A Christmas carol

• ’a merry Christmas uncle! God save you”


  Fred-evangelism, noun of Christmas celebrates birth of Jesus potentially foreshadowing scrooges redemption and rebirth. Fred is the first person to mention christmas in the novella this is important because it shows the juxtaposition of scrooge with Fred, Fred is the antithesis of scrooge.
• ’bah! humbug!’


  scrooge- esxclaimatives indicate scrooges bad temper and his misanthropic ways, he is initially dismissive of Christmas, he is determined to disengage with the spirit of Christmas. ’humbug’ is noun and it means to be deceptive or dishonest, hints that is Scrooges eyes Christmas is temporary and futile juxtaposing Dickinson ideologies.
• ’every man on board had a kinder word for one another’ 


  Ghost of Xmas present- acts merely as a metaphor to convey the positivity of Christmas spirit, Dickinson ideologies shine through here as he states just the day itself of Christmas spread Christmas spirit amongst the sailors despite being away from their loved ones, ’every man’ highlights how many people are benefitted by Christmas.
• ’so much kinder than he used to be’ 


  fany- ’so much’ is a hyperbole as she is trying to convince him to go home with her, fany tells Scrooge how much their father has changed so potentially Scrooges misanthropic ways were due to the lack of love he received as a child, this change in his father foreshadows Scrooges own redemption.
• ’an interest he never had before’


  verb of ’interest” highlights to the reader Scrooge has finally drawn his attention to something other than money this is the turning point of the novella when we begin to see signs of Scrooges redemption its triggered by tiney tim who is infact the opposite of himself he has the love of family that has been absent throughout Scrooges childhood and his life but he lacks the wealth that Scrooge has and to achieve happiness they both need each other, tiney Tim is the catalyst in scroooges redemption.
• ’glowing with good intentions’


  glowing literally means the relighting of a spark or in Scrooges case metaphorically a ’small fire’ it is the reflection of Scrooges growing generosity and jovial spirit his good intentions are showing and he’s slowly being redeemed.
• ’the treadmill and poor law are in full vigour then?’


  Scrooge-’treadmill’ is a noun and it has connotations of running and physical exertion Dickens uses this to imply how harsh the conditions of these work houses were and the fact they physically exhausted the people working there, Dickens is aware of these conditions because he has felt destitution before as his own father was sent to work in one. Scrooges callous suggestions highlights the dominant view during the Victorian era that people were poor because of their own actions (poor law in 1834)
• ’a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner”


  Asyndectic listing of relentless verbs to describe Scrooge and his misanthropic and hubris nature he is highlighted immediately to the readers as an undeniably unlikeable character he becomes difficult for the reader to empathise with.
• ”solitary as an oyster”


  simile dickins uses to describe his isolation and presents him as a hostile person, the word choice of the noun oyster is symbolic of how difficult they are to open because they don’t want to be opened but once they are cracked and the shell for protection from the world they have grown around themselves is open it reveals a hidden beauty worth all the effort of opening, dickins is saying there is something worth redeeming inside Scrooge.
• ”im quite a baby”


  juxtaposes Scrooges earlier description of ”covetous old sinner” ”baby” connotes to an innocence and purity which foreshadows his future change this description alludes to the idea of re-birth as an extension of his transformation.
• ”he tried to warm himself at the candle”


  Conveys bobs characterisation to the readers and the cruel treatnment he faces at work he is used as a vehicle to represent the struggle the working class faced at work, by using the pitiful verb ”tried” it evokes empathy in the readers through a sense of helplessness the anticlimactic ”candle’ highlights the poor provisions in place for the poor at their workplace, illustrating the nonchalant attitude the upper class held towards the appalling conditions of the working class.
• ’I’ll give you mr Scrooge the founder of the feast”


  the fact dickins includes Bob toasting his boss who treats him appallingly exemplifys Bobs patience and compassion, ”Founder of the feast” elevates Scrooges position and attributes importance to him even though he does not deserve it, highlights the superiority the rich held over the working class.
• ”I wear the chains I forged in life”


  the declaration holds two meanings figuratively and literally, literally because he was an accountant his worked involved writing deeds so he physically made these in life, figuratively as he is now held captive for eternity because of the way he acted in his life.
• ”no rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse”


  Short and simple sentences create a sense of tension by increasing the pace it also mirrors the trapped and claustrophobic feelings Marley is experiencing in purgatory , dickins subverts the rule of 3 by stopping at 2 clauses thus leaves an unfinished feeling causing the reader to feel uncomfortable furthermore it mirrors Scrooges uncomfortable feelings towards the ghost allowing the reader to empathise with him.
• ’Mankind was my business”


  Reflects dickins ideas of social responsibility that we are all accountable for one another. When Scrooge in stave 1 is asked to donate money he says no as it isn’t his business here dickins is highlighting the importance of being socially concious and that Marley realised too late to change it for himself.
• ’i Couldn’t be angry with him if I tried’


  In spite of Scrooges misanthropic ways Fred is still forgiving, the verb tried highlights Fred’s natural good nature, Fred embodies dickins diadact message and the spirit of Christmas.
• ’there Are many things which ive derived good by Which I have not profited’


  Juxtaposition of good with no profit emphasises dickins key message through out the novella, the personal pronoun of I is dickins highlighting through Fred that you do not need wealth to live happily.
• ’Decrease the surplus population’


  ghost of Xmas present uses Scrooges own words to attack him when Scrooge begs for Tim’s life to be spared, this is dickins directly attacking the Malthusian theory that the human population grows faster than the supply of food so nature plays up to decrease the population.
• ’if These shadows remain unaltered..the child will die”


  The main clause of the child will die has been placed at the end of the sentence to demonstrate the results of their actions, the brevity of the main clause is emotive and represents tiney Tim’s short life, the modal verb ’Will’ Conveys uncertainty making it more emotive and persuades Scrooge that his transformation is urgently needed to save the boy(Child morality was high at the time)
• ’it was a strange figure-like a child: yet not so like a child”


  The contradictory elements of the spectre’s appearance reflect Scrooges complex psychological and biological state he is a man physically but it is revealed mentally that Scrooge is how he is because of his fathers abtndonedment and absence in his childhood.
• ’would You so soon put out the light I give”


  metaphor illustrates how the ghosts purpose is to highlight Scrooges wrong doings but Scrooge must accept this help, at the beginning of the exploration Scrooge is unaware of the consequences of his callous ways and does not want to change, the light is symbolic of the chance Scrooge has left to redeem himself also, symbolic of the truth reflecting how upper class victorians choose not to acknowledge the poor but ignore them.
• ‘The phantom slowly, gravely and silently approached”


  Unnerving quality of the figure is used to install fear into the readers, the use of sibilance suggests the unearthly quality of Scrooges final visitor the previous ghosts had a connection to light this sprectre offers no light and no redemption, phantom is a noun its identity is based on darkness and irrefutable silence of death. Scrooge is encountering human absence because there is nothing left to say to him if he does not change his ways.