Ebeneezer Scrooge Flashcards
“A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner?!”
(Stave 1)
Dickens uses asyndetic listing in his descriptions of Scrooge, perhaps to show the extent of his greed.
The relentless verbs refer to him being sting and selfish. Immediately characterised as an unlikeable character.
Makes it difficult for the reader to sympathise with him.
“hard and sharp as flint”
(Stave 1)
The words “hard” and “sharp” convey a sense of coldness, unfriendliness, and potentially even cruelty.
Dickens uses simile to immediately establish Scrooge’s character as someone who is difficult and unyielding.
“Solitary as an oyster”
(Stave 1)
This simile is interesting as although Dickens describes Scrooge as “solitary”, highlighting his isolation and so presenting him as hostile.
The choice of an oyster is significant as despite an oyster being dark and hard on the outside they can contain something beautiful and valued on the inside.
“Decrease the surplus population”
(Stave 1)
“Surplus” means more than necessary something excessive, unwanted.
Scrooge views the poor not as people, but as a burden on society — as if they are waste or extra stock.
Dickens deliberately uses the language of economics and industry to reflect how the poor were treated in Victorian society.
“Decrease” presents a cold, mechanical view of life.
“I don’t make merry myself at christmas, and i can’t afford to make idle people merry”
(Stave 1)
The use of “I” reflects his selfishness — he centres everything around his own experience, and fails to see beyond himself.
Dickens uses this to highlight how greed warps morality — Scrooge uses “I can’t afford” not in the literal sense, but to justify his unwillingness to help.
This is a loaded term. By calling the poor “idle,” Scrooge implies they are lazy, undeserving, and to blame for their own poverty.
“I’m quite a baby”
(Stave 5)
Scrooge is expressing a feeling of rebirth, innocence, and a fresh start.
The noun “baby” connotes purity, vulnerability, and a new beginning. Babies haven’t yet been corrupted by the world — just like Scrooge now, who has shed the cold, greedy layers of his old self.
The use of “quite” is almost childlike in tone — it gives the phrase a light, playful feeling, which is such a contrast to his earlier, grumpy dialogue.
