Scrooge

• "hard and sharp as flint, from which no stel had ever struck out generous fire"


  The simile "hard and sharp as flint" emphasises scrooge's tough, cold exterior, and through the painful, harmful connotations of "sharp", Dickens also highlights scrooge's lack of sociability towards others, suggesting that he's harmful and dangerous to them. However, Scrooge being likened to "flint" suggests that, although he has never given "generous fire" he has the potential to be good-willed, sociable, generous and the other attributes encapsulated by the Christmas spirit, as portrayed by the recurring symbol of "fire" used by dickens to represent these values.
• "solitary as an oyster"


  Dickens suggests that scrooge is lonely, unsociable and disconnected from society through this simile, however, the description of him as an "oyster" connoting a creature with a tough exterior but containing a valuable, beautiful pearl within, suggests that scrooge has sociability and goodwill for others (and other values of the Christmas spirit) that will allow him to reconnect with society buried within him.
• "No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him"


  Dickens uses "warmth" as a metaphor for goodwill and inversely "cold" as a metaphor for ill will throughout the novella, so here it suggests that no good will or ill will from others in society are able to affect scrooge as he's become totally impervious to and disconnected from interactions with society
• "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait"


  Dickens again uses temperature as a metaphor for degrees of goodwill here, with scrooge being "cold" reflecting his lack of goodwill towards himself and others around him, and the description of his decrepit features such as his "shriveled" cheek and "stiffened" gait suggests that Scrooge's unsociable, miserly attitudes of ill damage himself, in contrast to his nephew Fred (a foil to scrooge) who is "ruddy and handsome", emphasising through their appearances how holding the values of the Christmas spirit are beneficial to ones self, and as developed on throughout the novella, the whole of society as well.
• "no beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock"


  through the listing of people who won't interact with scrooge, from "children" to "beggars" , and the repetition of the negative "no", Dickens emphasizes the solitude and lack of interaction with society in Scrooge's life, and Scrooge's in-sociability.
• "Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so much smaller that it looked like one coal"


  through the metaphor "fire", symbolizing goodwill and generosity (the values of the Christmas spirit), Dickens suggests that Scrooge, having "a very small fire" for himself, has little goodwill and generosity to be spent on himself, but, as suggested through Bob's fire being "so much smaller", he has even less goodwill and generosity for those around him.
• "So surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of strong imagination, he failed"


  Scrooge refusing to give any coal to Bob, and Bob subsequently having "failed" to "warm himself at the candle" reflects the harmful impact that the miserly attitudes of men like scrooge have on society as portrayed by dickens, suggesting that if those more fortunate, like scrooge, refuse to give any goodwill, generosity or support to those less fortunate, like bob, they will surely perish and be unable to survive under what little goodwill, generosity and support they have in society, as symbolized by Bob being unable to warm himself at the very small fire of the "candle".
• "Bah!" said Scrooge "Humbug!"


  Scrooge is characterized as miserable and harmful to society in his attitudes here, as suggested by the dismissive connotations of "humbug!" (meaning rubbish or nonsense) suggesting that scrooge is dismissive of Christmas and the values that come with it, and the animalistic onomatopoeia of "bah!" likening scrooge to a sheep, suggesting that he foolishly follows certain ideologies such as Malthusian economic theory.
• "Every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart"


  Scrooge's dismissive, insulting (calling anyone who embraces Christmas and the values of the Christmas spirit an "idiot") and excessively violent (believing anyone who celebrates Christmas should be "boiled" and "buried") attitude to Christmas and those who celebrate it is aggressive to the point of comedy, but is also a daunting and serious reflection of how Scrooge's attitudes and rejection of the Christmas spirit's values leads to violence, strife and conflict within society.
• "If they would rather die", said scrooge ,"they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population"


  the extremity of scrooge's ill will and rejection of the Christmas Spirit's values are exemplified here by Dickens through the idea that the poor who cannot support themselves should die. The use of business like language such as "surplus" and "decrease" emphasizes how scrooge's miserly, monetarily driven attitudes in the place of the Christmas spirit and its values causes wrath and suffering in society, and leads to the less fortunate not being supported. Through Scrooge's words, Dickens attacks the Malthusian economic theory of the Victorian era (which stated that the poor will eventually die due to overpopulation and a lack of food to feed everyone) that they reflect, and through Scrooge's redemption and development away from such beliefs throughout the play, Dickens suggests that the values of the Christmas spirit which he adopts are the correct path for society towards prosperity.
• "To say that he was not startled, or that his blood was not conscious of a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, would be untrue."


  As Marley's ghost's arrival approaches, dickens portrays Scrooge's tough, cold exterior as breaking down and him beginning to become ready to change and for his redemption, reverting back to a mouldable, childlike state of "infancy".
• "Nothing" said scrooge "nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night. I should like to give him something: that's all."


  Dickens, as Scrooge learns lessons and truths from the ghost of Christmas past, portrays scrooge as beginning to change, breaking away from his miserly attitudes and becoming more generous, wanting to "give" the caroller "something", in contrast to his absolute selfishness, rejection of the Christmas spirit and lack of generosity from earlier.
• "No," said scrooge, "no. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now! that's all."


  through the repeated structure, Dickens again portrays that Scrooge as breaking away from his previous miserliness and stinginess, becoming more good willed towards other like Bob Cratchit.
• "Spirit," said Scrooge with an interest he had never felt before, "tell me if Tiny Tim will live."


  Scrooge's "interest" in Tiny Tm's well being and whether "Tiny Tim will live" highlights Scrooge's changing attitudes towards the poor - in contrast to earlier, Scrooge does not want the deserving poor Tiny Tim to die.
• "What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population"

  
  

  Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief"


  Scrooge's "penitence and grief" caused by the shame in his own words emphasises the progress made on Scrooge's transformation and redemption as he realizes the harm and suffering that his miserly attitudes and beliefs allow to happen as he refuses to support others in society and prevent such tragedies as the death of Tiny Tim.
• "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the past, the present, and the future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"


  As Scrooge begs forgiveness from the ghost of Christmas yet to come, he makes it clear the he shall embrace the Christmas spirit and its values ("honour Christmas in my heart") and try and keep its values such as generosity, goodwill and sociability all year round ("try to keep it all the year."). Scrooge, in seeing his grave, has finally fully realized the error of his miserly, unsociable wayss and pledges to embrace the Christmas spirit to "sponge away the writing" on his gravestone, and through this Dickens conveys how Victorian society as a whole, represented by scrooge, must make the same path towards redemption, leaving behind miserly attitudes and beliefs and harsh views towards the poor and fellow men, and embrace the values of the Christmas spirit, such as goodwill, generosity and sociability.
• "He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars"


  Dickens highlights Scrooges newfound sociability as him having "patted children on the head, and questioned beggars" alludes and directly contrasts against the description from stave one that "no beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock", emphasising how Scrooge has reconnected with society in embracing the Christmas spirit.
• "He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer his call."


  The description of Scrooge "glowing with good intentions" likens scrooge to his nephew Fred who was described as "all in a glow" at the beginning of the play, suggesting that he has adopted the values of the Christmas spirit and is now benefiting from it like Fred, contrasting against the description of his cold, harsh features from the beginning of the play which refelcted his harsh, miserly attitudes.
• "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everyone."


  Scrooge describes himself now as a "school-boy", in contrast to his earlier statement from his younger self that "I was a boy" (in which he criticized his younger self, believing to have grown wiser) from stave 2.
• "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss you affairs this very afternoon"


  Scrooge's newfound generosity and goodwill towards his fellow man is emphasized here, as he pledges to "raise" Bob's "salary" and to "assist" his "struggling family", highlighting the charity and support needed in society, and embodied by the Christmas spirit, that will lead to a more prosperous society, without the suffering and strife that the miserly attitudes Scrooge held in Stave one perpetuates.
• "Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other old city, town, or borough, in the good old world."


  Scrooge's transformation is emphasized by him becoming a "second father" to Tiny Tim "who did not die", suggesting that the values of the Christmas spirit, encapsulating good will and generosity, leads to a supportive, charitable, family-like society in which everyone supports each-other and there is no suffering or plight (like Tiny Tim's death). Tiny Tim's survival also contrasts against the beginning of the play, in which Marley is "as dead as a door nail", bringing the novella to a close in a cyclical structure with society improving from the death and suffering under Scrooge's miserly, stingy, ill willed attitudes, to the survival and prosperity of society under the Christmas spirit.
• squeezing , wrenching , grasping , scraping clutching covetous old sinner


  Describes negatives traits of Scrooge

  asyndetic listing of verb modifiers suggests Scrooge always path of destruction , emphasises extremity of selfish demeanour
• I can’t afford to make idle people merry

  Malthusian ideology that poor people are lazy and its their fault . ignorance of their suffering has no care for the poor
• A solitary child neglected by his friends 


  Scrooges lonely childhood fuelled his bitterness .Repetition of solitary throughout novella intensifies scrooges loneliness
• Another idol had displaced me a golden one

  Scrooge saw materialistic wealth as a false god .Worships money , Victorian society very religious one commandments shall never worship any one above god so Scrooge is a sinner been consumed by money
• He could not hide the light 


  Repeated as a motif , symobollic of the truth , Scrooge would rather be in his fog than illuminated .Tries to hide himself from all the pain and suffering of his childhood
• Darkness is cheap and Scrooge liked it 


  Shows scrooges avaricious nature