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In the next scene of the book, dickens uses his second technique, which describes Scrooge by his physical features. Dickens describes scrooge so bad that he intends it for us to dislike scrooge, the type of description is so inhumane that we think of him as a creature.
“The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivels his cheek, stiffened his gait, made his eyes red and made his thin lips blue”. This helps the reader picture a disgusting and strange looking man who is incredible ungiving. Dickens describes Scrooge by writing what Scrooge’s action are
“Scrooge never painted out old Marley’s name “ therefor this could show that Scrooge is so stubborn to buy and paint the board outside of his business. Dickens also describes scrooge in a different way, which is when he uses a verb chain. This also describes scrooge in a bolder way so it portrays him in a meaner way. This is effective because this is exaggerated to the extreme, so that scrooge is discovered to be how mean he is. Scrooge is compared to an oyster and this is such a good comparison. This is because oysters have very hard ugly shells but they have a pearl, which is pretty inside. This could mean that scrooge has a outer shell which means he’s argent, horrible and stubborn, but inside he could have a better giving side to him. Also the theme of redemption is introduced here because at Christmas people look back on the year and try to change the bad ways they have done, so the reader may be thinking of this.
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A further method by which Dickens prepares us for the ghostly vision of Marley’s face on Scooge’s door is how he describes the setting outside Scrooges counting house. In the next scene dickens describes the setting of a Christmas carol. Dickens uses the fact that Marley is dead and describes the setting in an unusual way. First dickens describes the setting as dark, damp and gloomy. This is a very different contrast to a normal Christmas, which is light, snowy and sunny. The reader wonders why dickens does this, because this is totally opposite to what Christmas is really like. Another technique that dickens uses is personification
“It was cold, bleak, biting weather”. This doesn’t really happen because the cold isn’t really biting scrooge it’s that it is so cold it feels as if you are being bitten. This is effective because the reader can tell how cold the weather is. There is also another hint to that a ghost will appear because when Dickens uses metaphors he writes
“The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that, although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms”. This indicates another perfect setting for a ghost to appear so this shows dickens wants the reader to know or think that. A further method by which Dickens prepares us for the
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Dickens introduces another character into the story in order to highlight the contrast between scrooge and the common day man. Scrooge’s nephew is introduced to emphasise how unkind and horrible Scrooge is, so his nephew is friendly and happy. In the dialogue we learn that Scrooge has a clear dislike to Christmas because everytime Christmas is mentioned we hear Scrooge say
“Bah Humbug” Bah means when someone is to say whatever and humbug means nonsense so this means scrooge is saying that he doesn’t believe in Christmas. While on the other hand Scrooge’s nephew obviously is over exited about Christmas because we hear him say
“A marry Christmas uncle, God save you!” this is clear that the nephew is happy and joyful because he says merry Christmas to him and he doesn’t say anything negative and is very positive about everything. There is a very good point of that Scrooge is rich and his nephew is poor yet the nephew is happier than Scrooge is. This makes the reader wonder why. His nephew points this out by saying
“What right do you have to be dismal? What reasons do have to be morose? You’re rich enough!” this points out scrooge is just not kind or giving but here scrooge stops to think of an excuse because he hasn’t a clue what to say or a reason why he is down or evil. And scrooge cannot think of anything to say so to get himself out of trouble he says his ‘catchphrase’
“Bah Humbug” this shows that he doesn’t know why he is boring and always miserable but he just always is. Also we know how tight fisted scrooge is because when the two gentlemen who ask for money for the poor he replies by saying
“If they rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population”. This shows that Scrooge has no heart for the poor and thinks that they all should die. Also Scrooge thinks the poor are just idle because they don’t have a job, showing Scrooge is unkind and doesn’t listen to anyone else but himself.
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In the next section Dickens builds up tension of when the reader thinks a ghost will appear. The scene starts off with Scrooge walking home after he has locked up his business and he is walking home. Dickens builds up the tension by describing the scene as
“Gloomy” and “ The fog and frost so hung about the black old gateway of the house” and again this is setting a perfect scene for a ghost. Scrooge has his key in the door and he looks at the knocker on the door and he notices its Marley’s face. The face is described as horrific and the knocker is at eye level so Scrooge cannot ignore this ‘phenomenon’. The face must have been scary because this was Marley and he was dead so his face must have been decaying therefor making the face more obscene. I think Dickens uses this effect of tension and anticipation to shock the reader for when Marley’s face appears on the doorknocker. Also this is the first climax in the novel and is shocking because the reader might not expect this. While Scrooge is shocked in the ‘moment’ he keeps on looking and this ‘phenomenon’ it becomes a knocker again. Dickens uses this to shock the reader and because of Marleys sudden disappearance the reader may believe he could come back to haunt, this evil disobedient character soon.
