a christmas carol quotes

• MARLEY was dead: to begin with.'


  opening line - theme of supernatural

  suggests he may not be completely dead

  ambiguity - intrigues the reader
• Scrooge never painted out Old Marley's name.'


  Shows that Scrooge dislikes change, hints towards his change later on.
• tight fisted hand at the grindstone'


  Scrooge is shown by Dickens as a greedy person. The words "tight fisted" suggest that he is a very cruel and mean character.
• a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!'


  asyndetic list

  semantic field of touch (first 5)

  scrooge's intention is to get every penny from everyone, and his refusal to share.
• as solitary as an oyster'


  hard exterior (cold, rude outside), glimmer of hope inside (chance of a pearl) - hint at possible change.

  simile
• external heat and cold had little influence on scrooge'


  pathetic fallacy

  cold weather reflects scrooge's nature

  emotionless, unaffected by what is happening around him.
• Cold bleak biting weather: foggy withal'


  pathetic fallacy highlights scrooges character

  tricolon of adjectives to describe the weather
• a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank'


  Shows treatment of the working class. Treated as criminals in a prison 'cell' or pets in a 'tank' - purely for the amusement of the rich.
• the clerks fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal'.


  presents scrooge as a miser who treats the poor badly.

  dickens had first hand experience of poverty
• Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!'


  Scrooge is characterized as miserable and harmful to society in his attitudes here

  scrooge is dismissive of Christmas and the values that come with it

  animalistic onomatopoeia of "bah!" likening scrooge to a sheep, linking him to foolishness.
• his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again'


  positive, warm description of Fred, complete contrast to scrooge.
• what reason have you to be merry? you're poor enough.'


  shows scrooge as ill-mannered and rude

  doesn't understand the meaning of Christmas, thinks happiness only comes from money.
• What reason have you to be morose? You're rich enough.'


  throws the argument straight back

  Fred can't understand how one can't be happy around Christmas
• "...every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart"


  idea that christmas is useless

  violent - wants them dead

  shows scrooge's hatred towards other peoples happiness + christmas

  alliteration
• i believe that it has done me good


  positive, shows his appreciation of christmas

  contrasts with scrooge 'every idiot
• are there no prisons?' 'and the union workhouses?'


  things which were used to punish the poor, shows how scrooge has no sympathy for those in poverty and believes they should be punished.
• if they would rather die.. they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.'


  shows scrooge's selfishness

  reveals the callous way the rich treated the poor

  believe the poor are responsible for overpopulation
• not a knocker, but Marley's face.'


  the first supernatural apparition

  links back to opening line

  theme of supernatural
• "it was made[...] of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy purses wrought in steel."


  all of the things scrooge is attached to

  syndetic list

  greed is the reason he is attached
• you may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.'


  scrooge tries to deny the existence of the ghost, by attributing the vision to something he had eaten.

  scrooge trying to maintain authority
• "I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard"


  his chain is made of the things he spent his life on

  metaphorical - once you die, you face the consequences
• it was as full and heavy and as long as this, seven christmas eves ago.'


  his chain is so built up, and scrooge has had 7 years more to make it even worse, as he hasn't changed since marley died.
• business! mankind was my business!'


  he shouldn't have only cared about money, instead he should've cared about the people around him.

  hinting to scrooge to change
• i am here to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate.'


  warning about the spirits

  telling scrooge that he still has time to fix his actions and CHANGE to make things right, and to clear his chain.
• look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!'


  ensuring scrooge remembers the conversation, and what his fate could be
• it was a strange figure - like a child, yet not so like a child as like an old man.'


  juxtaposition can show how someones past is old, yet new memories are made, and how some memories stay yet some are rediscovered

  embodiment of memory
• from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light.'


  light resembles the truth - the ghost is about to reveal the truth.

  recognises the difference between his childhood and adulthood.

  light illuminates a path to redemption.
• would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give?'


  exposes insecurities and truth

  shows how everyone is responsible (worldly)

  light - reveals the truth
• "The grasp, though gentle as a woman's hand, was not to be resisted"


  juxtaposition emphasises how although the past is gone + far away, it still has a strong influence and impact on the present
• these are the shadows of the things that have been. they have no consciousness of us.'


  explains to scrooge what he is going to see, and how they won't see him.
• a solitary child, neglected by his friends'


  Surprising character exposition, making the reader sympathetic for Scrooge.

  shows how scrooge still hasn't changed, and he wasn't even cared for as a child.
• father is so much kinder than he used to be'


  understanding about influence on scrooge's personality. father mentioned - shows how scrooge may have had a rough upbringing (neglect)
• laughed all over himself, from his shoes to his organ of benevolence, and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice.'


  shows how scrooge's first employer, Fezziwig, was the complete opposite of scrooge.

  asyndetic list of adjectives

  fezziwig represents happiness, clear contrast to scrooge.
• fuel was heaped upon the fire'


  shows the comparison between scrooge and fezziwig

  reveals Fezziwig's charitable personality, compared to scrooge's tight personality.

  antithesis of scrooge
• i should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now!'


  shows the start of his change

  feels bad for how he treated bob Cratchit, wants to apologise.

  guilt and regret
• another idol has displaced me'


  shows Scrooge's love and obsession for money start and led to him losing Belle.

  shows his lack of compassion towards anything other than money

  metaphor
• show me no more! conduct me home. why do you delight to torture me?'


  imperatives still reveal scrooge as uptight

  juxtaposition

  shows scrooge wants to forget about his past
• he could not hide the light: which streamed from under it, in an unbroken flood upon the ground.'


  shows how no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to hide from the truth.
• turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn.. and seething bowls of punch'


  the 'throne' the ghost of christmas present sits on

  syndetic list

  shows the generosity of the spirit
• the spirits eyes were clear and kind, he did not like to meet them.'


  shows scrooges change and fear

  immediately feels guilt - change