...‘A Christmas Carol’ covers a period of 24 hours from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. It is a simple morality tale of the radical change in the character Ebenezer Scrooge from being bitter, iron fisted and miserable to becoming a new, openhearted and charitable man. The novel was first published in 1843, a time when many of the wealthy people neglected the old Christmas spirit of charity. In addition, the Industrial Revolution had further done away with the simple pleasures of the season. Dickens’ intentions in writing ‘A Christmas Carol’ were not only linked to his own childhood and sympathy for the poor, but he was also making an appeal to the rich people of society to mend their selfish ways. Dickens is able to show the change in Scrooge’s character by establishing what Scrooge is like at the very beginning of the story with the first two words he says: ‘“Bah! Humbug!’’ ’It is clear from the dismissive tone and the two exclamation marks that Scrooge has no patience with the idea of Christmas as a special time. At the start of the novel, Dickens is using Scrooge, someone who associates happiness with nothing but money, as a classic example of a wealthy person in the 19th Century. He does this with Scrooge inquiring of his nephew ‘“What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”’ Scrooge’s manor in saying this reveals certain elements of his character such as his shallowness and uncaring nature. In Scrooge saying this it demonstrates to the reader that Scrooge does...
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...J Hansen Mrs. Burnham Language Arts, Period 4 13 December 2016 A Christmas Carol: Literary Analysis Essay Have you ever thought about the Victorian Era and how different life is today? This is significant because there was so much tragedy and Charles Dickens wrote about it in A Christmas Carol. Truly the only way people survived was by caring. Charles Dickens grew up in the Victorian Era being very poor. He wanted people to realize how life was in the low social class in Victorian England, so he wrote A Christmas Carol. The story is about how Scrooge changes throughout the book, childhood innocence, and social justice. Scrooge’s personality and attitude from the beginning of the book to the end changed dramatically. Dickens also indirectly...
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...Analysis Essay for Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol "Greed, Ebenezer Scrooge, wealth. Feel them. Know them. Yours was as heavy as this I wear seven years ago, and you have labored to build it since," wailed Jacob Marley in Frederick Gaines's adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (396). Burdened by his greedy life, Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge's deceased business partner, is forced to wander the spirit world with no sense of peace. He warns Scrooge to change his selfish ways to avoid the same miserable fate. Marley's ominous warning sets in motion three life-altering journey through time for Scrooge with the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet To Come. Ebenezer Scrooge, originally a greedy and heartless character, changes drastically after his ghostly experiences influence him to become a generous and caring man by the end of the story. In Scene I of "A Christmas Carol", Scrooge is a bitter and self-centered man. For instance, Scrooge's own nephew, Fred, asked Scrooge if he would join Fred and his family for dinner. Scrooge coldly denied Fred's invitation by saying "Nephew, keep Christmas in your own way…"(390)....
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...more about others. I don’t think that Scrooge from A Christmas Carol fits the definition of hero to me. Scrooge is a greedy, selfish, and unthankful man. Here are some of the reasons why I don’t think Scrooge meets up to the meaning of a hero. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends” ~ J.K. Rowling. This quote explains most of what my definition of a hero is. It explains that a hero needs bravery to stick up not just for himself, but even more, bravery to stick up for others. Scrooge does show bravery but, mostly the bravery is only to himself. For example, when Scrooge put the candle top the first spirit because he didn’t want to see the past anymore. That shows Scrooge being brave only toward himself, but not toward others. The Man In The Water is a good example of why Scrooge is not a hero. For example, The Man In The Water was always polite and generous to the others that survived the plane crash. He would always pass on the lifeline and floating ring on to the next person. On the other hand, Scrooge will never do anything nice for...
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...A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Ebenezer Scrooge acts as the main character within this novel in which he is depicted as a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, old sinner as self-contained and as solitary as an oyster”. He is incapable of relationships. However, throughout his life of suffering he is guided by the Ghosts of Christmas past, Christmas Present and of Christmas future. A Christmas Carol is a celebration of Christmas and the good it inspires. Scrooge was a cold and old disgruntled man that saw no purpose in life, wouldn’t accept changes, and wished to be alone. The heaviest rain, snow, hail and sleet were just like any other days that had no effect on him. Nobody ever stopped him in the streets to greet him or even ask what time of the day it was. The only relationship he had was with his lifelong business partner Marley, who had been dead for seven years when the novel began. He despises the poor and hates any part of life that is in relation to happiness or spending money. Scrooge’s appearance has been made very “cold and bitter”. For example, “his thin lips blue”. Scrooge’s personality attitude towards the poor is horrible, for example, when the charity guys come into the room and asked Scrooge if he wishes to make a donation he replies no, this makes the readers dislike Scrooge and disagree with the points that he has to make like, “it is a good thing that the Union work houses are still in operation”. Scrooge is a cold-hearted...
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...A Christmas Carol has always been one a favorite Christmas story and movie. I admit I had never put much thought into all of the ways A Christmas Carol relates to disability. To briefly summarize the plot of the movie, Ebenezer Scrooge is a crotchety old man who goes on a journey with the three ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. The three ghosts are on a mission to open the eyes of Mr. Scrooge to the life he has made for himself. Ebenezer Scrooge has made a life of money being the utmost importance. He has shut out his family and those close to him. After the visits from the ghosts, Scrooge realizes he must make a change in his life and takes part in the Christmas festivities of his friends and family. One of the first things I noticed about how A Christmas Carol related to disability was the misrepresentation of disabilities. The movie seemed to portray anyone who was not of wealth to be disabled....
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...Most people seem to know the story “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “The Christmas Carol,” but not many seem to compare them. The stories have quite different morals and main ideas, but they involve similar traits of each other. For instance, the characters are similar and different in many ways along with other traits. These two stories are similar because they both are about Christmas time. They both talk about how an angry man despises Christmas and will do anything to stop it. The Grinch actually tries to stop Christmas by taking presents and stealing anything relating to Christmas. Scrooge does not do anything in the sort of and instead ignores the idea of Christmas. He tries to act as if Christmas doesn't exist; he will not acknowledge...
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...“They owe me money and I will collect. I will have them jailed, if I have to. They owe me money and I will collect what is due to me.” ( “A Christmas Carol”) Scrooge is very greedy and in the play and movie it shows how he becomes less greedy as well as how he got to be greedy. In both of the versions, Scrooge is taught to be less greedy by learning about others hardships and seeing his own as well. With as many similarities and differences the play and movie had it will be very interesting to see what is created in between them. The movie and play had many differences and similarities, some examples are, they both have a Mr. Scrooge character, they both have the same cast, they both help Mr. Scrooge find his Christmas spirit. Mr. Scrooge...
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...Greed, the Opposite of Compassion Greed is shown as the opposite of compassion in both A Christmas Carol and Wuthering Heights. Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley are characters in A Christmas Carol that showcase the harm of greedy living without compassion. The rest of the characters, such as the Cratchits or Fred, contrast the miserly moneylenders. Heathcliff and Hindley Earnshaw are characters in Wuthering Heights who cause so much pain to others and themselves due to their obsession of ownership and revenge. Cathy serves as foil characters, showing how loyalty and compassion can lead to a happier existence. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has two main types of characters: the compassionate and the greedy. Ebenezer Scrooge has a lot of contrast between the people who are willing to feel pity towards him (his ex-fiancé, his nephew, his clerk) and those who coldly dismiss him as he does them (fellow business people, his servants, the pawn shop owner). The entire supernatural ordeal that Scrooge goes through is meant to show him the error of his greedy ways and teach him the importance of compassion. Scrooge starts in the story with a personality so cold, it freezes his features. His dispassionate nature forbids any kindness, whether it be giving it, like towards his clerk, or receiving it, such as his nephew’s invitation. Yet, Scrooge’s compassion almost suddenly appears when he sees his past (27). It is not like he never knew such things growing up; he was taught through...
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...A timeless theme is a theme that has no beginning or end. It is relevant in all times. A great example of a timeless theme is social injustice. Social injustice is seen throughout society more and more as the rich keep becoming richer. There has always been a great divide between the rich and the poor, but the divide keeps growing. The people who are well off are selfish and greedy meaning they don’t care about anyone but themselves. The theme of social injustice can be witnessed throughout the Christmas Carol play, the book and in today's society. Although the play is set in a different time period, it still teaches important lessons. In the story, Ebenezer Scrooge starts by having no feelings for anything or anyone. In the end, he changes...
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...Ebenezer Scrooge, from A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. In the story, Scrooge realizes he does not like the outcome of his life, so he changes his attitude. For example, he learns to love and appreciate his family instead of treating them with disgust and shame. Sadly, for most of the play, Scrooge is a greedy, rude, self-centered man. Slowly, he realizes that to change his future he needs to change his attitude. Sooner or later, the lessons of the three spirits who visit him kick in, and he learns that he needs to...
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...knew…” Discuss Scrooge’s transformation in A Christmas Carol In Charles Dickens Novella a Christmas Carol, the protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge transforms himself from a self-centred cold old man to a person who realises the true meaning of life and Christmas. Scrooge came to a point in life where he was confronted by his dead friend/business partner Jacob Marley to change his ways in order to escape the fate of ending up like him. In the process of changing his ways he had learnt to value important things in life such as happiness, love, and family more than the way he valued himself and his wealth. However Scrooges agreement to change could also be based on the fact that he didn’t want to lose his wealth and pass on which is quiet selfish. Dickens chooses to transform Scrooge in order to highlight the importance of kindness and its effects. Initially dickens introduces scrooge into the Novella as a selfish, cold, miser who cared about nothing more than himself and money. As he is confronted by the ghost of Christmas past, present and future he begins to transform himself. The ghost of Christmas past had showed him the kind of employer Fezziwig was towards Scrooge and this contrasts to how Scrooge mistreated Bob Cratchit. Fezziwig was a happy lively old man who made everyone around him happy “the happiness he gives is as great as if it costs a fortune”. Upon seeing and remembering the way in which Fezziwig treated him and Dick scrooge now begins to think about the ways he mistreats...
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...Scrooge is a very harsh and greedy man who hates Christmas. One night, as he was getting ready for bed, Scrooge happens to see his partner Marley, who is now a ghost. He warns him about hating Christmas and what can happen when he dies. Later that night, three ghosts visit Scrooge to show him his past and future. As Scrooge goes through this journey, he realizes that he has to change, or he’ll have the future he did not want as a child. Scrooge displays Dickens critique of Victorian Society through his greed and unfair treatment of the poor in A Christmas Carol. He suggests the reform of charity to address these problems. Greed was very common in Victorian Society. The rich guarded their money and refused to give it away to anyone who asked. At a...
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...A Christmas Carol A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. In this extract we are presented with Scrooge. From the beginning Scrooge is presented as a miser. In the extract we find out that he is an old, rude and ignorant man that doesn’t appreciate others around him. Dickens uses different language techniques to describe Scrooges appearance as clear as possible. In the opening paragraph Dickens uses imagery to create a vivid impression of Scrooge. He is described as ‘a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone’, and this metaphor suggests that Scrooge works hard for his money but is very tight with his money. In the opening lines Dickens includes similes. ‘Hard and sharp as a flint.’ Flint is a hard stone that was used with iron to create sparks before people used matches. This makes me think that Scrooge would have very sharp features, a pointy nose and always has a scowl on his face. This then gives you an idea of what Scrooge looks like. The other simile in the opening line is ‘solitary as an oyster’, this shows that Scrooge is alone. He is a solitary person, who avoids other people. This quotation is also an example of foreshadowing. Overtime oysters open up and inside them are a pearl, Dickens has used this because throughout the book Scrooge will eventually begin to open up. Also in the first paragraph of the extract Charles Dickens uses alliteration. ‘Secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.’ The effect that the alliteration gives makes you focus on the words...
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...The Christmas Carol is about a greedy man named Scrooge, who only cared about money, and always wanted to be alone. But he has changed into a better person. However, he has learned that if he continues to be greedy, and selfish, then his life, eventually would not end well. Scrooge has seen how his relatives celebrate Christmas, and how he has changed, and how that will affect him in the future from the three ghosts of past present and future. Scrooge and Past visit his past when Scrooge was young. On the way, they stop by young Scrooge with a woman. She was unhappy because she knew that Scrooge adored his money more than her. The woman knew “even if he became wiser, than he wouldn’t change towards her” (Dickens 765). She has thought of...
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