The Structure of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" Essay

The journey to his childhood results in visible signs of emotion in Scrooge, which we do not associate with him to start with, as this one of the first ways that Dickens presents the change in Scrooge. ‘“Your lip is trembling”’. ‘“And what is that upon

Charles dickens uses insults to portray Scrooge 's unpleasant personality. This can be alluded from Stave 1 in the novel where Scrooge can be seen snubbing the charity workers who came seeking for a donation. "If they would rather die, [...] they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.", such insult allows the reader to comprehend that Scrooge is nothing more than a greedy man who solely believes that the peasants are just money scammers and that they should all be locked up in a "prison". Today 's audience will see Scrooge this way and agree that he is a misery, bitter old man, who doesn 't like giving away however back in the 19th century the audience would not be shocked to see a wealthy man as selfish as Scrooge. It was common in London at the time to see factory workers exploiting children who worked in hard conditions by hurting them with the most dangerous work and the cruelest words which is why I can only but say that Scrooge is an unpleasant, old wretch.

The vivid images of the plight of the poor that are presented to Scrooge ultimately act as a catalyst for him to change his miserly ways in order to help the destitute and the needy in society. St the beginning of the novella Scrooge states “if they would rather die…they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population”. In contrast, at the end of the novella Scrooge is depicted as a benevolent man who is “so fluttered and glowing with his good intentions”, who wished to help the lest fortunate. The personified children “Ignorance” and “Want” act as a catalyst for Scrooge to change his derisory and self-interested nature as he shows interest in the plight of the poor as he is shocked by these two “ragged, scowling” demons by saying ‘ “are there no refugee or resource?” The Ghost states that “there is no degradation, no perversion of humanity” for these “wretched, abject, frightful,” children, which makes Scrooge realise that he needs to change in order to assist them as he “hung his head, overwhelmed with penitence and grief”. This, it is illustrated in the novella that Scrooge transforms his previous, pessimistic self, into an individual who is no just self-interested, but who becomes responsible and generous to the poor by the end of the novel.

The vision of Scrooge’s nephew serves to awaken Scrooge to the fact that he himself had a family that would gladly welcome him. The nephew, in explaining to his family why he faithfully invited Scrooge to the celebration, said, “I mean to give him the same chance every

Also, Dickens describes Ebenezer Scrooge as a 'cold-hearted, tight fisted, selfish man' who despises Christmas and all things that incite happiness. In addition, the words have a rhythm, they all have three syllables. The title of this book is A Christmas Carol. A Carol is a hymn, the three descriptive words is representing a carol so this refers back to the title. A quote from the book is 'The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, made his eyes red'. Dickens portrays Scrooge's characteristics like the wintry weather conditions. This illustrates the readers what kind of personality Scrooge has, to me it’s like Dickens is describing Scrooge like Jack Frost (from the Santa Claus 3 film). He is truly mean at the beginning but at the conclusion of his experience he changes to a nice man. Although Dickens describes Scrooge as a mean, rude man, it’s like Dickens is teaching us the viewers a lesson that everyone has a different side of them it just takes hard work to transform them.

point that he is trying to make is that he is so mean that his

Be here all the earlier next morning!” Another description of Scrooge is shown by the weather, “no warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him.” Also the weather reflects Scrooges personality, “the fog and the darkness thickened,” this shows a dim and dark view in to Scrooge’s sombre, character.

Dickens also uses his characters to endorse other lessons that he believed were essential in keeping Christmas ‘well’. Scrooge’s behavior in Stave 1 towards the two portly gentlemen and his rudeness displayed towards his ‘ruddy’ nephew Fred, encapsulates all the attitudes

Also, Dickens describes Ebenezer Scrooge as a 'cold-hearted, tight fisted, selfish man' who despises Christmas and all things that incite happiness. In addition, the words have a rhythm, they all have three syllables. The title of this book is A Christmas Carol. A Carol is a hymn, the three descriptive words is representing a carol so this refers back to the title. A quote from the book is 'The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, made his eyes red'. Dickens portrays Scrooge's characteristics like the wintry weather conditions. This illustrates the readers what kind of personality Scrooge has, to me it’s like Dickens is describing Scrooge like Jack Frost. He is truly mean at the beginning but at the conclusion of his experience he changes to a nice man. Although Dickens describes Scrooge as a mean, rude man, it’s like Dickens is teaching us the viewers a lesson that everyone has a different side of them it just takes hard work to transform them.

At the start of the novella, Dickens presents Scrooge as a miserable character who is more focused on money than being kind to others and showing generosity. When Scrooge is asked to donate money to the poor he says “If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.” meaning he would rather them die than give money to them so that the size of the population will decrease. However, in chapter 5 from the extract, Dickens presents

This is shown in his past, in stave two when his father sends him away and Little Fan says, “Father is much nicer now” which could show that he was cruel to Scrooge in the past. Dickens may have used pathetic fallacy and personification of the weather in this way to emphasise how “wintry” Scrooge himself is towards other people. This would make the reader understand that Scrooge is a cold, distant,

Furthermore, Scrooge is very ignorant and wants to keep all the money to himself. Scrooge thinks if you are poor then you should be unhappy and if you are rich then you are happy. Therefor Scrooge is rich and not happy but if he gave to the less fortunate then he would be more

Specifically, Scrooge’s nephew demonstrates this when the text states, “‘There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,’ returned the nephew: `Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time… And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!’'' (Dickens 1). Although Scrooge’s nephew verifies his lack of money, he is still upright about the holiday season. On the contrary, Scrooge, a wealthy man, is peevish about the holiday season. Scrooge is blinded by his amount of money and uses money as a false sense of happiness, while his nephew had discerned the revered moments in one’s history. With the different alternatives Jim and Della had been given, the characters illustrate

Dickens calls Scrooge ‘a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, old sinner!’ the use of this alliteration shows the reader how overwhelmingly bad Scrooge’s character is. Each adjective is also linked with the hands. This could suggest that he holds tightly to everything he has due to his stingy character. Dickens uses so many adjectives to give a cumulative effect on the reader. It is as if

Throughout the last stave, Scrooge is portrayed as a ‘changed man’, shown through his many acts of kindness and love as well as his changed attitude towards poverty and prosperity. “He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town or borough, in the good old world.” This statement encapsulates the stark contrast between Scrooge’s character in the first stave when compared to the last. It can even be said that the last stave is written in a symmetrical manner to that of the first. This is made obvious through the stark opposites that can be seen in Scrooge’s personality in the first stave when compared to the last; where he used to be greedy and self-absorbed, he became selfless and compassionate. Dickens uses this example of symmetry to make Scrooge’s transformation even more discernible to readers as to allow them to note just how a model citizen should act towards others.