A Christmas Carol

• "Scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!"


  Contains biblical references. The Bible states that “You shall not covet.” Scrooge goes against one of the ten Commandments which clearly suggests that Scrooge is not a religious person, but rather knows he is sinning and continues. This is one of the commandments which addresses the inner person, heart and mind. The inner person is where sin originates, therefore, covetousness is the forerunner of all manner of sin. Scrooge is constantly sinning through his greed and neglect of religion.
• "No warmth could warm nor wintry weather chill him"


  Dickens uses pathetic fallacy here to emphasise how Scrooge is miserly and cold-hearted, and like this all the time.
• "If they would rather die... they had better do it and decrease the surplus population."


  Work of Thomas Malthus, whose warnings about the dangers of excessive population growth were that they would lead to a reverse in population growth caused by disease or famine. Scrooge uses the language of accountancy here—“decrease the surplus”—which reinforces the impression that people are only of value if there is profit in it for Scrooge.
• "There's more gravy than grave about you, whatever you are!"


  And since Marley’s ghost has still not disappeared, Scrooge tries to scare him off with a bad pun. The pun could also indicate how uneasy Scrooge feels as he tries to calm himself down with a joke.