Stave 1 Quotes Flashcards
(10 cards)
“my ____ ____ shall not ____ it”
unhallowed hands
disturb
In reference to the suitability of the “doornail” simile
Stave 1 Paragraph 2
“He was a tight…
fisted hand at the grindstone”
Stave 1
“squeezing, wrenching, grasping …
scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner”
Stave 1
Through the premodifying adjective “covetous” Scrooge, as a symbol of rich Victorian business men, is shown to keep things to himself, to hoard his wealth and rather than using it to contribute to society. Dickens here is potentially drawing parallels with views of the idle poor being those who consumed without recontributing - this was part of Malthus’ reasoning why they should be prevented from reproducing and thus eradictated. However, with these seven hand-based adjectives (some which would typically be used as verbs - suggesting Scrooge’s active and immoral intentionality) show the reader that, in fact, the rich are just as, if not more, guilty of not contributing to society than the poor, therefore undermining commonly accepted Malthusian economics.
“Secret and self-contained and…
solitary as an oyster”
Stave 1
“But the clerk’s fire was…
so very much smaller”
Stave 1
“Fellow…
passengers to the grave”
~ Fred
Stave 1
“I can’t afford to…
make idle people merry”
~ Scrooge
Stave 1
“If they would rather die…
they had better do it and decrease the surplus population”
~ Scrooge
Stave 1
“I wear the…
chain I forged in life”
~ Jacob Marley
Stave 1
“Mankind was…
my business”
~ Jacob Marley
Stave 1
