key quotes Flashcards
‘solitary as an oyster’(stave 1)
shows that he’s lonely and doesn’t want to associate with annoying. this is also telling us that scrooge traps his feelings up inside and refuses to open up to anyone. it also foreshadows that there is a pearl inside him like an oyster that slower open up during scrooges path to redemption
‘i can’t afford to make idle people merry’(stave 1)
scrooges words to the charity collectors as he refuses to give to charity
the adjective ‘idle’ reveals scrooges believes that the poor people are lazy and are to blame for their own situation. this mirrors the victorian’s rich attitude to the poor
‘a solitary child, neglected by his friend s’ (stave 2)
a description of scrooge as a young boy he was left alone at school as others enjoyed their holidays. adjectives ‘solitary’ and ‘neglected’ )highlights his feeling of loneliness and isolation therefore as feel sympathy for him. it also explains why he becomes ‘hard and sharp as flint’ later on
‘have they no refuge or resource?’(stave 3) the second of the three spirits
We can see that scrooge has gone through a huge amount of redemption directly contrasting to his words in stave 1 to he charity collectors ‘are there no workhouses?’ and ‘are there no prisons’. prisons in victorian times were for people in debt and could not pay. dickens father was sent to a debtors prison because he was in debt.
‘I wear the chains i forged in life ‘ marleys ghost (stave 1)
dickens is highlighting how marleys bad action in his past life lead him to be in pain after and how he regrets all his decisions. the verb ‘forged’ replicates how each bad action of marley resulted in the painful chains he wears now
‘this boy is ignorance…most of all beware the boy’ (stave 3) ghost of christmas present
metaphor representing victorian society. the two children ignorant and want represent the attitude of the rich to the poor in the Victorian Society. Dickens considers ignorance the worst because it leads to want.
