Dickens used a lot of words ending with the letters ‘ing’ to emphasise Scrooges personality like “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, and clutching” this is quite repetitive and therefore effective.
Dickens called Scrooge “Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!” meaning he never let his money go for anything unless it was a necessity like food or something that he was going to make money off.
Dickens shows us that Scrooge doesn’t trust his clerk by telling us that “the door of Scrooges counting house was left open, that he might keep an eye upon his clerk.”
When the clerk tries to applaud Scrooges nephew Fred, Dickens uses the words “Involuntary applauded” to mean that Scrooges clerk applauded Fred’s cheerful words as soon as they were spoken and that they were out of line because Scrooge totally disagrees with Christmas. When the clerk realized his actions were improper he tried to cover them up in fear of Scrooges harsh punishment.
Even though the clerk had only one piece of coal on his fire and scrooge had more he was much warmer because of his big warm Christmas spirit in compare to Scrooges cold hearted opinion.
Dickens tells us that the clerk only earns fifteen shillings a week, and has a family to feed and take care of at Christmas time which would include buying them presents, Scrooge said “my clerk with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas.”
Scrooge wasn’t happy with the clerk on Christmas Eve when he asked for a day off, he said “it’s not convenient, and it’s not fair. If I was to stop half a crown for it, you’d think to yourself ill used, I’ll be bound?” Meaning that scrooge thought it wasn’t fair to ‘pickpocket’ a man for the sake of a ‘holiday’ that Scrooge didn’t celebrate.
At the bottom of page 19 Dickens tells us that the clerk is a very cheerful and happy person, because he mentions the clerk “sliding down a Cornhill twenty times in celebration of Christmas
Eve.”
On page 16 Dickens mentions some charity workers trying to get some money from Scrooge to give to the poor, Scrooge doesn’t care at all for the poor only that he made sure that the working facilities and prisons were in tact for the poor to get by with so he doesn’t have to pay any money to them for he has no sympathy for any living creature. The two charity workers were “portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooges office. They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him. The charity workers represent giving at Christmas time.
The carol singer was the owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, the carol singer stooped down to Scrooges keyhole and with a “God bless you merry gentlemen, May nothing you dismay!” scrooge seized a rule with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror which showed Scrooge was in no mood for any more Christmas spirit.
“Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without it undergoing any intermediate process of change – not a knocker, but Marley’s face”. Dickens makes Jacob Marley’s face seem curious and scary because it takes the place of Scrooges door knocker “without any intermediate change” and because of all the years Scrooge has used that door the door knocker has never done it before.
Dickens made it seem like a coach was driving up Scrooges stairs to make it seem like a death coach was going up into the darkness.
After searching his house for any people or any unusual events “Quite satisfied, Scrooge closed his door, and locked himself in; double locked himself in, which was not his custom.” This made it seem that Scrooge was afraid of the strange events that have been happening all in one evening.
Dickens used sounds to create fear and to build up the tension with quiet to loud noises like, “that it scarcely made a sound” then, “a clanking noise” and finally “a booming sound”.
When Marley appeared to Scrooge he was described with the very same face, “Marley in his pigtail, usual waist-coat, tights, and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head”.
Scrooge admits to Jacob Marley’s ghost that he doesn’t believe in ghosts or that there’s one sitting in his arm chair. When the ghost asks if Scrooge believes in ghosts he replies with “I don’t”. After this Marley’s ghost becomes determined to make scrooge believe ghosts are real.
When Scrooge asks Marley why he is fettered he replies, “I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link and yard by yard; I girded it on my own free will, and on my own of my own free will I wore it. Meaning that he made it himself in life by caring for nothing but money. As Marley’s ghost tells this, Scrooge trembles in fear.
Later on the ghost warns Scrooge of three ghosts, Christmas past, present and future.
Even later on scrooge tells us that Scrooge is no longer able to say “humbug” because Marley’s ghost scared some Christmas spirit into him.
I find of interest in ‘A Christmas Carol’ the fact that Dickens makes Scrooge stand out from all the other characters so much by making him the opposite of everyone, like his nephew Fred, his clerk Bob Cratchet, the charity workers and the carol singer who are all full of Christmas spirit. Yet at the end of the first stave dickens changes Scrooge’s attitude and personality because “Scrooge can no longer say ‘Humbug’”.
