Final A Christmas Carol Quotes Flashcards
‘________, wrenching, _______, scraping, ________, ________ old sinner’ Scrooge Stave 1 Themes = ?
‘squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner’ Themes = Selfishness/materialism, social injustice
- Asyndetic list confirms Scrooge is a miser
- Use of 7 negative adjectives mirrors the 7 deadly sins (foundations of Victorian morality was religion = the rich are more inclined to go against morals - 1834 poor law ironically designed to address the perceived sin an laziness of the poor)
‘__ ____ are going to ___ ____ ___ _____ do it ____ decrease the _______ ________’ _______ Stave 1 Themes = ?
‘If they are going to die they had better do it and decrease the surplus population’ Scrooge Themes = Selfishness/Materialism, social injustice
- No sympathy for the poor - sees them as a burden to society
- Dickens political diatribe of Thomas Malthus theory (population growth will always tend to outrun food supply and betterment of humankind is impossible without limits on reproduction.
‘_______ was __ business’ _______ Stave 1 Themes = ?
‘Mankind was my business’ Marley Themes = Selfishness/Materialism, social injustice
- Scrooge said he was a good man of business but Marley realises helping mankind should have been his priority
- Dickens ideas on social responsibility - we are all accountable for one another and should help each other (diatribe to rich Victorian audience)
‘It was _ ______ place …. overrun by _____ and ______’ Stave _ Themes = ?
‘It was a worthy place… overrun by grass and weeds’ Stave 4 Themes = Selfishness/Materialism, social injustice, (greed)
- Juxtaposes Tiny Tim’s grave
- semantic field of decay in ‘overrun’ and ‘grass and weeds’ mocking his life
- Dickens is emphasising the consequences of neglecting your moral and civic duties (warning rich Victorian readers)
- ‘a worthy place’ = karmic retribution
‘I _____ ______ to make _____ ______ merry’ _______ Stave 1 Themes =
‘I can’t afford to make idle people merry’ Scrooge Themes = social injustice/poverty
- He doesn’t like Christmas as doesn’t see why he should pay for others to enjoy it
- idle = lazy - his belief that prisons and workhouses will solve the poor’s problems
- Ironic as he can afford it but is always thinking about is material gain
‘______, meagre… scowling, ______….the ___ is ignorance, the ____ is ____’ ____ __ _______ _______ Stave _ Themes =
‘yellow meagre… scowling, wolfish… the boy is ignorance the girl is want’ Ghost of Christmas Present Stave 3 Themes = Social injustice/poverty, selfishness
- Ignorance and Want are allegorical (to teach) characters the unjustified abuse on innocent children as a result of the selfish upper class
- ‘yellow’ = reminder of physical illness (malnutrition)
- This encounter between them and Scrooge shows their state is directly caused by his greed - his desire for wealth outweighs his compassion
-Shown as animalistic = dehumanised
- Later he tries to reverse his ignorance by asking if Tiny Tim will live
‘how ____ a place __ __…. My ____, ______ child!’ Bob Cratchit Stave _ Themes = ?
‘how green a place it is…. My little, little child’ Stave 4 Themes = Social injustice/ poverty, selfishness/materialism
- Juxtaposes Scrooges grave - Tiny Tim was innocent
- Recurring adjective ‘little’ portrays him as fragile and how children like him fall victim to the selfish ways of the rich
- Scrooges transformation into a ‘second father’ for Tiny Tim shows a solution to this issue
- Shows the damaging effects of Thomas Malthus views
- Bob is a microcosm (something small representing something larger) of the unfair treatment of the poor
‘____ _ _____ yet not so like _ ______ as like an ___ ___’ Stave _ Themes = ?
‘like a child yet not so like a child as like an old man’ Stave 2 Themes = supernatural
- Metaphor for Scrooge = visually an old man but vulnerable/isolated like he was as a child
- Shows interconnectedness of time = past affects your future
‘_____ _____… bore a glowing _____’ Ghost of Christmas Present Stave 3 Themes = ?
‘Jolly giant… bore a glowing torch’ Themes = Supernatural
- This ghost is the Christmas spirit = he is happy, infects those around him with warmth and generosity.
- Motif of light
- Biblical allusion to Christ = he’s come to shed light on Scrooge and change him
‘shrouded in a ____ _____ _______’ Ghost of Christmas Yet to come Stave 4 Themes =
‘shrouded in a deep black garment’ Themes = supernatural, selfishness
- Reminiscent of the Grim reaper who’s tasked with taking souls = consequence of Scrooges past actions
- His actions = unavoidable path to death
- ‘black’ juxtaposes motif of light in the other two ghosts
’ __ ___ the power to render __ _____ or _______’ Scrooge Stave _ Themes = ?
‘he has the power to render us happy or unhappy’ Stave 2 Themes = Family/Kindness, Redemption
- Antithetical phrase (words that contrast and compliment each other) shows Scrooges realisation the power an employee holds to make their employees life a burden or not - redemption
’ _ ____ live in the ____, the _______ and the ______. The Spirits of ___ ______ shall strive __ __’ Scrooge Stave _ Themes = ?
‘I will live in the past, the present, and the future. The Spirits of all three shall strive in me’ Stave 4 Themes = Transformation/Redemption, supernatural, religion
- Scrooge’s realisation = climax of novella (now understands errors of his ways)
-‘all Three’ = biblical allusion to holy trinity - acting as incarnations of God to save him from his sins
‘I am as _____ __ _ _______, I am as happy as __ ______, I am as merry __ _ _________’ Scrooge Stave _ Themes = ?
‘I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy’ Stave 5 Themes = Transformation/Redemption, Religion
-Asyndetic list of similes
- ‘angel’ = redemption has led him back to God - religious morals important in Victorian society
- Infantile imagery of ‘schoolboy’ = rebirth (Christianity)
‘to ____ ___ he was a second _______’ Stave 5 Themes = ?
‘to Tiny Tim he was a second father’ Themes = Transformation/Redemption
- Scrooge becomes aware of his greater social responsibility = ignorance to poor is gone
- Dickens showing Tiny Tim was saved due to Scrooges actions = showing Victorian rich readers they need to change in order to save the poor
’ _ ____ the chain I ______ __ ____…. I cannot _____, I cannot ____, _ _______ _______ anywhere!’ _______ Stave _ Themes = ?
‘I wear the chain I forged in life…. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere!’ Marley Stave 1 Themes = Regret/Guilt, supernatural
- Marley = symbolic for consequences of the eternal pursuit of materialism
- Chain = restriction and entrapment - can’t break them
- Personal pronoun I = he knows what he did was wrong - showing readers this is where the pursuit of materialism will get them
- Reference to Cain in the bible
