A Christmas Carol - Themes and Quotes
- Created by: 15j.price
- Created on: 30-10-19 10:57
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- ACC THEMES
- Poverty
- Tiny Tim and the Cratchits are microcosms of poverty and the lower class
- Ignorance and Want
- context
- quotes
- '"I see a vacant seat"'
- "'decrease the surplus population
- '"Have they no refuge or resource?"'
- Free will
- Having complete choice and control over one’s fate
- Scrooge can change his fate if he changes his ways
- quotes
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- Supernatural
- the ghosts overpower Scrooge's power via money
- at the end of stave 4 Scrooge over powers the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come
- the ghosts are all unknown and not natural to Scrooge
- quotes
- 'he caught the spectral hand. It sought to free itself, but he was strong in his entreaty, and detained it.'
- '"Why, it isn't possible"' (about manipulation/change of time)
- 'It was a strange figure - like a child; yet not so like a child as like an old man'
- Redemption
- Scrooge is reformed and changes due to the messages delivered by the spirits
- quotes
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- Benevolence
- Scrooge lacks benevolence
- the charity men are benevolent to the poor
- quotes
- '"it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time
- '"Many thousands are in want of common necessaries"'
- '"The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune"'
- Education
- include context - Victorian era
- boarding school - for the rich, upper class boys, shown in the novel as it was Scrooge's school
- quotes
- 'The school is not quite deserted'
- 'A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still'
- Industrial Revolution
- General Description
- Quotes
- 'Decrease the surplus population'
- 'a wretched women with an infant'
- Christmas
- Christmas Values
- benevolent - Scrooge's strong lack of charity
- welcoming - Scrooge shut out people like Belle and Fred
- learn from your mistakes - Marley's ghost
- Victorian Christmas
- Price Albert introduced German Traditions
- families spend time together as factories could have days off for Christmas
- Why set at Christmas?
- Benevolence - selfish attitudes
- goodwill - Fezziwig, Cratchits
- family - Cratchits, Fred, Fan, Marley (only friend)
- class divide - charity en (help them), Cratchits (represents them)
- Quotes
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- Christmas Values
- Isolation
- General Description
- make money instead of personal relationships
- Scrooge left as a child, books for comfort
- lower class is isolated by the upper classes as they were left in poverty and they're needs were not met
- Quotes
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- 'a lonely boy was reading by a feeble fire'
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- General Description
- Time
- time is running out
- Ghost of Christmas Past activates this idea. Spirit does this by representing Scrooge's childhood as a happy memory, later tainted. Little sister 'Fan' 'died a woman'
- sorrowful memory warns Scrooge to make time for his family
- timelessness
- message should apply to everyone all the time, not just for one day
- sense of timelessness created due to the lack of dates in the novella
- time has run out
- Belle and Scrooge
- Scrooge prioritised money over Belle
- can link to isolation
- Marley
- chain - made from a circle, no start or finish, can't be changed
- dead at start - clear from beginning
- Belle and Scrooge
- manipulation of time
- Scrooge's power through wealth is belittled by the ghosts power to manipulate time
- each ghost manipulates the time so they can deliver all 3 messages in 1 night
- reassures reader as the ghosts can help Scrooge to change, if they can change time they can change Scrooge
- quotes
- 'Fan' 'died a woman'
- 'Marley was dead to begin with'
- 'I wear the chain I forged in life
- 'What idol has displaced you?' ... 'a golden one'
- time is running out
- Money
- Scrooge values money over love and affection
- he is tight and unfair with his money
- his ways with money threaten the welfare of the poor
- quotes
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- Greed
- Scrooge's greed for money meant his relationships were strained
- Marley's greed has resulted in the length of his chain
- quotes
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- Family
- Cratchits
- Fred is Scrooge's only living family
- Fan (Scrooge's little sister
- quotes
- ‘“A merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!” Which all the family re-echoed’
- ‘“A merry Christmas, uncle!”’
- ‘“little Fan?”’
- Joy
- Fezziwig, Fred and the Cratchits exhibit joy
- quotes
- ‘Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, everyone!’
- ‘“A merry Christmas, uncle!God save you”’
- ‘“The happiness he gives isn’t quite as great as if it cost a fortune”’
- Social Injustice
- Scrooge wouldn't give money to the poor
- he gave Bob Cratchit very little wages and treated him unfairly
- Ignorance and Want reflect the social injustice
- quotes
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- Class Divide
- context
- Scrooge and the rich men(stave 4) had little interest in helping the poor
- quotes
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- Change / Transformation
- Scrooge’s mindset changes so he can change his fate
- At the end of stave 4 the power shifts from the spirits to Scrooge
- At the start of stave 2 Scrooge’s power through money is diminished by the supernatural
- quotes
- '"I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."'
- 'he caught the spectral hand. It sought to free itself, but he was strong in his entreaty, and detained it.'
- '"Why, it isn't possible"' (about manipulation/change of time)
- Charity
- charity gentlemen
- Scrooge is uncharitable
- Quotes
- '"If they would rather die", said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."'
- '"Many thousands are in want of common necessaries"'
- '"A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December"'
- Love and affection
- the Cratchits are rich in love
- Belle and Scrooge were in love
- Scrooge lacked affection from others and from himself
- quotes
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- Desperation
- the people at Joe's pawn shop are desperate for money
- Ignorance and Want
- the poor are desperate for money, food and shelter. 'basic necessities'
- Poverty
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