Themes

• Why does Dickens end the book with “God bless us, every one!”?

  Dickens moral messages:

  Society is responsible for the poor.

  Love and charity are more valuable than money.

  We are responsible for our own future.

  Family and friendship are essential for true happiness.

  Transformation is possible - we are not fixed in our personalities.
• Dickens tells us that Tiny Tim "did not die"
• Scrooge becomes a "second father" to Tiny Tim
• Their relationship has time to develop


  Implies that Scrooge's transformation is more than temporary
• Dickens tells us that Scrooge "had no further intercourse with Spirits"
• Scrooge had learned his lesson so well


  The Spirits don't need to return
• Dickens tells us that "it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well"
• The word "always" shows that Scrooge's changed personality lasts a long time
• How does Dickens present money and greed in the opening stave?

  ”A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!”
• How does Dickens present the theme of redemption in Stave 1?

  • The ghosts are “wandering hither and thither in restless haste” - they have no direction.
  • They are “moaning” - suggesting they are in pain.
  • ”Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost” - he has already described the chains as “penance“.
  • ”none were free” - the ghosts are all physically and spiritually bounded.
• What new behaviours do we see from Scrooge for the first time in Stave 2? How might this affect the reader's perception of him?


  After seeing himself as a lonely and neglected schoolboy, Scrooge begins to think about the way has behaved towards others. He remembers the boy singing Christmas Carols outside his door the previous night and muses that "I should like to have given him something: that's all". Scrooge minimises his feelings, saying "that's all", but reveals his regret and suggests sadness and sorrow. The reader begins to feel some sympathy for him.
• What does Dickens suggest about memory in Stave 2?

  "His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. He corroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation."
• How does Dickens create an image of Christmas as a time of excess in Stave 3?

  • Mood: "An air of cheerfulness abroad".
  • Sensual Language: "broad -girthed", "blooming pyramids".
  • Characters: "Jovial and full of glee".
  • Personifications: "oranges and lemons", "urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home".
• How does Dickens present differences in social class?

  "There never was such a goose...Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration".
• How does Dickens use the character of Tiny Tim to present ideas about social responsibility?

  "He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day who made lame beggars walk and blind men see".
• How does Dickens present Christmas in the final stave?


  "Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity, won-der-ful happiness!".