A Christmas Carol

• Scrooge is described as being as solitary as an oyster, keeping himself to himself and hidden beneath a hard shell that he uses to protect himself from the world.
• Like an oyster, Scrooge has great potential and Dickens reminds us of this during the opening of the book.
• Scrooge is tough, there's no two ways around it, and his life spent alone has made him hard, unbending, stubborn, and easily stuck in a single purpose.
• Scrooge is dangerous if not dealt with carefully, as he can hurt you if you get too close or handle him without care.
• Scrooge is smart, quick-witted, and intelligent, and is compared to a rock, which is cold and tough but also useful to ancient societies who used it to make hunting weapons.
• Scrooge is unmoved by other people's behaviour, and doesn't care if they are warm or cold towards him.
• Bob insists on toasting his miserly boss, Scrooge, in one of the classic moments of compassion from the book.
• The writing on the boy's brow is a clear reference to the Biblical Revelations when a number of characters have things written on their bodies.
• Scrooge questions where the poor children can go to for help, recognising that they are young and incapable of defending themselves.
• Bob's job exists because Scrooge has built the business, and although Bob isn't wealthy he's much better off than a lot of the Victorian poor.
• Ignorance and Want are the two biggest ills in society, according to Dickens, and the names of the two children who have come to him, appealing for his help.
• Dickens believed that people like Scrooge were not evil, but misguided or reacting badly to being hurt.
• Dickens is definitely saying that unless Ignorance is erased - unless people wake up to, and understand what is happening around them - then humanity will be doomed.
• Mrs Cratchit is described as being "dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons", showing both her poverty and pride.
• Fred says he'll do this because he feels "pity" for Scrooge, a man so selfish his name has come to mean horrible and selfish.
• Fred embodies Dickens's belief that families should always be there for each other, insisting that he will give Scrooge the same "chance" - the change of redemption - every year.
• Scrooge argues that Christmas is a trick designed to make people feel in a way that isn't true, and that he won't fall for it.
• Scrooge doesn't like Christmas and doesn't see why he should pay for other people to enjoy it, as he doesn't enjoy anything.
• Upon remembering his time with Fezziwig, Scrooge remembers that it doesn't cost much to make people happy - and that the happiness you can give is as "great" as if it had cost a fortune.
• The fact that Scrooge was "neglected" as a child and is then put to rest in a "neglected" grave shows how, without change, Scrooge will be reliving his childhood trauma for all eternity.
• Towards the end of the book, Scrooge has clearly learnt that fact and decides to spend his remaining days sharing his time, his wealth, and enjoying the fruits of his fellow men.
• Arguably, here, Scrooge is seeing that all kinds of benefits can come from being a little more generous.
• In this way, you could use an analysis of this word to show how Scrooge learnt to live in isolation as a child and then grew into it as he got older.
• The final ghost is silent and enigmatic, leaving Scrooge to work out the story himself.
• Two people die in Stave Five: Scrooge and Tiny Tim, the richest and the poorest people in the book.
• The silent, enigmatic nature of the final spirit is an interesting commentary on the nature of death itself, which keeps its secrets to itself, even with all modern technology has to offer.
• The Ghost of Christmas Past moves Scrooge's curtains aside, indicating that it is the ghost who makes the move.
• During Stave Five, Scrooge is reminded that we all die in the end, and that all we have to work with is the short time that we have down here.
• During Stave One, Scrooge argues that he can't afford to make people merry.
• The Ghost of Christmas Past appears as a phantom, dressed in black, symbolizing The Grim Reaper.
• Dickens uses the word "solitary" to describe Scrooge at school but also in his iconic "solitary as an oyster" line.
• Scrooge wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be, indicating that his walls of cage are beginning to come down.
• Scrooge paid for the workhouses and prisons out of his taxes, contributing to the government's policy on poverty.
• Fred and Scrooge had different perceptions of the relationship between happiness and poverty, with Scrooge believing that wealth alone could not guarantee happiness and Fred believing that Scrooge's wealth was not making him happy.
• Scrooge's statement that the poor should die if they want to decrease the surplus population references a famous essay by Thomas Malthus, who argued that at some point there would simply be too many people for society to support and that there was a "surplus" (an excess) of population.
• Jacob Marley confirms Dickens's fictional theory for what happens after death, stating that if we do not travel amongst people during life, we are condemned to do so once we've died.
• Scrooge's workhouses and prisons were horrendous places, and a prison sentence could lead to deportation to Australia.
• Marley wears the chain he made during life, indicating that he chained himself with his own actions.
• Scrooge's attitude was that the poor were not his problem, as he contributed to the government's solutions.
• Scrooge sees everything in material terms, and believes there is an expense to making merry that he "can't afford."