A Christmas Carol

• Fred fully embraces the spirit of Christmas. He refers to Christmas as a “kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time” that brings out the best in people, and he hopes that Scrooge will embrace Christmas too
• The charity collectors that visit Scrooge see Christmas as a time to help those less fortunate than themselves. They refer to Christmas as a time when “Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices”. They’re trying to provide some festive “Christian cheer” at a time when poverty is made most obvious by the excesses enjoyed by the wealthy.
• “God bless us, every one!” and “Christian cheer” - Dickens thinks helping others should be an important part of people’s faith.
• For Dickens, Christmas also had a secular element. As Fred says, Christmas is “a good time”, even “apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin”
• Spirit of Christmas is important all year round:

  Scrooge promises to “honour Christmas” in his heart and to “try to keep it all the year”

  The Ghost of Christmas Past carries winter holly, but wears a dress “trimmed with summer flowers”
• “solitary as an oyster” (an oyster is incredibly closed off and hard to open up, but once you do, there’s a shiny pearl inside. subtly foreshadows his change of heart at the end when his pearl is opened up)
• Although Scrooge is redeemed by the end of the novella, there are hints that his transformation is at least partly motivated by selfishness. The final vision the spirits show  him is of his own death, after which he begs the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come “tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!”. It’s clear he’s frightened about his own fate as well as showing concern for others.
• Scrooge’s changed behaviour leads to his redemption. By the end of the story, Scrooge is “glowing with his good intentions”. It’s this kindness and generosity that allows him to change his fate and “sponge away” his name from his neglected gravestone. It’s as if he’s reborn, and he has a second chance to do things better - he even says, “I’m quite a baby”
• Scrooge isn’t forced to change. Scrooge is led by the ghosts to the realisation that “the Time before him was his own, to make amends in”. The fact that Scrooge’s transformation is done of his own free will makes his redemption seem more powerfu
• “I will not shut out the lessons that they teach”
• Dickens exposes the unfair treatment of the poor. Descriptions of food, such as “pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts”, reflect how food is abundant for those who can afford it. However, the graveyard is “fat” with bodies, which is ironic - in the end, it’s the ground that’s well-fed with the bodies of people of all social classes, showing that money is worthless in death.
• At first, Scrooge only cares about himself and money. Belle explains that Scrooge lives in fear of poverty. He has become engrossed by “the master-passion, Gain” in the hope of being beyond the “sordid reproach” of poverty. Scrooge even remarks of the world, “there is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty”.
• The Cratchits show what living in poverty can be like. The Ghost of Christmas Present hints that “if these shadows remain unaltered” - if the Cratchits continue to live in poverty - then Tiny Tim will die. It’s only because Scrooge intervenes that Tim survives
• Dickens goes beyond simple definitions of rich and poor. The Cratchits are poor but appreciate what they have. They’re portrayed as an unrealistically perfect family who don’t need money to make them emotionally rich. By contrast, Scrooge is financially wealthy, but he’s poor in companionship and enjoyment. Fred explains that, even though Scrooge is rich, he’s deserving of pity because “His wealth is of no use to him”.
• “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want.”
• Dickens highlights the importance of family and how family life is shown to be full of happiness. Several examples of this can be found in the visions shown to Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Present - children “running out into the snow” to greet “sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts”, the “cheerful company” of a miner’s family and a companionable group of sailors, each one comforting himself with thoughts of “those he cared for”.
• Scrooge can only think about the financial burden that family brings. He wonders how Bob Cratchit can feel “merry” at Christmas when he has to support his whole family with his low wage - “my clerk, with fifteen shillings a-week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas”. Similarly, his reaction to the Ghost of Christmas Present’s eighteen hundred brothers is to mutter that it’s “a tremendous family to provide for”.
• Scrooge is isolated and alone:

  • In his youth, Scrooge was “a solitary child, neglected by his friends”. He weeps when he's shown a vision of himself “alone again” in the “long, bare, melancholy” schoolroom. Scrooge had to create companionship for himself out of the characters in his books to replace his own absent family.
  • Scrooge’s corpse is left “plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, uncared for”. This contrasts with the tears the Cratchit family shed over the death of Tiny Tim.
• Fred is a contrast to Scrooge. Dickens uses Fred as a foil (a character who shares similarities, but also some important differences, with another character; this emphasises each character’s key characteristics) to Scrooge’s character; the differences between them emphasise Scrooge’s negative qualities.
• Fred is empathetic - he’s “heartily sorry” for the Cratchit family after Tim dies, even though he barely knows them, contrasting Scrooge
• Fred shows enthusiasm in the line “A merry Christmas uncle! God save you!”
• Fred is a cheerful man - he’s determined to include Scrooge in the celebrations: “I mean to give him the same chance, every year, whether he likes it or not”. He believes it’s important to be kind at Christmas, especially to family.
• Bob Cratchit’s name is ironic - ‘bob’ is slang for an old coin called a shilling, but he and his family are very poor. However, although he’s poor in terms of money, his name reflects how wealthy he is in terms of his family. This is emphasised by the description of Tiny Tim and as “good as gold” - the literal meaning of this phrase suggests that Tiny Tim’s value as a person is as valuable as money
• Bob Cratchit is a kind and devoted father. When he thinks Martha isn’t joining the family for Christmas, he’s upset. He hugs her “to his heart’s content” when she appears. It’s important to him to have all his family together for Christmas
• Marley’s appearance is disturbing. Scrooge feels “the chilling influence” of Marley’s “death-cold eyes”, and when the ghost removes the bandage from its head, its “lower jaw dropped down upon its breast” - a horrible image. Marely’s terrifying appearance reflects the frightening nature of his message, and makes it seem more important.
• Marley is exhausted: “I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere”
• Marley and Scrooge have similar personalities - they’re “two kindred spirits”, who are obsessed with money and don’t care about other people. They’re so similar that Scrooge lives in Marley’s old rooms and even answers to Marley’s name (“it was all the same to him”). These similarities emphasise Marley’s role as a warning figure.