scrooge Flashcards
Redemption
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
Scrooge thinks that prisons are a good place to send the poor and destitute. It also shows Scrooge’s cold heartedness and carelessness towards others despite not knowing them. Represents Malthus’ theory.
Every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!
His violent and hyperbolic language here is a sharp contrast with his language at the end of the novella, representing his transformation in character.
As solitary as an oyster
Shows us that he’s lonely and doesn’t want to associate or communicate with anyone - Scrooge traps his feelings up inside and refuses to open up to anyone. Additionally, it’s also foreshadowing change. Since there’s pearls inside oysters, it’s foreshadowing change and a journey of redemption for Scrooge
He tried to say, ‘Humbug!’ but stopped at the first syllable
This is the first sign of redemption. Marley’s ghost affects him. ‘Chains i forged in life,’ could of made Scrooge think, therefore stopping himself from saying ‘humbug’.
I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year
Scrooge has learnt his lesson and recognises the importance of christmas
I will live in the past, the present and the future! Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed.
As a result of his transformation, Scrooge becomes generous and makes up for his mistakes
I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy, I am as giddy as a drunken man
Scrooge’s language is informal, natural and joyous. Inclusive now of society - not isolated and solitary.
The similes highlight his newfound innocence and draw on his previous self as a child when he had family and joy. His previous burden has been lifted: the simile ‘feather’ juxtaposes with the chains weighing him down in Stave 1.
