‘Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire’ (S1)
- Simile
- Blacksmithing image (used for weapons and fire, alludes to the time period of post INDR and its harsh environment)
- Flint is hard and brittle and when it reacts with steel, it creates a fire, which in the novella, symbolises christmas spirit and good will.
- The flint may imply that he has a sharp personality and is very tough, who can cause pain to others as his temper can spark easily
- However, it may also foreshadowing the ending of the novella, because the flint has the ability to cause a fire (the goodwill and xmas spirits), which indicates Scrooge having the potential to give and be a better and more generous person.
‘solitary as an oyster.’ (S1)
- Simile
- Oysters have a hard exterior shell and is really hard to open, and if you want to open it, you need to use a knife. Oysters have a pearl inside, which denotates treasure, and this suggests that Scrooge also has one deep inside him, connotating that he also has empathy and generosity within him. This foreshadows what will happen at the end of the novel, as it may imply that he might open up eventually from his closed self if someone breaks open his heart
Scrooge begs to ‘change these shadows’ by living an ‘altered life.’ (S4)
- begins to change
Ebenezer name
- Hebrew name that means stone of help -> Scrooge has the potential to help others but never really used it
‘He tried to say “Humbug!” but stopped at the first syllable’ (S1)
- Scrooge’s attitudes may not be set in stone - glimpse of his transformation
- He tries to dismiss his dead partner’s warning but fails
- If he is unable to immediately dismiss Marley’s warning in a way he seems to dismiss other people, it may mean that he still has hope to change
- The presence of Marley’s ghost has affected him so profoundly that his arrogance is already waning
‘“Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: that’s all.”’ (S2) scrooge
‘“No. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now! That’s all.”’ (S2) scrooge
- Pre-modified with an negation - ‘nothing’ and ‘no’
- Beginning to turn more generous more
- Remarkable change
- He is so inspired by seeing his childhood joys that he wishes to spread a similar feeling to somebody else
- Regardless of the cause or motivation for Scrooge to start changing, we are starting to see him learn from the spirit
- heart and maybe his wallet too is starting to open up
- not fully changed as he dismisses it a bit. ‘nothing’ as if it has no value and he is unwilling and needed second thoughts and shrugs it off
- scrooges miserly ways are so ingrained that is makes it very difficult to move on from, but by contemplating a bit, we can say that he is reflective and open to change
- remembering the good times can trigger positive change
‘“If they would rather die, […] they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”’ (S1) Scrooge
the present spirit repeats and he hungs his head
“‘Are there no prisons?”’ (S1)
‘“Have they no refuge or resource?”’ (S3)
- Drastic change
- He wants to support the poor now rather than punish them
- His sympathy is starting to apply to not only the poor people he knows, but is beginning to extend to all of the impoverished
‘Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror.’ (S4) when the thieves stole
- Shocked by people profiting from a dead man’s property, unsympathetic and money-grabbing attitude
- Scrooge has reached a point in his transformation, where money is not his first priority
‘“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. […] Oh, tell me that I may sponge away the writing on this stone!’” (S4) scrooge
- Scrooge is adamant that he will change his ways, by the ANAPHORA ‘I will’. The modal verb ‘will’ expresses his total certainty
- The prompt is that he doesn’t want to die lonely and want people to care for him
‘“I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy.”’ (S5) scrooge
- ‘light’, ‘happy’, and ‘merry’ all connote joy
- Similes
‘“I’ll give you…”’ (S5)
- Repetiton
- Willing to not only give the turkey to the Cratchits, but also in volunteering to pay the boy to help him
‘“A great many back-payments are included in it, I assure you.”’ (S5) donating to charity
- Offering to donate a vast sum of money contrasts with stave 1
repeats ‘chuckle’ and ‘wonderful’ (S5)
- When talking to the boy, he chuckles 6 times
- Shows that he thinks that giving is joy and that he’s having fun as if it were a game
‘second father (to tiny tim’
‘good man/master/friend’ (S5)
- His change is not only complete, but permanent
