themes Flashcards
importance of family quote 1
‘father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like heaven’
-religious noun ‘heaven’
powerful simile - highlights the power family can have - emphasises its importance
comparative
lack of compassion in their relationship resulted in scrooge’s emotional neglect
importance of family quote 2
“clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable, and tiny tim upon his shoulder”
-Bob has old worn out clothes, but they had been fixed and improved and he carries his son on his shoulder
Family is the overwhelming message, love for each other
importance of family quote 3
‘they were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed’…..’but they were happy’
-Emphasis on how little things like looks and wealth do not make happiness for the Cratchit’s. Dickens’ message is that the wealthy should share what they have around others.
regret quote 1
“I wear the chain I forged in life”
- A powerful symbol of how many can be weighed down by greed and lack of compassion.
- The ‘chain’ he ‘forged in life’ is composed of the consequences of his fixation on the accumulation of capital at the expensive of spiritual wealth.
- Now in a state of purgatory he is doomed to walk the earth baring witness passively, unable to help, those most in need.
- Marley’s regret foregrounds Scrooge’s later acknowledgement of all the ills his own fixation has wrought him.
regret quote 2
“your lip is trembling and what is that upon your cheek”
- He is looking back on his former self
- Potentially regretting not allowing himself to open up to others, for shutting people away even at such a young age
regret quote 3
“there was a boy singing a christmas carol at my door last night. i should have liked to have given him something: that’s all”
- For the first time, Scrooge expresses regret
- He experiences the sad and lonely feelings he has long repressed. – Relating again to his own younger self, he now remembers the boy who recently tried to sing him a Christmas carol, a boy he dismissed violently.
- Whether his empathy with the boy results from the boy’s solitary status or his poverty, the incident rekindles Scrooge’s instinct for kindness.
redemption quote 1
“The spirits of all three shall strive within me!”
- He has learnt the ghosts lesson and will now try to be a reformed man
redemption quote 2
“I hope to live to be another man from what I was”
-He wants to change through his own actions- very different from beginning where he was a nasty person
redemption quote 3
“Scrooge was better than his word”
poverty quote 1
“Decrease the surplus population”
-Based on Malthus’s theories, which angered Dickens.
poverty quote 2
“What right have you to be merry… you’re poor enough”
- Scrooge doesn’t think the poor can be happy, as they don’t have any money
poverty quote 3
“The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune”
-Scrooge realises that Fezziwig was a good and kind boss, he is rich but celebrates with the rich and the poor. He is wealthy in happiness
