Scrooge In the Beginning

Question 1

“External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge” (Stave 1)

Answer 1

-Weather conditions do not affect Scrooge symbolizing him not being affect by other people
-Pathetic fallacy shows he is cold and heartless

Question 2

“Solitary as an oyster” (Stave 1)

Answer 2

-Scrooge is lonely
-An oyster contains a pearl which may foreshadow Scrooge’s change

Question 3

“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population” (Stave 1)

Answer 3

-Dickens present Scrooge as cruel inhuman cold not caring about the poor
-Believes in the Malthus theory which talks about not enough resources/food extra people that should die

Question 4

“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” (Stave 1)

Answer 4

-Shows scrooge strong hatred for Christmas and people in general

Question 5

“I can’t afford to make idle people merry” (Stave 1)

Answer 5

-Has money but is a miser being stingy with money not wanting to give
- Stereotypes the poor as “idle” (lazy) thinking of them as unproductive and useless

Question 6

“Are there no prisons?
Are there no workhouses?” (Stave 1)

Answer 6

-Emphasizes Scrooges lack of empathy for the poor
-Doesn’t care about the poor working conditions
-Stereotypes the poor as criminals that should go to prison

Question 7

“he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!” (Stave 1)

Answer 7

-Dickens uses a list linked with hands suggesting he isn’t generous but greedy only wanting to take not give

Question 8

“my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week” (Stave 1)

Answer 8

-Scrooge presented as greedy paying Bob only a small amount exploits Bob for his labor for his own profits

Question 9

“Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal.”

Answer 9

-Scrooge treats his Clerk terribly providing awful/dreadful working conditions
-Greed is amplified as he want to save money so he doesn’t provide heat

Question 10

“His clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond…was copying letters”

Answer 10

-“Cell” criminalize the poor
-“dismal emphasizes how horrible the Bobs working conditions are making reader feels bad for Bob