A Christmas Carol

• Ostracised from society: Scrooge Stave 1

  Conciet (extended metaphor) of relentless cold draws parallels to Scrooge's cold distant attitude
• Scrooge Stave 1:

  "the cold within him froze his old features"- because Scrooge is so internally cold it alters his physical apperance
• Scrooge successfully ostracises himself from society. Even elements of nature typically uncontrollable, Scrooge has managed to intercept as even "external heat and cold had little influence"

  This quote creates the idea of a metaphorical barrier around Scrooge. He doesn't let in and is so successful at ostracising himself that nothing can touch him.
• The weather is a motif throughout the novella, typically changing alongside Scrooge
• Stave One

  "fog and darkness thickened"- resembles the bleakness of the protagonist. Also reflects the internal apathetic nature of Scrooge.

  Fog in London 1873-79 killed hundreds, the weather has the ability to destroy lives and rich posses the same power
• Emblem of Victorian Upper class:

  Archetypal villain ( someone seen as evil, self-centred and power hungry) in the context of an impoverish society.
• " squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner"- 7 adjectives alike to the 7 deadly sins. The rich are the real sinners not the helpless poor
• " are there no prisons"- Malthusian views, doesn't regard the poor with any humanity just numbers contributing to the "surplus population"
• In Stave one we see Dickens critiques from the offset, that social injustice is linked with the avariciousness of the rich.
• Stave 2 ( Foggy weather):

  "still very foggy and extremely cold"-pathetic fallecy foreshadows how Scrooge will remain oblivious and ignorant. "Fog" prevents clear vision, so he is almost preventing himself from embarking on a pathway of redemption.
• Stave 2- " darkness and the mist had vanished with it". The end of stave and symbolises that with each ghost Scrooge is gaining clsrity dimishing his own mental darkness.
• Stave 2- " bright clear jet of light"- an iridescent image. The ghost is trying to brighten up Scrooge's life through revelation and reminiscence. "clear" reinforces clarity being brought to Scrooge's life.
• Stave 2- "he seized the extinguisher cap and by sudden action pressed it down upon his head". "Cap" connotes restriction symbolic of how desperately Scrooge wants to restrict and repress memories. Aggressive verb "pressed" paired with rapid adverb "sudden" shows how hes engulfed by repressed emotions he acts out irrationally.
• Stave 2: " I was bred in this place, i was a boy here!" - exclamative sentence provides first insight into Scrooge's raw emotions, momentarily liberated. "Bred" has animalistic connotations which could link to the animalistic, barbaric childhood.
• Stave 2 : " A solitary child neglected by his friends"- reminiscent of previous description " solitary as an oyster". Scrooge's neglected solitary state as a child has caused his lonesome and solitary adult existence and we start to feel sympathy for him.
• Stave 5: " I will live in the past, the present and the future"- embarked on a pathway of redemption.
• Stave 5: " I am as light as a feather, as happy as a angel and as merry as a schoolboy"- contrasts with Scrooge's depiction at the start " as hard and sharp and flint". He has been liberated now feeling "light" from the burdens of his once " own low temp"
• Stave 5: The religious simile " as happy as an angel" highlights how Scrooge feels his redemption has led him back to a path of God and faith. Previously a 'sinner' embodying the 7 deadly sins.
• Scrooge is a microcosm of the upper class.
• Stave 5: He calls himself " quite a baby" and "as merry as a schoolboy" which connotes innocence, showing that through redemption he has regained his youthful innocence and ability to see the world in and untainted light
• Stave 5: " quite a baby"- 'baby' is the start of life and shows that Scrooge has been reborn from an "old sinner" to the most innocent form of human life.
• Stave 5: " quite a baby"- 'baby' is the start of life and shows that Scrooge has been reborn from an "old sinner" to the most innocent form of human life.
• Stave 5: Constant pathetic fallacy reflects Scrooge's stagnancy/progression. " No fog, no mist; clear bright, jovial"
• Stave 5: "no fog, no mist; clear bright, jovial" - This line could also symbolize the idea that Scrooge used to be clouded by negative emotions like anger and resentment ("fog") but now he is filled with positivity and joy ("jovial").
• Christmas past: "it was a strange figure like a child :yet not so like a child as an old man"-by showing Scrooge his childhood the ghost aims to catalyse a regression in Scrooge, back to his former compassionate self.
• Christmas past: " wore a tunic of the purest white"- despite the ghosts uncanny representation, the ghosts depicted as having an ethereal quality. Creates an image of heaven and purity from sins. The ghosts aims is to resurfaced Scrooges repressed emotions.
• Christmas Past: " contradiction of that wintry emblem, had it's dress trimmed with summer flowers"-metaphorical for Scrooge's wintry conceit at start of novella. Summer flowers connote beauty and growth which reinforces that the ghosts there to ignite spiritual growth and awakening.