Scrooge

• “Tight fisted hand at the grindstone”

  • Caricature
  • miser
  • “grindstone” is an antiquated image used in biblical times which is important because Scrooge will undergo a Christian conversion
  • greedy, refuses to give to the poor
  • ”tight-fisted” also has connotations of protectiveness, perhaps Scrooge is trying to shield himself because he’s been hurt before.
• “Squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, covetous old sinner”

  • Asyndetic listing
  • “sinner” is a Christian term
  • over-exaggeration creates a humorous tone, the Audience will accept his redemption at the end.
• “If they would rather die they had better do it and decrease the surplus population”

  • Malthusian theory - it was pointless feeding the poor because they would have more children that‘ll be poor which could spread poverty and lead to more mouths to feed.
  • People thought that poor people were poor because they were lazy
  • dickens wants to show this is nonsensical
  • important so the ghost of Christmas present repeats it back to him because.
  • Tiny Tim is disabled so can’t do the physical jobs available to the poor
• “A merry Christmas, bob“ “i’ll raise your salary”

  • Stave 5
  • dickens may be saying that charity is not as important as sustainable wages
  • charity may only happen at Christmas and not really have much effect but wages will help “assist struggling families“