a Christmas carol Flashcards
what are 4 themes presented in A Christmas carol?
- Generosity
- Moral responsibility
- Regret
- The Christmas spirit
3 Quotes about the theme generosity
- “The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it costs a fortune.”
- suggests Fezziwig’s generosity to his workers, opposite to Scrooge, starts to realise he isn’t following the role of Fezziwig who to him was ‘the perfect boss’
2.”If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, that’s something”
- suggests Fred insists that his observance of the Christmas holiday will always include attempting to help his uncle develop some Christmas spirit- he also knows that both Bob and scrooge would benefit greatly with scrooges redemption arc - "”I’ll send it to Bob Cratchit’s,” whispered Scrooge,”
-This first act embodies generosity: Scrooge makes a financial sacrifice, one that will benefit people in need. Scrooge does not want recognition for this act, and best of all, he starts to realize that generosity functions as its own reward. Knowing that the Cratchits will be happy makes Scrooge happy.
2 quotes about the theme regret
1.”Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me?”
-Marley shares his regret with Scrooge in an attempt to prevent Scrooge from sharing his fate. Having never helped out his fellow humans in life, he has been doomed to walk the earth in death without the ability to help them.
2.” I should like to have given him something, that’s all.”
-For the first time, Scrooge expresses regret over a past lack of generosity - experiences the sad and lonely feelings he has long repressed - remembers the boy who recently tried to sing him a Christmas carol, a boy he dismissed violently
3 quotes about moral responsibilities
1.”woe is me!—and witness what it cannot share”
-suggests that humankind must care for each other by helping and sharing. Not doing so results in eternal torment. The value of a life rests on proactive, positive morality rather than a passive strategy of avoiding sin.
2.“Mankind was my business.”
-Marley rues the wrong priorities he held in life. Scrooge has just remarked that Marley was always a good man of business. Marley, distressed, knows that his true business should have been helping people - message here doesn’t condemn moneymaking per se, but the emphasis in one’s business should focus on helping others.
3.”They are Man’s….And they cling to me…The boy is Ignorance. The girl is Want.”
-The Ghost of Christmas Present shelters under his robe two pathetic figures that look like starving children - shelters the two because, in the spirit of Christmas—a day the text encourages people to honour at all times — society should and must take care of the problems of ignorance and want, for the good of all.
2 quotes about the Christmas spirit
1.”I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time”
-Fred explains to Scrooge why he has felt compelled to visit his uncle and wish him a merry Christmas despite Scrooge’s unfriendliness. Fred insists that the spirit of Christmas benefits him even though the spirit does not profit him
2.”…yet there was an air of cheerfulness abroad”
-narrator describes the grim city streets transformed by the Christmas spirit spreading cheer everywhere - narrator explains this change in the atmosphere, metaphorically, as the work of the Ghost of Christmas Present
quotes on scrooge before..
“He was as hard and sharp as flint.”
““Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?””
“External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge.”
quotes on scrooge through his change..
“Scrooge wept to see his poor forgotten self as he had used to be.”
Tiny Tim is as “good as gold - and better”
“Have they no refuge or resource?” cried Scrooge.
quotes for scrooge after..
“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and keep it all the year.”
“I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy.”
“I’m quite a baby. Never mind. I’d rather be a baby”
Fred
“What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.”
“Scrooge’s offences carry their own punishment. Who suffers? Himself!”
“He was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again”
Jacob Marley
“I wear the chain I forged in life…The chain was made up of cash boxes..ledgers..heavy purses”
“You may be an undigested bit of beef”
“Mankind was my business!”
The Cratchits
‘The clerk’s fire … looked like only one coal’
‘There never was such a goose cooked.’
‘God bless us, every one’
Mr Scrooge.’the founder of the feast’
The Ghost of Christmas Past
‘Would you (Scrooge) so soon put out..the light I give?’
The Ghost of Christmas Present
‘Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die?’
‘They are Man’s. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want.’
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
‘It was shrouded in a deep black garment which concealed its head, its face, its form and left nothing visible except one outstretched hand’
‘Scrooge crept towards it, trembling, and following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglectedgrave his own name, Ebenezer Scrooge’
