“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.”
The way Dickens emphasises the way Scrooge does not treat his clerk in a friendly way is how he keeps his door open so that he can keep an eye on the clerk because he does not trust him to be working hard enough.
“The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters.”
Dickens illustrates that the working conditions of the poor were not good and although the clerk is working in an office, all the room he got was nothing but a little cell. The clerk was only copying letters because he is not educated because he is poor, and this shows how the poor were uneducated and meant they had no choice but to live without the knowledge of knowing how to help themselves.
“Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal.”
The comparison between Scrooge’s fire and the clerk’s fire symbolises the comparison of the rich and the poor. It symbolises the way that the rich have a lot of money, but the poor have literally nothing that it was almost “like one coal.” The problem can be solved because the clerk could go to the coal box and get some more coal to make his fire bigger, but Scrooge kept the coal box in his room which meant that the clerk would not be able to get to the coal. This symbolises how the rich could help and change what is happening in society but instead they decide to keep the money to themselves and wilfully ignore what is happening to the poor people living on the streets.
“He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge’s, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.”
Scrooge’s nephew is a total contrast to Scrooge, Scrooge’s nephew is warm and handsome as for Scrooge he is a frosty cold figure.
“Merry Christmas! what right have you to be merry? what reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”
Scrooge thinks that you must be rich to be happy and merry at Christmas but he is totally contradicting himself because he is rich but he is not a happy or merry man. The rich view Christmas as a time of having to pay bills and because all they love is money. As a result, they think that Christmas is no time to be merry and jolly because they are losing out on money. The message that Dickens is trying to get through to the rich is that charity is the key to happiness to yourself and others.
“there are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,”
Scrooge’s nephew is playing the role of a person who is there to tell Scrooge how he should live his life so that it is better for everyone. Dickens uses Scrooge’s nephew as a device to point out the messages that he is trying to get across to the rich people.
“men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passenger’s to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”
Dickens is trying to say that even though some are poor and some are rich, we are all on the same journey to death and we should live with respect for one another and make the most of your life.
When the two charity collectors came, Scrooge was devastated to find that they were asking for some money to help the poor. They tell him about the need to help them because they cannot afford to help themselves.
“the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.”
Scrooge personifies the wilful ignorance that the rich showed towards the conditions of the poor. They knew what was going on but they had no intention in helping them. Instead Scrooge asks “Are there no prisons?” “And the Union workhouses?”. This shows the cold and unemotional approach Scrooge is showing towards the matter.
Marley was the same type of man that Scrooge is now, a selfish cold and bitter person. He has destroyed other people’s lives for money and now he is paying the consequences in eternal punishment. The chains that he is dragging around symbolises the eternal punishment that is bound to him forever.
Dickens shows that something is going to happen by using the bell as a device to create suspense for the reader.
“he saw his bell being to swing…..and so did every bell in the house”
Marley points out the Scrooge that he has been through what was to become of Scrooge and needs him to change to avoid this.
“and if that spirit goes far not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.”
Now Dickens is using Marley to say that it is your duty as a human being to show more compassion or else you are condemned for life. If Scrooge continues with his selfish deeds then there will be no escape from this eternal punishment that will stay with him forever. Dickens says that no rich person will ever get away with selfish deeds.
“The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost.”
By this time, there is a slight sign of change in Scrooge which could mean the rich are now slightly aware that something had to be done to help the poor but still reluctant to do so.
“He tired to say “Humbug!” but stopped at the first syllable.”
The first spirit that Scrooge encountered was described “purest white”, “lustrous belt”, “beautiful” and “fresh green holly” which is a total contrast of Scrooge who is dark and frosty. The light is the symbolism of the truth which indicates that this spirit is going to take Scrooge through what is really happening. At the moment Scrooge does not want to know the truth, the rich still does not want to have anything to do with the poor.
“…he had a special desire to see the Sprit in his cap; and begged him to be covered.”
Scrooge wanted the truth to be hidden and wants the light to be put out because he liked the dark. That was the kind of person he was, dark and cold.
Fezziwig was a comparison to Scrooge, he was nice to his friends and family and on Christmas Eve he closed his shop early because he wanted his workers to have a great Christmas. This was the total opposite of Scrooge; he made Bob Cratchit work through Christmas Eve and was really reluctant to have given Bob a day off on Christmas day. Fezziwig had invited everyone to his house for the Christmas party which indicated that he was charitable and does not discard people because of their backgrounds or wealth.
“They shone in every part of the dance like moons”
They know the truth and is doing something about it, because they have the power to do so. Scrooge starts to realise this as light upon the Spirits head burnt very clear. This symbolises that the truth is becoming very clear to Scrooge.
“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil.”
Scrooge now speaks the truth himself which means that he is seeing the light, the truth. This could indicate that the rich is now realising the truth and showing there may be some change of views towards the unpleasant conditions of the poor.
“The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”
He now knows that keeping all his money to himself will not fulfil him or make him happy, but to be able to help others and make them happy is the key to happiness for him. Scrooge is always described as a dark, cold and lonely person. He used to be a much better man, he was loving and had a fiancé, but due to his love for money has changed him into this cold, hard and bitter person.
“He was not alone, but sat by the side of a fair young lady in a mourning-dress in whose eyes there were tears, which sparkled in the light.”
His fiancé was in a mourning-dress because it is personifying that her love for him has died because of he has replaced her with money and only loves his money.
The second Sprit Scrooge came across was also associated with light which meant that it had something to do with knowing the truth. The Spirit was clothed in “one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur.” The white fur symbolises
the truth.
Scrooge is shown how happiness comes through the actual atmosphere rather than the amount of money that is put into the occasion. Even though Mrs Cratchit is wearing a twice-turned gown, she stills tries to look good for the occasion by means of cheap ribbons.
“…dressed out in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence.”
Even though the Cratchit’s were poor, they made the most of their Christmas. They were happy even though their dinner was not big and grand because it was what Bob had been working hard for. They could not afford much meat because it was expensive and they were poor, and make the most of their meat they stuffed them with apple-sauce and mashed potatoes so that it was more filling.
This showed Scrooge that you did not need to be rich to be able to enjoy Christmas and all you needed was the heart and spirit of enjoying it that brought the happiness around.
Dickens uses Tiny Tim because he is a child and is easier to get sympathy. This resulted in Scrooge finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that Tiny Tim was going to die. This could be avoided; if the rich people were to change, then the many that are suffering amongst the poor will live.
“If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.”
Scrooge shows some change in his attitude and starts to show emotion at this point. This tells us that he is beginning to realise what is going wrong
When the Spirit reveals the two children that were hiding inside his robe, Scrooge was horrified by what he had seen. The boy symbolised ignorance of both the rich and the poor. The wilful ignorance of the rich, where they did not want to know the truth and the ignorance of the poor because they were not educated and did not know a lot of things which meant they could not help themselves to live a better life. Dickens uses a boy and a girl because the use of a child would mean that people would pity more for them because they were children. The message that Dickens is trying to put across is that if they do not address this problem then society will be doomed.
Scrooge questions the Spirit to ask if they had somewhere to stay to be taken care off, but the Spirit replies with the very same words that Scrooge had said.
“Are there no prisons……Are there no workhouses?”
It makes Scrooge feel how it feels to be the poor person suffering out there to know what this was how the rich were thinking them of. It had put Scrooge in the shoes of those who are suffering.
The third of the three Spirits has a totally different appearance, it does not have anything to do with light but it is black. Dickens choice of diction “slowly, gravely, silently” creates an atmosphere for the reader which indicates that something not right is going to happen. The spirit is referred to as a Phantom and already we know that something unpleasant is going to happen. This Phantom symbolises the death and fate of the rich people. By now, Scrooge realises that time is running out and that something needed to be done fast because it has already got to the Spirit of the Christmas Future.
“The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me.”
Scrooge recognises the poor conditions of the poor as the Phantom takes him around London which means that all this time he is deliberately trying not to face the truth that there is such problem arousing. London was described as foul, dirty, smelly, and the place was filled with crime, with filth and misery. The list that Dickens uses to describe London emphasises the living conditions of the poor. Scrooge is a caricature of the problems of the poor.
The poor people that were exchanging stolen goods that were taken from Scrooge on his deathbed had no regard for Scrooge that he was a dead man because he had never had any regards for anyone that was around him when he was alive. This symbolises how the poor have no respect for the rich because the rich look down on them as unworthy animals. They are sitting around a fire that produced very little light which could indicate that these poor people were ignorant, they are not educated enough to know that it is wrong to steal from a dead person.
The scene at the Cratchit’s house when Tim had died, describes how even though the child is dead, there is people still taking care of him. As for when he died, not only did no-one care but they even stole from him.
“There was a chair set close beside the child, and there were signs of some one having been there lately.”
It shows that even though they are poor and Tim is dead, they show compassion as Scrooge’s nephew offers help. Dickens uses warm words like “lightly”, “cheerfully” and “happy” to make the atmosphere much calmer although they are facing a catastrophic loss.
The Phantom shows him to his grave stone and this symbolises the fate of every other person that was like Scrooge. Scrooge was desperate for that to not become true which shows us that the rich now want to do something to change the fate of their lives.
Scrooge does change, which shows the change amongst the rich people which would mean that they have come out the dark and into the light. Dickens indicates his change by his choice of diction in his texts, he uses warm and words that relate to light and there is no reference to dark or cold.
“Golden sunlight: Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells.”
The short sharp sentences emphasises his happiness and excitement that he gets from helping other people. Although some people may laugh at you for such a drastic change, but Dickens is saying if it is for the good then you should do it even if they are going to laugh at you.
“Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh”
The changed Scrooge started to help people and this meant that he had changed his fate and was not going to end up like Jacob Marley. This meant that Tiny Tim had lived because the rich have started helping the poor which meant the ones that were in need of this help were saved.
