Scrooge's Past

• Ghost P[S2 ] "shadows of things that have been" | "a solitary child" | "damp and mossy" "gates decayed" | "feeble fire" | "wept to see his poor forgotten self"

  • Links to Marley's ghost - things cant change no matter how much people want them to.
  • Scrooge is the way he is because he was abandoned by society as a child - afraid of rejection now - "solitary as an oyster"
  • The adjectives depict a dilapidated (result of age/neglect) schoolhouse, young scrooge lived miserably here.
  • reader surprised to see emotion from scrooge - breaks solitary.
  • This is what made him the lonely curmudgeon he is
• Ghost P[S2] "To bring you home, home, home!" | "father is so much kinder than he used to be" | "he spoke so 'gently'"

  • Dicken makes an important point about family. Those who are loved and cherished grow up to become caring and productive members of society
  • Scrooge's strained relationship with his father is a factor to how he turned out.
  • Adverb "gentle" and repetition "home" - Fan's words illuminate her excitement and close relationship with Scrooge. This is cut short by the spirit's statement "she died a women" - one of the most loving relationships ended in a heartbreaking loss