Stave 1
In stave 1 Scrooge is introduced and described as “A squeezing, wrenching, gasping, scraping, clutching covetous old sinner”. He is a careless, miserable old man with no intension of improving his lifestyle. The opening Stave of “A Christmas Carol” sets the mood, describes the setting, and introduces many of the principal characters. It also establishes the novel's structure. Scrooge doesn’t enjoy the most jovial celebration of the year Christmas.” every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake through his heart”, this shows that he seriously don’t like Christmas.
Ebenezer Scrooge has no friends, only some far relatives and the people around him in the streets aren’t very fond of him either. A very good example of this is shown in the novella “nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, my dear Scrooge, how are you” .This quotation shows that Scrooge has built a bad reputation for himself for not being generous or kind to others.
Scrooge’s outward appearance matches his personality. His eyes are red. His thin lips are blue and his voice is high and crosses. There are frost on his eyebrows and his chin; he had a grating voice, so it means it was very unpleasant to talk to. Many people are afraid of him because his facial features and his personality. And he is so stingy that no one wants to make friends with him.
Scrooge's nephew, Fred, visits his uncle and invites him to his annual Christmas party. Two gentlemen also drop by and ask Scrooge for a contribution to their charity. Scrooge reacts to the holiday visitors with bitterness and venom, spitting out an angry "Bah! Humbug!" in response to his nephew's "Merry Christmas”.
Scrooge is extremely rude with Fred and he treats him unfairly because whenever Fred speaks Scrooge starts saying the quote “Good afternoon” and when Fred leaves he treats his charity worker very unfairly because When the donation collectors approach Scrooge expecting a donation to help the poor at Christmas, he insists that he's done his duty to the poor by supporting the government establishments that provide aid. He refuses to assist any further because he's done the necessary minimum, and that's all he must do. This shows how extremely rude he can be.
In the allegory of “A Christmas Carol”, the first spirit to visit Scrooge is “The Ghost of Christmas Past” and it represents memory. The aged appearance of the childlike figure touches on the role of memory as a force that connects the different stages of a person's life. His glowing head suggests the illuminating power of the mind. The spirit looks like a child and at the same time it looked like an old man, the spirits hair was white and the spirit was dressed in white as well. Its hair, which hung about its neck to all the way down to his back. Yet its face did not have a wrinkle on it.
The spirit has come to help Scrooge change his attitude. He does this by taking Scrooge to his childhood and growing up. The ghost of Christmas Past shows scrooge a boy in boarding school lonely,
As stave 2 starts to progress on we start to learn that Scrooge regrets his actions. “What is the matter? Asked the sprit. There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night I should like to have given him something that’s all” These words show us that he regrets his actions. The quote basically states that he would have liked to have given something to the boy who was singing a Christmas carol. This starts to tell me that Scrooge is starting to regret his actions and feels guilty.
The second ghost shows Scrooge different kinds of celebrations. The ghost also reveals how people had spoken about Scrooge. For example when Mrs Crachit says he is “odious” this had made Scrooge feels guilty and remorseful. When the sprit in stave 2 shows Scrooge the nephew’s Christmas party. He starts to change his attitude as he joins in the festive celebrations. Scrooge is told by the ghost (Christmas present) that if he doesn’t help out the Crachit “Tiny Tim” might die. When scrooge is told this, Scrooge immediately starts to ask the ghost question “tell me if Tiny Tim will live” This starts to make Scrooge feel miserable and empty.
The last ghost (Christmas Future) shows Scrooge what it would be like if he died. He basically shows Scrooge that nobody cared if he had died “people talked about it as an everyday conversation” They only seemed to be interested in his money. “ What has he done with his money” People hated Scrooge so much they made jokes about Scrooge’s death “It’s likely to be a very cheap funeral” this made scrooge feel empty and guilty because nobody cared about him. Scrooge is also shown that his belongings were took down and sold “Sheets and towel”
In the last stave Scrooge starts to greet people in a welcoming manner way “Merry Christmas” He start to realise that there is more to life. The language used by Scrooge is jovial, light-hearted and good humoured. Scrooge also gives a large amount of money to the poor, as he meets the two money collectors, at the beginning of the story he is rude to these men that collect the money. At the beginning of the story Scrooge nephew ask Scrooge to come over for dinner. However, Scrooge does not accept the offer, but now he visits his nephew to accept the offer of Scrooge coming around for dinner. Scrooge also helps the Crachit family as he the main character gives Bob a large amount of money to help Tiny Tim recover and also increases Bob’s pay.
In the beginning of the story Scrooge was a cold-hearted, miserable and self contained character. As the ghosts show Scrooge things he missed out on, he starts to change as he is more light hearted and jovial. He starts to help other. Scrooge starts to enjoy life more.
