English Lit - ACC: Quotes

• Scrooge


  • solitary as an oyster
  • light as a feather
  • happy as an angel
  • merry as a schoolboy
  • say a word or two
  • he sobbed and wept
  • sole friend and sole mourner
  • unkept, unwatched, uncared for
  • are there no prisons
  • buried with a stake of holly through his heart
  • humbug
  • good afternoon
  • raise your salary
  • they had better get on and do it, and reduce the surplus population
  • prepared to bear
  • thankful heart
  • a small boy reading alone by a feeble fire
  • will you let me in fred
  • you're poor enough
  • i cannot bear it
  • show me no more
  • an excellent man of business
  • some tenderness over this death
  • second father
  • knew how to keep christmas well
  • quite a baby!
  • vision grew cloudy
  • covetous old sinner
• Marley

  •long, and wound about him like a tail

  •mankind was my business •incessant torture of remorse cash boxes, keys, ledgers

  •i wear the chains i forged in life
• Fred

  •all aglow

  •you're rich enough

  •no use to him

  •doesn't do any good with it

  •i mean to give him the same chance each year

  •couldn’t be angry
• Ghost of Christmas Past

  •fluctuated in its distinctness

  •like an old man

  •like a child

  •pressed the extinguisher cap down •stronger yet

  •could not hide the light

  •softening influence

  •a small matter to make these silly folks so happy

  •clear jet of light

  •tunic of the purest white

  •the children who might have called him father

  •no more work tonight
• Ghost of Christmas Present

  •jolly giant

  •antique scabbard... no sword in it

  •decide what men shall live and what men shall die

  •bent beneath the ghost's rebuke •atop a throne of food

  •crown of holly

  •a glowing torch, not unlike plenty's horn

  •ignorance and want

  •meagre, scowling, yellowish

  •more than eighteen hundred brothers
• The Cratchits

  •someone might have got over the back fence and stolen

  •greeted with universal admiration •eked out

  •custard cup without a handle

  •who made lame beggars walk and blind men see

  •as good as gold (about Tiny Tim)

  •the clerk

  •tried to warm himself at the candle •so much smaller

  •the founder of the feast
• Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

  •mysterious presence

  •scatter gloom and darkness

  •slowly, gravely, silently

  •stronger yet
• Scrooge


  Secret and self-contained and solitary as an oyster
• Scrooge's description as solitary


  Reveals an important part of his character - he chooses to be isolated from society
• Alliteration/sibilance in Scrooge's description


  • Suggests snake-like qualities of sness or danger
  • Slows down the pace to highlight the importance of the description
• Simile "solitary as an oyster"


  Although Scrooge lives in a busy city, his hard outer shell stops people from building close relationships with him
• Scrooge described as "a solitary child, neglected by his friends"


  Links to his present awful treatment of people due to fear of abandonment from childhood trauma
• Scrooge carrying his "own low temperature"

  Not about real physical temperature, but relates to his icy, grouchy personality that makes others feel the same
• Scrooge vs Fred


  Scrooge tries to bring frost and chill, while Fred heats himself by walking through the cold, not allowing Scrooge's icy behaviour to dampen his Christmas spirit
• Fred: 'I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time'
• Fred serves as a foil to Scrooge, highlighting Scrooge's bad qualities</b>
• Scrooge: 'If a man like that, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population'
• Scrooge's comment reflects the common Victorian view that the poor were poor due to laziness or criminality
• Scrooge's comment


  Links to the Ghost of Christmas Present using the same words against Scrooge, helping him gain empathy
• Jacob Marley: 'I wear the chain I forged in life'
• Marley's chain


  Made up of the tools of his trade as a money lender, reinforcing the obsession with money-making
• Marley's fate is a preview of what will happen to Scrooge if he continues down the same path
• Jacob Marley: 'Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business.'
• Marley's message reminds readers of the moral duty to be kind and look after each other
• Scrooge: 'The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune'
• Scrooge defending his old boss Fezziwig


  A turning point in Scrooge's perspective on the value of money and being a good employer
• The happiness Scrooge gives

  Is quite as great as if it cost a fortune
• Fezy wig


  Scrooge's old boss who he apprenticed for as a boy
• The Ghost of Christmas Past


  Provoked Scrooge by making a belittling comment about the money spent by fezy wig
• Scrooge's perspective on the value of money

  Underwent a turning point
• At the time this book was written, employees had pretty much no rights so they were completely dependent on the generosity of their employers
• Scrooge at the beginning of the book


  Not a good example of an employer
• Scrooge at the end of the story

  Has learned from his past, raises Bob Cratchit's salary and treats him with kindness and respect
• Scrooge's ex-fiance Belle


  Breaks off their engagement due to his growing obsession with money
• Scrooge's past abandonment issues


  Have not been dealt with, leading him to shut himself off from the world and focus only on money
• Tiny Tim


  Represents the theme of social injustice, as Scrooge sees an opportunity to save someone's life by being a better employer
• Scrooge's nephew Fred


  Exemplifies what a good person looks like, and is sure to welcome Scrooge back with open arms after his redemption journey
• The Ghost of Christmas Present

  Reveals two starved and ragged children called Ignorance and Want, warning Scrooge to beware of them
• Dickens was a strong believer in education as a way to break the cycle of poverty
• Scrooge's understanding at the end of the story


  His present actions are a result of his past traumas, and his actions now will affect the futures of others around him