isolation/ community

Question 1

quote 1

Answer 1

‘But what did Scrooge care? It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance’ p8

Scrooge’s deliberate isolation is emphasised through “edging his way along the crowded paths of life,” suggesting he navigates society without engaging in meaningful relationships. The metaphor of “warning all human sympathy to keep its distance” presents him as actively repelling kindness, reinforcing his emotional detachment.
Scrooge ostracization from society

Question 2

quote 2

Answer 2

it’s not my business… not to interfere with other people’s” p12

Scrooge’s cold clinical tone highlights his self-imposed loneliness as he believes it is his duty to refuse help to other who are struggling and dismiss social responsibility

Question 3

quote 3

Answer 3

‘Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melononly tavern … nobody lived it in it but Scrooge’ p14

The repetition of “melancholy’ places emphasises the mundanity and depressed life Scrooge lives that it even impacts the environment around him

Question 4

quote 4

Answer 4

“When he thought such another creature… Might of called him father and had been the spring time of the happiness winter in his life, his sight grew very dim indeed”

here the adjective ‘dim’ implies Scrooge is on the verge of tears at the prospect of the chance of fatherhood now lost.

Question 5

quote 5

Answer 5

“It’s I . Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred”- P87

This is demonstrating Scrooge finally embracing family and human connection which is in direct contrast in the beginning of the novella when Scrooge rejects Fred’s invitation to Christmas dinner demonstrating the cyclical structure of the novella. The use of the name “Fred” creates a sense of connection which directly contrasts stave 1 where he calls him ‘nephew”