Quotes about Scrooge

Question 1

Scrooge is immediately introduced as a competent businessman and it is told he commemorated Marley’s funeral with a bargain

Answer 1

“he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain” (1.2)

Question 2

Scrooge is introduced at the beginning in a powerful way and as obsessed with money

Answer 2

“Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!” (1.3)

Question 3

Scrooge is introduced as isolated and not at all generous

Answer 3

“Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster” (1.3)

Question 4

Scrooge is introduced as being happy that he is left alone at the beginning

Answer 4

“But what did Scrooge care? It was the very thing he liked” (1.4)

Question 5

Scrooge views Christmas as humbug, saying it to the very first person who wishes him merry Christmas.

Answer 5

“‘Bah!’ said Scrooge, ‘Humbug!’”

Question 6

Scrooge views whether happiness can be achieved or not through the lens of money

Answer 6

“What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough” (1.5)

Question 7

Scrooge seems to hate love more than he hates Christmas, shown early on

Answer 7

“‘Because you fell in love!’ growled Scrooge, as if that were the only one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas” (1.7)

Question 8

Scrooge believes the poor should die if they would rather do so than go to prisons or workhouses, seeing them as merely extra population

Answer 8

“‘If they would rather die,’ said Scrooge, ‘ they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population” (1.9)

Question 9

Scrooge is willing to use physical threats and fear to push away people, even in Christmas

Answer 9

“Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror” (1.11)

Question 10

Scrooge’s personal life is miserable and boring, shown early in the story

Answer 10

“Scrooge took his melancholy dinner is his usual melancholy tavern; and having read all the newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening with his banker’s-book” (1.12)

Question 11

Scrooge locks himself more securely than normal, implying he is frightened by what happened with his door’s knocker

Answer 11

“locked himself in; double-locked himself in, which was not his custom” (1.14)

Question 12

Scrooge is very fearful of Marley’s ghost

Answer 12

“the spectre’s voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones” (1.17)

Question 13

Scrooge is desperate for reassurance from Marley’s ghost, something he cannot give Scrooge due to his actions. Scrooge’s possible redemption lies with the three other ghosts

Answer 13

“‘Old Jacob Marley, tell me more. Speak comfort to me, Jacob!’” (1.19)

Question 14

Scrooge treats Marley’s ghost better after some time than he did earlier, showing him changing already

Answer 14

“Scrooge observed, in a business-like manner, though with humility and deference” (1.19/20)

Question 15

Scrooge doesn’t complete saying “humbug” before any of the ghost visits, implying he begins changing early on

Answer 15

“He tried to say ‘Humbug!’ but stopped at the first syllable” (1.23)

Question 16

Scrooge proudly states nothing has happened just before the clock strikes 1 am, showing he doesn’t truly want the ghosts to visit him initially

Answer 16

“‘The hour itself,’ said Scrooge, triumphantly, ‘and nothing else!’” (2.25)

Question 17

Scrooge wants the Ghost of Christmas Past to wear their cap, implying they do not want to see the light coming from their head

Answer 17

“he had a special desire to see the Spirit in his cap, and begged him to be covered” (2.27)

Question 18

Scrooge wishes he gave something to the carol singer who came to him previously, showing his first steps in redemption

Answer 18

“There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: that’s all” (2.31)

Question 19

Scrooge defends Fezziwig’s generosity, helping him realise that happiness can be incredibly valuable, and given to others without spending much money

Answer 19

“The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune” (2.38)

Question 20

Scrooge wishes he could talk to his clerk, Bob, showing him changing and possibly regretting his meanness

Answer 20

“I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That’s all” (2.38)

Question 21

Scrooge’s obsession with money replaced his love for Belle

Answer 21

“To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me” (2.38/39)

Question 22

Scrooge is so affected by the Ghost of Christmas Past’s visions that he tries to forcefully stop them (succeeding) by pushing down its cap on its head

Answer 22

“he seized the extinguisher-cap, and by a sudden action pressed it down upon its head” (2.43)

Question 23

Scrooge, after seeing the Ghost of Christmas Past, accepts the spirits they are real and tries to prepare for the next one

Answer 23

“he wished to challenge the Spirit of the moment of its appearance, and did not wish to be taken by surprise and made nervous” (3.44)

Question 24

The narrator encourages the reader to show some sympathy to Scrooge (confused about this one)

Answer 24

“for it is always the person not in the predicament who knows what ought to have been done in it, and would unquestionably have done it too” (3.45)

Question 25

Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Present with reverence and a much different attitude to how he met the previous ghost

Answer 25

“Scrooge entered timidly, and hung his head before this Spirit. He was not the dogged Scrooge he had been” (3.46)

Question 26

Scrooge seems to care about whether Tiny Tim will live or not, displaying his growing empathy and care for others

Answer 26

“‘Spirit,’ said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, ‘tell me if Tiny Tim will live.’” (3.56)

Question 27

Mentioning Scrooge’s name causes some darkness to be metaphorically cast over the Cratchits, emphasising how greedy and cruel he is to others

Answer 27

“The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not dispelled for full five minutes” (3.58)

Question 28

Scrooge eventually begins to realise, broadly, that his actions could have shown kindness and made him happier

Answer 28

“he softened more and more; and thought that if he could have listened to it often, years ago, he might have cultivated the kindness of life for his own happiness with his own hands” (3.65)

Question 29

Scrooge greatly enjoys family life and taking part, in ghostly form, in games with his nephew. He desperately wishes to stay.

Answer 29

“he begged like a boy to be allowed to stay until the guests departed” (3.66)

Question 30

Scrooge would have thanked Fred and his friends if he had the chance to after seeing them play and talk, showing kindness forming in him

Answer 30

“he would have pledged the unconscious company in return, and thanked them in an inaudible speech” (3.67)

Question 31

Scrooge greatly fears the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, potentially an omen of what it will show

Answer 31

“its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread” (4.71)

Question 32

Scrooge is very open to the lessons the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come will give him and is grateful for them, showing his great change

Answer 32

“I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart” (4.72)

Question 33

Scrooge’s closest friend in the future may have been a person who talked with him sometimes, not a strong connection, showing his future isolation

Answer 33

“I’m not at all sure that I wasn’t his most particular friend; for we used to stop and speak whenever we met” (4.73)

Question 34

One woman who steals from Scrooge’s body after he died justifies her actions by pointing to Scrooge’s, showing how Scrooge’s bad behaviour punished him even after death

Answer 34

“Every person has a right to take care of themselves. He always did!” (4.76)

Question 35

Scrooge, in the future, died alone by himself, and it is presented in a disturbing way, showing how his actions haunt him at his death

Answer 35

“instead of lying gasping out his last there, alone by himself” (4.77)

Question 36

Scrooge recognises his fate may be the same of that of the dead man in the future is he doesn’t change, showing him beginning to understand the true consequences of his actions, if he does not change them

Answer 36

“I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way, now” (4.79)

Question 37

Scrooge was so greedy that in the future where he doesn’t change, people are glad when he dies

Answer 37

“She was a mild and patient creature if her face spoke truth; but she was thankful in her soul to hear it” (4.81)

Question 38

Scrooge states that he will change his ways completely and learn from the lessons the ghosts have taught him when he sees his fate in the future

Answer 38

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach” (4.87)

Question 39

When Scrooge finally returns to the real world for good at the end, he repeats what he said to the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, showing he has genuinely changed (repeated)

Answer 39

“‘I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!’ Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. ‘The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me” (5.89)

Question 40

Scrooge has clearly changed at the end as his body is described with connotations of light and warmth instead of the cold and dark it is described with in the beginning

Answer 40

“He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his call” (5.89)

Question 41

Scrooge likens himself to many happy, even silly things in the final stave, showing how his personality has completely changed, especially as he wishes the world a Merry Christmas

Answer 41

“I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody!” (5.90)

Question 42

Scrooge is so pleasant and has changed so much by the final stave that strangers greet him happily

Answer 42

“He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three of four good-humoured feloows said, ‘Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you!’” (5.92)

Question 43

Scrooge donates so much to the charity collector that he is taken aback, showing Scrooge is arguably more generous and kind than the average person at the end of the novel

Answer 43

“‘Lord bless me!’ cried the gentleman, as if his breath were taken away. ‘My dear Mr Scrooge, are you serious?’” (5.93)

Question 44

Scrooge is nervous about seeing his family, showing both remorse at how he treated them in the past and newfound concern about how they will see him in the present

Answer 44

“He passed the door a dozen times, before he had the courage to go up and knock” (5.94)

Question 45

Scrooge tells Bob Cratchit he will treat him better, help his family and shows far greater kindness than before, again showing how Scrooge has changed and is kinder to those directly employed by him

Answer 45

“I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!” (5.95)

Question 46

Ultimately, at the very end of the novel, Scrooge does change through his actions and achieves great good, even saving Tiny Tim’s life

Answer 46

“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father” (5.95)