Dickens uses similes in the novel to describe Scrooge, as he was uncharitable and cold hearted. When Marley died, Scrooge was left alone with the business. He became lonely without his business partner. Scrooge was very stingy and he did not like giving money to charity. To say ‘he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind stone’, describes how stingy he was. To turn a grind stone the hand must have a strong tough grip. This is how his hand was when it came down to money.
‘The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened hi gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice…’
In the novel, Dickens continuously relates Scrooge to the cold. This helps the reader to feel as well as picture Scrooge. The attitudes to the poor in the 1840s are portrayed through the caricature of Scrooge, and the cold atmosphere with the snow and fog is a form of pathetic fallacy. The cold environment shows Scrooge’s attitude towards life and Christmas. Charles Dickens emphasises on the fact the Scrooge is really lonely. In the opening of the novel Dickens uses repetition of the word ‘sole’ to show that Scrooge was by himself and had no friends.
Dickens helps to elaborate on the cold attitude of Scrooge by the way he treats his clerks. Scrooge does not have any respect for his clerks; neither does he care for their welfare. When asking for some more coal for the office fire, Scrooge said ‘no’ saying that it was a waste of money for the warmth. This adds to the coldness of Scrooge.
‘It’s not convenient,’ said Scrooge, ‘and it’s not fair. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it’ you’d think yourself ill used, I’ll be bound?’
‘And yet,’ said Scrooge, ‘you don’t think me ill used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.’
Dickens shows how stingy Scrooge is, even on Christmas day Scrooge is not prepared to let his faithful clerks have the day off. He thought that the clerks were doing it to upset and take money from Scrooge.
When talking to his nephew, the only one left in his family, he is very rude and grumpy. Dickens uses Scrooges nephew as an opposite to the coldness of the upper class during the 1840s. The nephew is considered to be warm and light, a contrast to Scrooge who is cold and dark. Scrooge and his nephew have a conversation about Christmas and what each believed about the meaning of the holy day.
‘Don’t be cross uncle.’
‘What else can I be, when I live in a world of such fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money…’
‘Every idiot that goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding.’
Dickens uses Scrooges conversations in the first stave to sum up the attitude of some of the upper class during the 1840s. The final conversation with the two charity collectors shows how evil and cruel Scrooge is. He would rather have all the poor in the factories doing hard labour. Dickens also uses Scrooge to show how some of the people thought during the 1840s. They would prefer for the poor to kill themselves so that it would decrease the population creating more space. All these references symbolise the sufferings of the poor.
‘Are there no prisons?’
‘And the union Workhouses?’
‘The Treadmill and the Poor Law are still in full vigour, then?’
‘Oh I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had stopped them in their useful course’
‘Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.’
‘If they would rather die… they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’
Marley’s ghost comes back from the dead to haunt Scrooge and transform his attitude to life. Dickens uses Marley’s ghost to intimidate the readers. The ghost was selfish and cruel like Scrooge when he was alive, but now as a ghost Marley in bound in the chains that he forged during life due to his cruelty and selfishness. Even though Scrooge saw the ghost he didn't believe it. Scrooge still didn't want to believe anything strange was happening and he put his meeting with the ghost down to a bad bit of food that he had eaten. The ghost of Marley tells Scrooge that three ghosts who will help him change his attitude and way of life will visit him. Dickens uses the three ghosts as a form of teaching to the reader. By following what the three ghosts teach Scrooge, the reader and the attitude to the poor hope to change.
The three ghosts are interesting figures, each have their own personalities and characteristics. The first two are associated with light and how the times have passed and are unable to change. All the goodness about the book is related to the warmth and light. This goes for the nephew, Fezziwig and Bob Cratchit. This is what the first two spirits look at the most.
The first spirit was a strange figure like child. This relates to the past of how Scrooge was in the past as a child. The ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back to the past and to his childhood. The ghost symbolises the knowledge and the feeling of goodness and hope for all.
‘I was bred in this place. I was a boy here!’
By taking Scrooge back to his childhood, Scrooge thinks about his attitude to Christmas and make him feel compassionate. He remembers his former enthusiasm as a child and feels regret he did not give anything to the Carol Singer.
The second spirit was a jolly giant. He wore a simple green cloak and his voice was free and cheerful. Dickens makes the ghost symbolise the truth and generosity. The giant wore a sword holder without a sword, this symbolised the peace and the free spirit of the ghost.
‘Spirit… tell me if Tiny Tim will live.’
‘… What then? If he be like to die, he better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’
The second spirit took Scrooge to Bob Cratchit’s House. The whole house was filled with warmth and happiness. Dickens uses the ghost of Christmas present to show Scrooge the perfect Christmas spirit. By showing the reader and Scrooge the perfect Christmas spirit, Dickens does two things. The family is a complete contrast to Scrooge, you do not have to be rich to be happy and enjoy life. It also personifies the deserving poor, these are the poor people who deserve better, and win our sympathy for them.
By taking Scrooge to the Cratchit’s residence, Scrooge becomes compassionate towards the family and especially to the dying young child, Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim has such an impact on Scrooge. This is because even the most smallest, unhealthy, little child kept Christmas dear to his heart and tried his best to be happy under the circumstances.
The third ghost is the most influential out of the three ghosts. This is because it is also associated with darkness like Scrooge. Dickens uses this ghost to make Scrooge think for himself, as the third ghost does not speak. By showing Scrooge the shadows of the things that were to come in the future, with no one going to his funeral and people selling his belongings on, it made Scrooge believe that there was a chance he could change the way he acted and lived his life. This is also influential to the reader and the general public at the time of Dickens. It made them think that by changing the way they acted they would not be aggravated in the after-life.
‘It’s likely to be a very cheap funeral… for upon my life I don’t know of anybody to go to it… I don’t mind going if lunch is provided’
When the ghost of Christmas present left Scrooge he pulled out two ragged little children, they were Ignorance and Want. The key to Dickens novel is the first child Ignorance. The ignorance is of the people that have the power to change all the poor conditions but choose not to. Scrooge does change considerably from the cold, misery figure to a warm-hearted, merry soul. By using his money wisely, Scrooge helps all those in need and saves Tiny Tim from dying.
Dickens seems to be a very influential writer at the time when he was writing. He continuously relates his novels to the conditions of the poor and how they were treated. It is against this background that Charles Dickens wrote his most famous Christmas story. It is a story designed to harness our emotions and to rattle our consciences. Dickens was writing against social conditions in order to convince his readers of the need for reform.