Christmas Carol

• “ A churchyard, overrun by weeds, the growth of vegetations death not life - A worthy place “ 

  • Scrooge realises his end is going to be harrowing 
  • “A worthy place” suggests scrooge deserves this and this is when scrooge realises he must change because if he doesn’t he will meet the same fate as marley 
  • “Overrun by weeds” shows nobody cares that he died and is just letting him rot 
  • Society in the 19th century was becoming less religious but this is a reminder for scrooge that money does not matter because he will die
  • This is a catalyst for his change  
• “A small pudding for a large family”

  • Oxymoron “small pudding large family”
  • It is illustrating how scrooge underpaying Bob cratchit led him to not be able to provide very well for his family because they have such a small christmas meal but than on the other hand they were still very happy because they were together as a unified family which is the opposite of capitalism
• “ Hard and sharp as flint”

  • The simile is objectifying scrooge as an object as flin which is very hard. The ghost try and break through this hard exterior of selfishness, greed and ignorance to see the real scrooge 
  • The adjective “sharp” shows how he is very antisocial towards everyone even family like his nephew 
  • The use of “sharp” and “hard” shows scrooge is stuck behind these walls created by himself and nobody can get in however the spirits change him  
• “This boy is ignorance this girl is want”

  • The boy represents society. Through the noun “ignorance” we can tell society is blind to the struggles of the lower class and the struggles of the lower class and the struggles of working in the workhouses (1834 new poor law). Shows people like scrooge are ignorant because of the capitalist society which creates a cycle 
  • The girl represents people who want the basic needs 
  • Dickens chose 2 innocent things being the boy and the girl to play on scrooge's heart strings and to make the readers take responsibility 
• “I wear the chain I forged in life”

  • The chain is a symbol of your actions 
  • Your actions represent the links in the chain and the chain gets bigger but it is a warning that your chain will drag you down and your chain can become a disease that you carry around so be careful because you don’t want to carry a burden for what they did i this life into the next life 
  • Used for: redemption and ghosts
• “His wealth is of no use to him. He don’t do any good with it”

  • We see how others view scrooge but we also see how other people view wealth. Because in a capitalist society wealth is used for your own benefit but in this quote we realise this is not what everyone believes. Other people believe wealth can and should be used in different ways (Dickens). Shows scrooge being a victim and when your a victim you have tunnel vision 
  • Hope: nobody likes him at the start so when he changes it is a big deal 
• “ I am light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel”

  • This simile shows scrooge change from the start to the end 
  • The repetition of the pronoun “I” shows scrooge has come to the realisation that he has changed and has not felt these things before 
• “White sheet of snow upon the roofs, and with the dirtier snow upon the ground” 

  • The snow is a metaphor and represents people 
  • The snow on top of the roof is a metaphor for the rich upper class relaxing 
  • The snow on the floor represents the lower class people who are suffering and doing the hard work that allows those on top of the roof to relax 
  • Exposes the flaws in society
• “ A thousand thoughts and hopes and joys long long forgotten”

  • Shows the process of scrooge's change and scrooge is starting to change 
  • Things that have once been forgotten are coming back to scrooge 
  • Repetition of “long” suggest it has been awhile since he has felt like this