Ebenezer Scrooge Flashcards
(18 cards)
FINISH THE QUOTE (START)
‘If they would rather die…
…they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’
START: ‘If they would rather die… they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’
- Cold utilitarian tone → no empathy for the poor = ignorance + cruelty
- ‘Surplus population’ = dehumanising economic language → reduces lives to statistics
- Reflects Malthusian thinking (contextual link) → Dickens critiques Victorian social policy
- Harsh monosyllables (‘die’, ‘do’, ‘it’) = brutal, abrupt tone
- Irony: Scrooge later fights to save Tiny Tim → shows moral transformation
FINISH THE QUOTE (START)
‘Hard and sharp as flint,…
…from which no steel had ever struck out generousfire’
START: ‘Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire’
- Simile → ‘flint’ = cold, tough, unemotional → represents emotional hardness
- ‘No… generous fire’ = absence of warmth/kindness → metaphor for lack of love/charity
- Flint can create fire → potential for warmth/change is there → foreshadowing redemption
- Harsh alliteration (‘sharp’/‘steel’) = biting sound mirrors his attitude
- Metonymy: ‘fire’ = symbolic of generosity & Christmas spirit → lacking in Scrooge
FINISH THE QUOTE (START)
‘A solitary child,…
…neglected by his friends, is left there still’
START: ‘A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still’
- ‘Solitary’ = repeated across novella → isolation as defining trait
- Passive verb ‘is left’ → abandonment, not a choice → hints trauma shaped his coldness
- Emotive tone (‘neglected’) = invites pity for young Scrooge
- Image of child alone at school = tragic → links to theme of childhood + family
- Structural shift: first time Scrooge shows emotional vulnerability
FINISH THE QUOTE (MIDDLE)
‘Tell me if…
…Tiny Tim will live’
MIDDLE: ‘Tell me if Tiny Tim will live’
- Emotive question shows new compassion → contrasts coldness from Stave 1
- Verb ‘tell’ = urgency + vulnerability → Scrooge is shaken
- Focus on one child = poor become humanised, not statistics
- Growing connection to the Cratchits links to family, not isolation
Turning point in redemption, ties to charity + social concern
FINISH THE QUOTE (MIDDLE)
‘It was a strange voice to Scrooge,…
…quite subdued and surprised, to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit’
MIDDLE: ‘It was a strange voice to Scrooge, quite subdued and surprised, to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit’
- ‘Strange voice’ = he no longer recognises his old self
- ‘Subdued + surprised’ → tone shows guilt, emotional shift
- Rhetorical reversal: Spirit uses his own words to shame him
- Supernatural used as a moral mirror → links to guilt, ignorance, change
- Scrooge starts realising his role in societal harm
FINISH THE QUOTE (MIDDLE)
‘They are Man’s…
…This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both…’
MIDDLE: ‘They are Man’s…This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both…’
- Allegory: turns poverty into terrifying children → personifies social failure
- ‘Man’s’ = society is to blame → collective guilt
- Imperative ‘Beware’ = urgent moral warning
- Scrooge is confronted with real-world effects of his greed
- Strong link to charity vs greed, ignorance, supernatural, responsibility
FINISH THE QUOTE (END)
‘I am not…
…the man I was’
END: ‘I am not the man I was.’
- Simple, direct declarative sentence shows total personal transformation
- Present tense ‘am’ contrasts with past ‘was’ → clear break with old self
- Reflects theme of redemption + change, emphasising hope & renewal
- Statement acts as resolution, showing he embraces new values (charity, kindness)
- Links to ignorance to knowledge + leaving isolation behind for connection
FINISH THE QUOTE (END)
‘I am as light…
…as a feather, I am as happy as an angel’
END: ‘I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel…’
- Use of similes (‘light as a feather’, ‘happy as an angel’) conveys Scrooge’s relief + joy
- The lightness symbolises emotional freedom from guilt & greed
- ‘Angel’ has religious connotations → suggests spiritual rebirth + purity
- Reflects the Christmas spirit theme — renewal, generosity, warmth
- Shows full embrace of positive change — contrasts hugely with Stave 1
FINISH THE QUOTE (END)
‘To Tiny Tim, who…
…did NOT die, he was a second father
END: ‘To Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father’
- Emphatic capitalisation ‘NOT’ highlights hope + averted tragedy
- ‘Second father’ suggests deep emotional connection + newfound responsibility
- Symbolises Scrooge’s shift from isolation → caring family figure, linking to family theme
- Reflects Dickens’ message on charity saving lives and social responsibility
- Links well to redemption, family, and Christmas spirit
