Stave 1

• What do the charity collectors want to do with the money they raise?

  Buy ’meat and drink, and means of warmth’ for the poor.
• Scrooge is shown to be unreasonable and selfish, which makes the reader feel unsympathetic towards him.
• The reader may hope that Scrooge’s bad behaviour is challenged later on.
• Bob Cratchit asks for time off at Christmas.

  Scrooge claims he is ‘ill used‘ and that Bob is ‘picking’ his ‘pocket’ by taking the day off and expecting to be paid for it.
• The reader feels sympathetic towards Bob because his request for time off is reasonable and Scrooge’s response isn’t.
• The reader feels sorry for Bob Cratchit because he has a difficult employer and harsh working conditions.
• Scrooge keeps the ‘coal-box’ in his room and won’t let Bob take any more coal.
• Jacob Marley’s chains are made out of items associated with money: ‘cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds.’
• Scrooge searched the whole house ‘to see that all was right’ and he double-locks the door which was ‘not his custom’.
• Scrooge takes precautions to protect himself after seeing Marley's ghost which shows he was scared.
• When Marley’s ghost appears, Scrooge makes ‘jokes’ which he is ‘not much in the habit’ of doing. This change in behaviour shows he’s unsettled.
• Since his death, Marley has realised that people are more important than money.
• Marley says his spirit ‘never walked beyond our counting-house’.
• Scrooge and his clerk, Bob Cratchit, are working on Christmas Eve.
• Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, invites Scrooge to Christmas dinner, but he refuses.
• Scrooge refuses to give money to charity.
• Marley’s ghost appears and warns Scrooge that he will be visited by three ghosts to help him change his ways.
• Scrooge says those who enjoy Christmas should be ‘buried with a stake of holly’ through their hearts.
• Describing the house as ‘gloomy’ and ‘dreary’ reflects Scrooge’s miserable character and also sets a sombre mood for the appearance of Marley’s ghost.
• Scrooge treats Marley’s ghost with ‘humility and deference‘ and calls him a ’good friend’. However, he treats Bob and Fred with contempt.