In stave I Scrooge is a grumpy old man and he thinks his “business” is about making money. Toward the end of the novel he starts to change his mind about “business” and starts to be a more jolly and a better man. Dickens helps readers understand that being human means that you should take care of others, by showing Scrooge taking care of the Cratchit family and being charitable after he learns his lesson. In stave I scrooge thinks that the definition of man’s “business” is money. I know this because when Scrooge was talking to Marley he said “but you were always a good man of business.”(23) This shows that Scrooge thinks that business is not helping other people but, it is making money. To further support this claim on page 10 when Scrooge
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a moral tale that depicts the protagonist’s Ebenezer Scrooge’s moral journey from selfishness to redemption. It can be seen that his new found way of life is derived from the desire to be a good man of the community and to assist others such as Tiny Tim. The idea of Scrooge’s transformation not being selfish can also be seen in his aspiration to contribute to the wider community that suffers from a poverty stricken way of life. In addition to this, Scrooge also reforms his way of life in order to feel love and care from family, which satisfied his nephew Fred aswell as himself. However, this selflessness is only to an
Scrooge is changed from a humpy old man to a kinder nicer man, each stave represents a step in the transformation process. In stave one, two men come into Scrooge’s shop and ask for a donation to help poor people in need, Scrooge gives them no money and asks why these people are not in “prisons” or “Union workhouses” (Dickens 7). He feels by paying his taxes he has done enough to help the poor. Scrooge goes on to say “If they rather die…they had better do it and decrease the surplus population” (Dickens 7). But in stave 3, Scrooge sees that Tiny Tim, a young innocent boy, will pass away in the future. Scrooge begs the second of the three spirits to spare his life, but the spirit says “If
point that he is trying to make is that he is so mean that his
Scrooge is a rude, dismal man who hates mankind, and Christmas. During Christmastime there is a lot of charity and for being such a wealthy man that Scrooge is, he hates to give money to charity. He also thinks that Christmas is waste of time, and it could be used for
In the first stave, Dickens tries to point out that Scrooge is a character that society considers negative. In the introduction,
Scrooge’s definition of business changed in stave 5. Scrooge’s definition in stave 5 is of business is he starting caring for people and wasn’t greedy. In the text on page 116 it says, “Come back with him in less than five minutes, and I’ll give you half a crown.” Scrooge told the boy to go and buy the prize turkey and if he came back with the man in less than five minutes he would give him half a crown. This shows that scrooge wasn’t greedy with money anymore. Another piece of evidence is on page 121 it says, “Bob such a dig in the waist coat that he staggered back into the tank again and therefore, I’m about to raise your salary!” Bob was late to work and Scrooge told him that he was going to raise his salary. This also shows that Scrooge not greedy with money
Two other business men come to visit Scrooge to collect charity money off Scrooge, but they are not collecting to give Christmas presents they are collecting for common necessities. When Scrooge tells the two gentlemen he does not want to give any money the two business men suggest Scrooge wants to remain ‘anonymous’ but Scrooge replies ‘are they no prisons ‘or ‘workhouses, Dickens is showing us just because you are a business man you do not have to be cruel like Scrooge. Towards the end of the novel Scrooge changes and kindly gives the two business man a large amount of money and the two businesses are astounded that Scrooge has changed and are wondering if he is another man.
Isolation is the main theme in this Stave. Scrooge is not involved in society and is not sympathetic in any way and is not liked by anybody. As it says in the text on page 3,” …. Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say with gladsome looks,”My dear Scrooge, how are you?” …. No man or woman ever once in his life inquired the way to such and such a place.” Is also states in the very beginning, “Scrooge knew Marley was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner.” Since Marley was his only friend when he died his only bridge to humanity was gone. Even with Bob Cratchit and his nephew around him, he never established that connection nor did he want to.
Any sympathy for Scrooge will have been lost at this point because he enjoyed the things that he put himself through. Dickens has done this to emphasise that Scrooge is not part of the world, he simply exists in
Ebenezer Scrooge was a slave to his desire for wealth would be an understatement. His very innate being was controlled by this one all consuming want, and it infected and ruined every relationship he was ever part of. However, Mr. Scrooge isn’t remembered necessarily for his greed, rather he’s remembered for his drastic change at the end of the novel. In the beginning of the novel when Mr. Scrooge is approached by two gentleman in order to make a Christmas donation Scrooge says that, “If they would rather die they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population”(11). Mr. Scrooge does not care about his fellow people, all he cares about is their cash. He is a foul and nasty character. However after being visited by three ghosts he starts to become a better person. His transition begins when the Ghost of Christmas Past shows him how he alienated his love and how he lost his sister as well. This starts to put a crack in his psyche and is the beginning of his transformation. Next he is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present who shows him the awful conditions that his employee Bob Cratchit is suffering, no thanks to Scrooge. The fact that Mr. Cratchit’s son Tim may soon die because of him wears away at Scrooge’s facade of heartlessness even more, but the transition isn’t yet complete. Although he asks the Ghost of Christmas Present whether Tim Cratchit will live and is “overwhelmed with penitence and grief”(63), his despair at the young child’s
In Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol there's many themes and symbolism that are compelling to the novel. Such as Scrooge character development through a miserable man that hates Christmas and people around him that would rather be in his little cocoon of a shell then commute and gather with the people that loves him and would want to share the holiday spirit with him. Scrooge in the story is cold as ice and does some inherent and despicable Things in the story. Such as showing how uncaring he is to the poor and people who lower then Him in class. In the depiction of the book, a man ask Scrooge for money many times for donation to the needy but Scrooge neglects him time after time. This summarize how uncaring he is to the poor and how selfish he is
Nobody liked Scrooge. According to the text, he was a wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner. On page 4 of Stave 4, the text tells us “no one cared, they let him die alone. The quotes are proof of what the townspeople thought of him. According to the text in Stave 4 page 4 it says, “If he wanted to keep them after he was dead a wicked old screw.” This is what the laundry lady referred to his clothes and his personal belongings. Another example is in Stave 4 page 5 it says, “He frightened everybody away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead.” This scary attitude he displayed was a reason why nobody liked him. The last example is in Stave 4 page 4 it says, “If he had been, he’d have had somebody
A Christmas Carol is preeminent a Christian moral story of reclamation about, as Fred , (Scrooges Nephew) puts it, the "kind, forgetting, altruistic, lovely time" of Christmas. Scrooge is a skinflint businessperson who speaks to the greediest driving forces of Victorian England's rich. He subscribes to the rules of the Poor Laws, which abuse the underclass, and has no glow in his soul for anything other than cash. Dickens perfectly showcases this, by representing Cratchit as the hardworking poor, and Scrooge as the conspicuous image of the avaricious Victorian rich. Cratchit is an unassuming, frail man who must choose the option to obey to his employer’s requests.
Dickens also plays with Scrooges character to depict the idea and consequences of Utilitarianism. Before the conversion of Scrooge, he is made out to be a man who only cares about money and nothing or nobody else. This is clear, as in Stave Two of the novella, the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to where he used to work, and shows Scrooge how, Fezziwig his old boss, was easily able to bring happiness to many people, without spending a lot of money or having a lot of money at all. This helps Scrooge to realise that money may not really always bring happiness, and someone cannot live on loving money and hoping from happiness off their wealth. This is clear in the novella when Scrooge reflects on what he saw at Fezziwig’s, by saying ‘The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune’. The Ghost of
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.