A Christmas Carol Key Quotes Stave 2

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  • Stave 2
    • 'It's Fezziwig alive again.'
      • Scrooge is happy to see him alive again- he's sad that Fezziwig died.
        • He starts to show some form of emotion, something we haven't seen yet in the novella.
      • It suggests that he enjoyed his time as Fezziwig's apprentice.
        • He was taught a lot- trade, kindness etc, but didn't keep it all with him.
    • 'Comfortable, oily, rich, fat jovial voice'.
      • These adjectives create a semantic field of wealth, and in Fezziwig's case, happiness.
        • Although Scrooge is wealthy, he isn't happy like Fezziwig.
      • Adjective 'jovial' contrasts to 'caustic and cold as ever', a description of Scrooge taken from Stave 1.
        • Scrooge is always blunt and never polite.
      • These are all things that Scrooge could be if he was happier and kinder.
    • 'the passion that had taken root'
      • 'Passion' is symbolic of greed, money and wealth.
      • As it has 'taken root', the passion isn't natural- it's been made, implanted.
      • Scrooge became obsessed with money- he forgot about Belle- it became his only "companion".
    • 'Our contract is an old one'.
      • 'Contract'- discourse of business- business is his life, he doesn't think about anyone/anything else.
      • All he thinks and understands about his and Belle's relationship is that it's about money.
      • 'Old one' suggests that they got together when they were both young (and poor)
    • 'Another idol has displaced me.'
      • 'Idol' suggests money is something Scrooge looks up to and worships like a God.
        • Lack of Christian values
          • He should treat Belle respectfully, rather than pushing her aside in his quest for money.
      • Verb 'displaced' suggests that he slowly pushed Belle away.
    • 'Poor boy!'
      • As readers we now feel sorry for Scrooge.
      • He shows emotion again, something we don't see very often.
      • We now understand that he wasn't always grumpy, mean and rude- makes us wonder what changed him.

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