“No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused.” This quote from in Charles Dickens’s novel, A Christmas Carol, is spoken by the ghost of Jacob Marley to Ebenezer Scrooge. In the scene, the spirit is trying to convince Scrooge to change his miserly ways before it is too late. Throughout the book, Dickens uses symbolism in the ghosts that visit Scrooge. After reading Thomas C. Foster’s book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I have also been able to recognize that the book might also be somewhat political. In Dickens’s book, the first ghost that visits Scrooge is his old business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, who was once like Scrooge, essentially begs him to become a better, less selfish person. Now, Marley’s character is full of symbolism. It is even stated in the book that the thick chains that weigh down his body are representative of the “chains he forged in life.” They represent his greed and his wrongdoings that keep his locked down. When his physical appearance is described, it even says …show more content…
It is no doubt that Scrooge, before he meets the spirits, is a horrible person. He believes poor people should die to “decrease the surplus population”. He hardly pays his clerk Bob Cratchit. He despises his nephew. He is like this because the only thing he values is his wealth. Unfortunately, many people are like this. They think they would rather be rich than have relationships with people. I think Dickens wanted to show people how obsessing over wealth and status could ruin you and take away your humanity, like Ebenezer Scrooge.
In Charles Dickens’s timeless classic, A Christmas Carol, symbolism is used as a main component in the characters. The ghosts in the story are used as symbols of how awful a thing human greed can be. The story itself can even be representative of real people’s greed and the author’s perspective on