ultimate rebirth
• • ''piercing, searching, biting cold'' stave 1 - the personification of the weather makes the weather seem powerful, this could be an allusion to the forthcoming supernatural powers to come
• ' he seized the extinguisher cap, and by a sudden action, pressed it down upon it's head'' stave 2 - Scrooge rejects the redemption the supernatural power of the ghost is trying to offer him. Scrooge wants to exterminate this bright light, symbolising revelation and hope, due to him unable to confront his pain from the past. The aggressive verb ''pressed'' paired with the rapid adverb of ''sudden'' explores how Scrooge is engulfed with deeply repressed emotions, he acts out irrationally due to sheer panic
• • ''I will live in the past present and the future. the spirits of all three shall strive within me.'' stave 4 - Scrooge's realisation marks the climax of the allegorical novella. the concept of ''three'' could be a biblical allusion to the three different forms of God within the holy trinity: the father, the son and the holy spirit. This could emphasisehow the three ghosts almost acted as incarnations of God himself- relaying a moral and religious message that penetrated deeply within Scrooge.
• • ''What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough?'' stave 1 - Scrooge recognises that poverty causes misery, however, he continues to live in a state of ignorance, most significantly through neglecting others without offering to alleviate the misery of poverty.
• • ''Tell me if Tiny Tim will live.'' stave 3 - Scrooge's use of imperatives, paired with the verb, ''cried'' highlihgts his cathersis as he is so overcome with guilt due to his blatant disregard and ignorance to the plight of the destitute - this being personified thorugh the Cratchits.
• • his grave being ''overrun by grass and weeds'' in stave 4 - His neglected and aboandoned death is a conseuqence of his selfishness. The image of neglect, paired with the image of death and decay, highlights how Scrooge in his death has been devalued and forgotten - his uncompassionate nature is physically reflected in his uncared for grave.
• • ''The cold within him froze his old features'' stave 1 - the conceit (extended metaphor) of the relentless cold golds parallels to scrooge's distant and cold attitude - his internal apathy and detachment is so omnipotent, it alters his physical appearance.
• • ''External heat and cold had littler influence'' stave 1 - he is successful in the ostrcisation of himself as even elements of nature, typicall uncontrollable, he has managed to isolate himself from
• • a ''golden'' idol has ''displaced'' Belle stave 2 - as 'golden' connots valuable and precious this is used ironically to indicate how Scrooge, a microcosm of the upper class, views materialistic items as valuable and precious over loved ones and other members of society
• • ''Are there no prisons?'', ''Are there no workhouses'' stave 1 - His malthusin views, paired with his use of rehtorical questions, highlights the sheer ingorance of the upper class towards poverty. Scrooge is unable to see the poor with any humanity, instead sees them as mere numbers contributing to the surplus population.
• Ignorance and Want are allegorical characters aim to highlight the unjustified abuse on innocent children as a result of poverty. It is significant that Ghost of Christmas Present shows him this as Dickens uses the ghost as his mouthpiece to criticise the socio-economic poverty that pervaded Victorian society
• They are ''Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish''

   

  ''Yellow'' could imply that the children are physically sick and malnourished because of the neglection of society and the obliviousness of individuals to social injustice. This animlistic image highlights how poverty dehumanises individuals, stripping them of their humanity and reducing them to less than an animalistic state of being.
• The ghost of Christmas past ''wore a tunic of the purest white'' to depict it as innocent and an angelic representation of youth to show that even misanthropic individuals like Scrooge has this angelic untainted youth that is deeply repressed
• ''wore a tunic of the purest white'' creates a celestial image from the purity from sin. the ghost ''wore'' the tunic which shows that his aim is to resurface Scrooge's repressed memories and emotions in order to purify him from his recent sins
• ''sprung a bright clear jet of light'' motif of light in the ghost creates and image of hope and brightness, this symbolises how the ghost's aim is to brighten up Scrooge's life with his moral awakening
• the ghost is presented as an antithesis to Scrooge's cold attitude as it was a ''contradiction of that wintry emblem, had it's dress trimmed with summer flowers''. the wintry emblem could be metaphorical for scrooge as the wintry conceit (extended metaphor) used in act 1 highlighted his cold inner miser. '' summer flowers'' connotes beauty and growth, it reinforces the aim of the ghost (become a catalyst for Scrooge's moral awakening). the juxtaposition of weathers represents the repression of a myriad of emotions within Scrooge that the ghost aims to bring to the surface.
• the ghost is paradoxical and conflicting ''like a child; yet not so like a child as like an old man''. the old man being metaphorical for scrooge's current state as he is branded as an ''old sinner'' in stave one. yet he is repressing his vulnerable childlike state hence the battle between youth and old age in the ghost's features
• the celestial representation of the ghost of Christmas past compounds that it is a symbol of hope and spiritual awakening for scrooge. it's light is emblematic of hope and as it burns so bright, it reinforces how scrooge cannot escape this moral, spiritual awakening that will lead to his redemption
• the ghost of Christmas past is depicted in a paradoxical manner not conforming to a physical idea of youth or old age. as it is an amalgamation of both, the ghost serves to bridge the experiences of youth and old age in scrooge.
• Ghost of Christmas yet to come: menacing, ambivalent, ominous, bleak, solemn, irreversible gloom
• the triple ominous verb ''slowly gravely silently approached'' shows the menacing ambience filled with dread. this is exacerbated through the archetypal presentation of a menacing ghost.
• the ghost is ''shrouded in a deep black garment''. in victorian England, women who had lost their husband has to wear full mourning for two years, and children who lost their father had to wear full mourning for one year (''deep black garment'') since Scrooge has neither, the physical embodiment of his future is mourning for him/ ''shrouded'' is a process where you would wrap or dress a body in preparation for its funeral, Scrooge's future is ''shrouded'' and thus prepared for it's own death
• the enigmatic ghost does not verbally communicate with Scrooge but physically uses his body as he had an ''outstretched hand'' and ''steady hand was pointed to the head''. the use of it's ''hand'' could be symbolic of the hand of time and the ghost is warning scrooge that he is losing time and getting closer to his untimely and ''solitary'' death.
• the Victorian era was known as the '' progressive era'', a time of technological advancements, therefore dickens uses his novel as a work of social documentation to highlight the true nature of London - people are treated in dehumanising ways whilst the streets are left in abandonment and neglect.