Themes

• Poverty and Wealth


  As well as entertaining the reader, Dickens makes the reader think about the social and attitudes and morality of the Victorian Society. He highlights the evils of poverty and the lack of education that helped to perpetuate it. He highlights the significant disparity between the rich and the poor and the evils which this led to, especially in a society that claimed to be Christian. He shows this through the distinctions he makes between characters such as Scrooge and Marley, who are only interested in money, and those like Fred and the charity collectors, who go out of their way to help others.
• "I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned - they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there." Scrooge


  It is apparent that Scrooge must be rich, for his word is always taken, which is where his business takes place for he leads a frugal life.
• "His wealth is of no use to him. He don't do any good with it. He don't make himself comfortable with it". Fred

  Scrooge's only satisfaction seems to be in accumulating money and in thwarting the good interiors of others, like the charity collectors and his nephew
• "They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being waterproof; their clothes were scanty." Narrator


  Much further down the social scale are the Cratchits. They are not destitute but nobody could call them anything other than poor. It would take little effort on Scrooge's part to change their lives and in the course of the night he realizes this. Despite this, the family do not complain, making the most of what they have.
• "They are Man's," said the Spirit, looking down upon them, "And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing to be erased." Ghost of Christmas Present


  At the very bottom of the social hierarchy lie those whom Scrooge consigns to the workhouses and prisons, represented by the childish figures Ignorance and Want. Dickens message is clear and unambiguous: if the children of the poor are left uneducated, it will be worse for society.
• "Den of infamous resort, [where] there was a low-browed, beetling shop, below a pent-house roof, where iron, old rags, bottles, bone and greasy offal were bought... Secrets that few would like to scrutinise were bred and hidden in mountains of unseemly rags, masses of corrupted fat and selpuchres of bones."


  Dickens' use of accumulated images here gives the reader a feeling of revulsion, which is extended to the people who live in or visit it. Dickens shows this kind of slum to be the breeding ground of crime and corruption, and the two children are products of this and the uncaring attitudes of wealthy businessmen such as Scrooge.
• Greed and Generosity


  Dickens makes a clear distinction between the wealth created by the money and the richness that comes from the spirit and the emotions. Scrooge has more money than he knows what to do with, but his spirit is so mean that he does not even make himself comfortable.
• "Nobody ever stopped him in the street, with gladsome looks, "My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?"

  The reaction from the others suggest how his miserliness has caused himself to be excluded from his community. His greed does not make him a fan favourite.
• "Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat heresy to do so. Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing." Narrator


  The generous desire s reflective in the Cratchit family, who have so little materially, but who are rich in love and cheerfulness.
• "There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they have never lived. Remember that, and charge their doing on themselves, not us." Ghost of Christmas Present


  Dickens himself was a liberal Christian who wanted to propagate the message of love, goodwill and peace. He disliked the hypocritical attitudes of many upper and middle-class Christians, who thought it was dangerous to educate the poor.
• Time and Space


  The theme of time plays a fundamental part: Scrooge is no longer young and his business partner is already dead, so he cannot afford to wait too long if he is to reform his ways. In a sense, the story is about time travel, as the ghostly visitations disrupt time altogether. Time is frequently mentioned and the fact that it is playing tricks on him is an indication that something strange is about to happen.
• "The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already - it had not been light all day..." Narrator


  Wintertime already seems to short. At the outset of the novella, there is already some confusion of day and night because of the darkness brought by the fog.
• "No rest, no peace, incessant torture to remorse." Marley


  When Marley's Ghost appears, there is further unravelling of the idea of time. The ghost claims that, over the course of the seven years, he has been travelling all of time. This makes a discrepancy between the human understanding of time, through man-made clocks and eternal time.
• "To his great astonishment the heavy bell went on from six to seven, and from seven to eight, and regularly up to twelve; then stopped. Twelve!n It was past two when he went to bed. The clock was wrong." Narrator


  Before the first visitation Scrooge is surprised by the sudden disruption of time. Each spirit visits him on the stroke of one and Scrooge is expecting that they will visit him over three successive nights. However, the Spirits are not bound by time or space and they manage to cram most of Scrooge's life and future into a single stretch.
• "It's Christmas Day! said Scrooge to himself. "I haven't missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can." Scrooge.

  Realizes that time has been measured differently by his supernatural visitors.
• Light and Dark


  The antithesis between light and dark, and the warmth and cold associated with them, are used throughout the story to represent the differences between the good and evil, generosity and greed. Pathetic fallacy is used by Dickens to present the change in Scrooge.
• "A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas." Narrator


  Scrooge is described as emotionally and physically frozen
• Fred who " had so cheated himself with rapid walking in the fog and the frost, this nephew of Scrooge was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again." Narrator

  Scrooge's opposite
• "Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it." Narrator

  A creature of the dark and thus leans towards evil rather than good. In a sense, he is out in the dark of his own free will, staying solitary and exchanging greetings with none but those whose financial dealings he admires.
• "Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle." Scrooge


  Shows his change, in the end his warmth has taken over him as he embraces the occasion.