quotes

• Scrooge: 'Oh but he was a tight fisted hand at the grindstone'
• Grindstone


  A deliberately Antiquated image like a millstone, something that would have been used throughout history and Biblical times
• Scrooge's portrayal as a caricature

  It sets up the Christian symbolism of his conversion
• Scrooge's portrayal


  • Over-exaggerated, with a sense of evil conveyed through sibilance
• Marley's ghost: 'I wear the chain I forged in life'
• Marley's chain


  Represents accountability for one's actions and the consequences, a Christian message
• The idea of original sin - that we are more likely to choose to be evil than good
• Fezziwig: 'The happiness he gives is quite as great as it cost a fortune'
• Scrooge's view of Fezziwig's happiness

  It challenges Scrooge's views on the value of money
• Education in Victorian times

  A passport to a completely different life, with literacy rates increasing astronomically
• Dickens wanted to write a book about education, but there was no money in it
• The books Scrooge reads - Alibaba and Robinson Crusoe


  • Symbolise themes of conversion and overcoming isolation
• Scrooge's abandonment by his father is the origin of his fear and desire for control
• The Reverend Thomas Malthus: 'If they would rather die they had better do it and decrease the Surplus population'
• Malthus' views


  Led to cruel social policies towards the poor, who were seen as lazy and a burden
• If they would rather die they had better do it and decrease the Surplus population


  That is the easiest quote to fit anything
• This was famous as the view of the Reverend Thomas Malthus who was dead and indeed Dickens time his views had been taken to mean it was pointless feeding the poor because they would always be poor and have more children which would then spread poverty and more people would consume more food which would mean there was less to go around and therefore more poor people would be created
• This of course led to extremely cruel social policy where poor people were sent to the workhouse they weren't giving benefits and they weren't necessarily given much charity because the moral view was that poor people would be rich if they worked harder at least they'd be better off poor people were therefore seen as guilty of being lazy and just taking from people who deserved their wealth
• Dickens wants to show that this is utterly nonsense and he's going to point that out later on when all of Scrooge's possessions are stolen by P people who have a job you know the child woman the laundry woman The Undertaker's man they are all employed
• Dickens whole point is they still need to steal in order to survive because those wealthy people the readers of this novel are not paying enough for services
• The Ghost of Christmas present repeats it back to Scrooge when Scrooge asks about Tiny Tim saying well he'd better die and decrease the Surplus population because Tiny Tim is disabled and therefore will not be able to do many of the physical jobs available to the poor
• The other message is without an education Tiny Tim would not have had any role in this society and then the third message is because of his health because of the attitude of people like Scrooge and therefore the reader Tiny Tim is going to die
• This tugs at the reader's heartstrings it's not just Scrooge Who has to change his ways it is us
• Scrooge: 'Tell me if Tiny Tim will live'
• The future depends on Scrooge and so at the minute before Scrooge has had this damascene conversion remember some Paul Damascus Tiny Tim is not going to be saved because Bob Cratchit is poor and his whole family is poor
• Scrooge says that he pays his clerk 15 Shillings a week and a wife and a family he has to look after and so he actually points out to these charity collectors that he pays Bob Cratchit so little 15 Shillings a week that he can't adequately provide for his own family
• Scrooge knows that but he still doesn't pay him anymore now it's a mistake to think that's because he's a miser because obviously he Scrooge is dramatically undercutting the market by paying Bob Cratchit too little
• Dickens is pointing something out here he keeps coming back to how much he pays Bob Cratchit in specific amounts what he's saying is this this is the typical wage Bob cratcher is being paid what all workers of his level are paid Scrooge isn't a miser in the wages he pays no no no the whole point is Scrooge is paying the going rate all employers are misers they're all paying at that level and that is causing the poverty and that is causing kids like Tiny Tim to die
• That's the importance of us visiting the crack chick family Christmas to see them making do making the best of the world with hardly anything because that is the society Dickens is saying we the readers allow we the readers create in 1848 revolution spread across European countries and people were worried about Revolution in England
• This is the point of ignorance and want these two children who have not only a physical poverty but the poverty of the lack of Education that's why the boy is called ignorance and that's why he has Doom written on his forehead Dickens is saying look if we do not educate our children they will not be able to better themselves they will therefore be kept poor by society and they will rebel against the rich the Rebellion will be violent the Rebellion will be Revolution and if we don't want that to happen we've got to look after these young people not just financially but through education
• Astonishingly that is what happened in England schools spread everywhere every single large employer set up libraries for their employees so that they could learn to better themselves this whole idea of Education changing lives was part of Victorian DNA and it started with people like Dickens campaigning for education for all children
• Scrooge became a second father to Tiny Tim

  He learned his lesson by looking after the individual Tiny Tim, who represents all disadvantaged in society
• Scrooge the employer wishes Bob Cratchit Merry Christmas and says he'll raise his salary
• Charity is nowhere as important as wages, Dickens proposes raising everybody's wages every Christmas as a way to improve the lives of the poor
• Some people laughed to see the alteration in Scrooge, but he didn't care, and the result was that his own heart laughed
• Giving gifts and helping others brings more happiness and pleasure than receiving gifts
• The whole point of the story is that you achieve happiness through helping others
• Scrooge's lack of a family and father figure led to his emotional coldness and desire for control, which the novel's journey helps him overcome
• All the lessons Scrooge learns take place at Christmas and are revealed by the three ghosts of Christmas