The Cratchits

Question 1

‘Brave in ribbons’ (Chapter 3)

Answer 1

• Metaphor of her attitude, shows how she tries to rise above poverty
• Lack of pity for herself, stoicism and resilience, reader feels admiration and sympathy
• Ribbons are cheap, doing the best with what she has
• Emphasises her strength as a character as shes determined for her family to be happy
• Sense of community, Belinda is ‘also brave in ribbons’, shows she has passed her strong traits on
• Ribbons contrasts Scrooges lack of decoration in his rooms
• Dickens wanted to change societies view that the polar were lazy, the cratchits take effort to look respectable, humanises them

Question 2

‘Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch (…) iron frame’ (Chapter 3)

Answer 2

• Symbol of infant mortality
• ‘Tiny’ ‘little’ - diminutives show his weakness, innocence to emphasise the poor shouldn’t be blamed for their position
• ‘Iron’ - metaphor for IR, it was the cause of problems (symbol of ill health) but also what supported the poor by providing wages that they relied on
• ‘Frame’ - also metaphor, lack of physical mobility represents lack of social mobility, in ‘poverty trap’ as the crutch shows the poor are reliant on rich

Question 3

‘I’ll give you Mr Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast’ (Chapter 3)

Answer 3

• The meal wouldn’t be possible without Scrooge however we see Bob doing everything he can to use his low wages to make the day nice
• Sympathy as were told his specific wage (15 shillings) in line with what most employers reading the novella would be paying their employees
• ‘Founder of the feast’ - alliteration, like a formal title, symbolic of the deference Bob has for Scrooge
• ‘Feast’ - almost hyperbolic as the meal they would’ve made from bobs wages was likely far from a feast

Question 4

‘He might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond’ (Chapter 1)

Answer 4

• Doesn’t trust Bob, criminalises the poor
• ‘Dismal’ - lack of light (which is used throughout to symbolise hope), may represent long shifts
• Maybe based on dickens’ experience of harsh condition when he worked in a factory as a child
• ‘Cell’ - connotations of being incarcerated, trapped in Scrooge’s employment and the cycle of poverty
• Highlights effects of Scrooge’s power over Bob, criticises poor law which widened this gap of power