A Christmas Carol Characters Flashcards
Analyse this Scrooge quote “I am….”
“I am as merry as a school boy”
- conveys scrooges development
- “Merry” links to Christmas spirit making Scrooge change
- juxtaposes scrooges childhood- wants to forget it or start again
- “schoolboy” Scrooge being re-educates
- “boy” connotes innocence like Scrooge has got rid of his guilt (chains)
- structure: long list of similes - show excitement and Scrooge not knowing how to express his new emotions
- Context: Family Unit, ragged schools, children representing society
Analyse this Scrooge quote “Darkness…
“Darkness was cheap and Scrooge liked it”
- loneliness has become normal
- “cheap” lexical field of money shows importance to Scrooge, wealth is like his family, it’s precious
- “Darkness” opposes light conveys Scrooge going to hell, absence of God. Absence of hope conveys unlikely for Scrooge to change- dickens does it to to show audience anyone can change
-Context: poor were poor as they didn’t work hard enough
Darkness could relate to gothic fiction supernatural happened at night,
Analyse Scrooge quote “Sol…
“Solitary as an oyster”
- conveys loneliness, oysters live in shells- cut off from society
- audience sympathise with Scrooge juxtaposes it’s his own fault
- irony oysters actually live in groups, makes Scrooge lonelier
- “oyster” has pearls in it conveying something beautiful in Scrooge, it’s just hiding
- bad oysters are bitter sums up Scrooges personality
- pearls in oysters made them seem wealthy but working class eat them, Scrooge is just like everyone else
- Context: family combated industrialisation - links with scrooges development and saving tiny Tim
- dickens was poor and dad went to jail, if u worked harder u wouldn’t be poor juxtaposes cratchits
Analyse Scrooge quote “I will….
“I will honour Christmas in my heart and try and keep it all year through”
- Christmas is special, rich and poor come together, Dickens wants this al year
- “honour” its a privilege, symbolises good will is a dutiful. Scrooge owes ghosts so keeps Christmas close to him
- “heart” links to keeping messages close, u always carry ur heart around. Symbolises love and family and suggests their what u hold most dear, conveys Scrooges character development.
- Context: society thought love was a weakness, -soft headed business man became bankrupt-
Analyse this Cratchit quote “The…”
“The Clerk’s fire was so much that it looked like a coal”
-Bob isn’t treated right but is still grateful to Scrooge
-“coal” symbolises darkness juxtaposes Bobs happiness, links to family and child labour and chimneys
-“smaller” comparative adjective- shows and foreshadows difference between Bob and Scrooge
they come together
-Irony how it’s called “fire” when it’s “coal” shows Bobs positive outlook
-Context- wealth gap, poverty and family unit
Analyse this Cratchit quote “My…”
“My little, little child!’ Cried Bob ‘My little child”
- distraught about Tiny Tims foreshadowed death
- repetition of “little” sounds like wail, links to “cried” both symbolise water- drowning on grief or clean slate
- getting though it as they’re a close fam however “my” juxtaposes as Bob thinks he’s responsible, link to gender roles
- Repetition of “child” connotes youth and innocence- makes audience reflect
- Structure “!” Empathises his distraught
- Context- Family unit, gender roles and poor law
Analyse the Cratchit quote “The c…”
“The colour hurts my eyes”
- world gone black and white, everything she sees he can’t
- “hurt” physical pain - death, links with “my” feels alone and rsponsilbl
Analyse the Cratchit quote “they…”
“They were happy, grateful, pleased with one another”
-List shows their contentedness, all positive
-Irony “grateful” they don’t have much but are happy together, links to Christmas spirit and family, juxtaposes Mrs B attitude to Scrooge
- 3rd person plural “they” conveys there a collective and sense of belonging, foreshadows distraught when Tim dies
-“pleased” juxtaposes Scrooge shows wealth isn’t everything
Context: family unit, soft and hard business men, gender roles
Analyse the Marley’s Ghost quote “M….”
“Mankind was my business”
-Marley regrets taking no responsibility, wants Scrooge to be different and learn
-“Business” links to wealth and puts it in terms Scrooge will understand, means should help others
-Dickens, everyone must look out for others, not just family
-past tense “was” Marley can’t change anything, but he’s been changed because by helping Scrooge, he’s helped others
-Marley and Scrooge are like family, they look out for one another, Scrooges lost all family bar Fred
Context: soft and hard business men, family unit
Analyse this Marley’s Ghost quote “I…”
“I wear the chains I forged in life”
-he’s paying for his actions in life
-“chains” connotative being locked up, he’s serving his punishment- the China’s are weighing him down symbolise guilt or his crimes
-“forged” takes time to make, he’d been doing wrong for years, conveys he made society bad and will take a long time to fix
-Dickens message little things go a long way
-“wear” takes them everywhere he goes, like clothes, suggests we always have responsibility
Or conveys they cover something up, can change society because people can change what they “wear”
Context: Dickens family, society - poor law and soft and hard businessmen
Analyse this Fred quote “Open
“Open their shut-up hearts freely”
-thinks people don’t take responsibility, like Dickens but juxtaposes society and Scrooge
-Personification symbolises door which is easy to open so society can change
-verb “shut-up” conveys people are desensitised to their surroundings as don’t help poor, or the wealth love in their own bubble/world
-noun “heart” symbolises love, most important thing, if people followed that instead of money, society would change
Context: poor working harder, poor law/workhouses, Victorians held in feelings and were meant to act a certain way
Analyse this Fred quote “Merry…”
“Merry Christmas God save you”
- positiveness juxtaposes Scrooge, but he’s still kind to Scrooge
- shows difference between their attitudes towards Christmas, Fred has family and gives him Christmas spirit
- “God” religious reference suggests Scrooge doesn’t belong to God and foreshadows religious references in stave 5. Or suggests only someone with God’s power can help Scrooge, implies the ghosts come from heaven
- “save” suggests Scrooge will die if he continues like this, symbolises society
- Context: family unit, Dickens visit to Manchester, Victoriams were religious
Analyse this Ghost of yet to come quote “sl..”
“Slowly, gravely and silently”
-rule of three adverbs, Ghost out of ordinary, grabs scrooges attention, its sinister makes Scrooge fearful as text is focused on description
“Silently” adds to the eerie atmosphere
-“gravely” conveys seriousness like breaking bad knows as “grave” lexical field of death, foreshadows Scrooges grave.
“Grave” could also the Ghost comes from hell because it’s like it’s risen from its grave and is wearing black which symbolises darkness and opposes God. Also a lack of hope in Scrooge because the lights been distinguished
-“slowly” could symbolise the past creeping up on his future and how he’s slowly changing
Context: gothic fiction, religion
Analyse this Ghost of Christmas yet to come quote “It…”
“It was shrouded in a deep black garment”
-personal pronoun “it” conveys its not from this world because it describes objects, links to having no dialogue creating eerie atmosphere
Or Scrooge didn’t want to think of it as human because would have made the supernatural seem real
-“Shrouded” symbolises being covered up, Ghost has no identity and is hiding something, audiences would be scared- ironic he’s doing a kind thing
Dickens message appearances don’t make a person who they are
-“black” has connotations to darkness and hell as ghosts are dead, also in negative lexis foreshadows horrible things he shows Scrooge.
Dickens message, positive things come from negativity, we can change the world
Context: supernatural, gothic fiction, family
Ghost of Christmas Past
“Which streamed from under it, in an unbroken flood upon the ground”
-Scrooge can’t hide the light linking to God and hope, suggesting not to late to change
-“streamed” conveyed the light kept coming and can’t stop suggesting it’s so powerful it may have the ability to change Scrooge, link to fed saying in Stave 1 “god save you”
-“unbroken flood” metaphor suggests the light covers a vast area and Scrooge can’t get away from it, again he can’t hide- he has to face his problems head on
Also it suggests that positivity can’t outlast any problems because “flood” is a natural disaster. This could be Dickens saying mankind can overcome poverty because that the current disaster and Christmas spirit is a way of fighting it
Context: religion, poverty, Christmas, Manchester
