Generosity Theme

Question 1

‘Covetous Old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, to which no steel had ever struck out generous fire’

Answer 1

• ‘covetous old sinner’ —> ‘covetous’ —> adjective indicate his greed. This links to the seven deadly sins portraying Scrooge as immoral in the Christian faith. This links to noun ‘sinner’ —> where it is used as a derogetory term. —> Dicken wrote in Victorian England where the country was predominantly Christian and religious. In the Christian faith, the idea of ‘sinning’ was held in high disrespect,—> as a result, dickens uses It to create horror from the readership towards Scrooge’s immoral nature and greed.
• ‘hard and sharp’ —> similie portrays Scrooge as being tough and unforgiving in his character portraying his initial lack of generosity.
• ‘Never struck out generous fire’ —> adverb ‘never’ —> portrays an absence of generosity all throughout Scrooge’s life. Also, in the metaphor of ‘fire’ —> can refer to the motif of Christmas spirit and generosity where a lack of ‘fire’ —> contributes to his lack of generosity.

Question 2

‘I don’t make merry myself at Christmas, and I can’t afford to make idle people merry’

Answer 2

• ‘don’t make myself merry at Christmas’ —> indicates his lack of Christmas spirit and Joue de vivre. This portrays his lack of care, munificence and a lack of a celebratory attitude.
• ‘cant’ afford to make idle people merry’ —> ‘cant’ —> modal verb ‘can’ within contraction ‘can’t’, indicates a sense of conviction in Scrooge’s belief that he cannot provide for the poor. This is ironic since he has the funds to provide for the lower classes, however, he chooses not to. This indicates the lack of empathy and generosity that he has.

Question 3

‘Hilli-ho!’ Cried old Fezziwig, skipping down, from the high desk with wonderful agility. ‘Clear away, my lads, and let’s have lots of room here!’

Answer 3

• ‘Hilli-ho’ —> use of onomatopoeia shows his joy and excitement when providing happiness to others. This shows his energetic and selfless nature.
• ‘Old’ —> use of the adjective can evoke imagery of being frail and sluggish, however, the adjective ‘agility’ and kinaesthetic verb ‘skipping’ portrays him as energetic. This can insinuate that Fezziwig’s generous attitude makes him appear energetic and youthful.
• ‘!’ —> use of exclamatory sentences shows his joy when providing for others hence contributing to his portrayal as showing liberality.
• This juxtaposes the description of Scrooge being ‘old’ where Scrooge’s ‘cold within him froze his old features’ portraying him as sluggish from a lack of warmth.

Question 4

‘He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil.’

Answer 4

• ‘happy or unhappy’ and ‘pleasure or toil’ —> antithesis —> indicates his understanding of the impacts of spending money and certain behaviours on others. This portrays him as insightful since he understands the impacts of people’s actions. This portrays a changing nature since Scrooge can relate to the behaviour of others. This portrays Fezziwig as a generous character in his ability to change people from struggling to thriving and joyfully. This portrays the generosity of Fezziwig and Scrooge’s acknowledgement of this highlights to what extent Fezziwig gives to others freely and frequently.

Question 5

‘Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, we’re turkeys, geese, game, poultry…delicious’

Answer 5

• ‘heaped up on the floor to form a kind of throne’ —> verb ‘heaped’ —> introduces a sense of abundance implying that the food is in excess and is piled up. Also, in the noun ‘throne’ —> evokes regal imagery implying a sense of lavishness surrounding the presence of the ghost of Christmas spirit. This shows that generosity is associated with goodwill.
• • ‘turkeys…sausages’ —> use of asyndetic listing reiterates to what extent there is a plethora of food. This shows the gastronomical delight associated to the generosity of the ghost of Christmas present. This creates a sense of joy in the description of excessive liberality.

Question 6

‘How the ghost exulted! How it bared its breadth of breast, and opened its capacious palm, and floated on, outpouring with a generous hand it’s bright and harmless mirth’…‘glorious torch’

Answer 6

• ‘blessings upon it’ —> plural noun —> ‘blessings’ —> illustrates the spirits kindness and generosity as the ghost is favourable and kind to the Lower class despite their poor conditions. This shows to Scrooge that he can still he kind and friendly to others poorer than him despite his wealth. This shows how the ghost does not believe in social divides and his Christmas spirit remains selfless and unbiased.
• ‘exulted!’ —> verb —> connotes to rejoicing and being elated. This shows the ghosts strong Christmas spirit and joy when giving it others despite the poor conditions that him and Scrooge are in. Also, ‘exulted’ juxtaposes Scrooge im his ‘misanthropic’ nature since the spirit is philanthropic and helps provide joy for others.
• ‘capacious’, ‘generous’ —> creates a sense of abundance reinforcing the spirit’s giving nature. This aims to educate Scrooge that he does not need to be miserly and can share his wealth.
• ‘Glorious torch’ —> motif of fire reinforces his generosity and strong Christmas spirit. This can also be shown by the explicit description of the ghost being ‘generous’

Question 7

‘It would be ungrateful not to drink his health. Here is a glass of mulled wine….Uncle Scrooge’ And ‘Mr Scrooge, the founder of the feast’

Answer 7

• ‘mulled wine’ —> context —> drink of the upper class. Portrays Fred as a foil to Scrooge since he is giving ans generous when around others unlike Scrooge’s nature.
• Fred also exhibits generosity in his emotional care and kindness towards others since his toasts to Scrooge with enthusiasm showing his generosity in emotions and forgiveness despite Scrooge’s dismissal and dislike of Fred.
• ‘Mr Scrooge, the founder of the feast’ —> similarly Bob Cratchit is portrayed as generous in his kindness since he also toasts to Scrooge showing his forgiving nature. This shows both characters care for Scrooge.

Question 8

‘It was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs…quite a baby…’Hallo!

Answer 8

• by the end Scrooge transforms to become generous where this is shown through his enthusiasm.
• ‘Splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh’ —> adjectives ‘illustrious’ and ‘splendid’ —> show the extent and generous joy which Scrooge exhibits. Also, the use of the hyperbole in ‘most’ —> demonstrates to what extent Scrooge demonstrates joy for life.
• ‘Quite a baby’ —> metaphor of a ‘baby’ —> evokes imagery of being youthful, active and joyful. Also, the use of the onomatopoeia in ‘hallo!’ —> is similar to Fezziwig showing how Scrooge has changed to become generous similar to the character of Fezziwig.

Question 9

‘A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family’

Answer 9

• ‘merrier Christmas, Bob’ —> adjective —> ‘merrier’ —> demonstrates the extent of joy and festivity that Scrooge has no developed alongside his newfound generosity.
• ‘I’ll raise your salary’ —> verb ‘raise’ —> connotes to a rise or increase showing Scrooge’s new generosity and willingness to give more money to others. This portrays him as how generous and giving.
• ‘Endeavour to assist your struggling family’ —> verb ‘endeavour’ —> connotes to aiming or trying to achieve ‘assisting’ the Cratchits. Through the use of the verb ‘assist’ this shows his willingness to help others presenting him as generous and now caring of others.