Context + Themes Flashcards
Christmas brings out the best in people
Presented as a time when people “open their shut-up hearts freely”
Scrooge juxtaposes Fred, Belle, Cratchits
Personified through GCPresent with his “cheery voice” and “joyful air”
Christmas inspires generosity - it’s so powerful that it transforms Scrooge
Charity collectors
“Abundance rejoices”
Scrooge once said that anybody who celebrated Christmas should be burnt alive - he’s the “ogre of the family”
Scrooge then tries to “keep it [the Spirit of Christmas] all year”
Redemption
Scrooge scorns charity workers - he says that men “should not interfere with other people’s”
Scrooge’s ways come from his father - Fan says that he is kinder “than he used to be” implying that there was domestic abuse
Scrooge is reborn - he says that he’s “quite a baby” and “glowing with his good intentions”
Social responsibility
Scrooge suggests that poor people should “decrease the surplus population” and die
Dickens describe some of the ghosts as “guilty governments” implying that those in power were to blame
GCPresent also describes the “bigotry and selfishness” of the upper classes and uses the characters of Ignorance and Want to portray poverty. At the end of the Chapter, he says that ignorance leads to the “doom” of society and that the upper classes should be showing “charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence”.
Poverty
Dickens uses the Cratchits, particularly Tiny Tim, to humanise the poorest in society - this is through the love they show for each other and the happiness they share, despite their circumstances. It is this love for the Cratchits that makes the GCY2C’s quote “if these shadows remain unaltered” haunting, due to the fact that it foreshadows Tiny Tim’s death.
This contrasts with the streets outside, which are described as “cesspools”, with the people on the streets “half-naked” and “ugly”.
Contrasts with Scrooge, who is so rich that “his wealth is of no use to him”.
Family
GCPresent shows Scrooge visions of children “running out into the snow” to meet members of their families.
Like the Cratchits, both Fred and Belle are happy with their families. Fred and his friends “roared out, lustily” and Belle’s family is full of “joy and gratitude and ecstasy”.
Scrooge says that love is the “one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas”. He scorns the idea that the Cratchits can be both poor and happy. Scrooge has always been lonely, being described as a “solitary” child and “solitary as an oyster” in the opening passage.
