...“Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which if persevered in, they must lead . . . But if the courses be departed from, then ends will change”. Discuss. Set against the backdrop of nineteenth century London, Charles Dickens' timeless novella “A Christmas Carol” illustrates the transformation of the protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge from a cruel and and greedy miser to a kind and benevolent human being. Throughout this “ghostly” tale, Scrooge is placed on a psychological continuum that allows readers to observe his gradual progress from a recluse to a man of compassion to highlight the abundance of life's riches when material gain does not become one's “golden idol”. Through characters such as Jacob Marley, Dickens not only emphasises on the inevitable doom of those who act selfishly as they will lead a life full of regret and isolation from those they love but also highlights how selfish actions can lead to devastating consequences that not only affect one's life but also the lives of those less fortunate. However, Dickens also conveys the moral message to his readers that through guidance and the willingness to be enlightened by others, we all have the capacity to change ourselves, and in the process better our lives and the lives of others. Fixated with materials goods at the expense of human connection, Scrooge's lack of morality is evident in the novella through his Malthusian mindset regarding the poor, as he claims that “if they be like to die, then they had...
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...‘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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...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 more. The words ‘secret’...
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...A Christmas carol Characters: Scrooge: Greedy, cold-hearted, hates Christmas, selfish, people should only buy whatever they need, rich, lonely, hates people, ignorant, owns a business, and old man, no one wants to be firneds with him, a real business career is most important to him, lonely as a child, loves Fan (sister) stingy, father was similar to scrooge. Development: In the end scrooge is very generous, family becomes more important, feels guilty of his former actions, feels sympathy, second father for Tim, from bad person to good person. Tiny Tim: -He is very sick - Bob’s son. - he believes in the good in all people, and he enjoys life very much. - he has faith. - the opposite of the “first” scrooge Bob cratchit: - Tim’s father - A family man, who tries to take care of his kids. – he is working for scrooge. - He always believes in the good in people, and he tries to stay faithful, always. - very little money, big contrast to Scrooge. Belle: Scrooges ex-fiancee, Scrooge’s love of his life, did not get married because at that time, money was most important to him. - Scrooge highly lost hope in people after that. Fred Hubbert: Rich, wife(Janet, does not understand Scrooge.)He loves Christmas. Positive, believes Scrooge can change, and example of what Scrooge could have been, if he had married Belle. Fan: Loves Scrooge, and Scrooge loves her. Has faith in the father figure, like Tim. Jacob Marley: Business partner, identical with Scrooge...
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...In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens uses symbolism to enhance his themes. In this novella, Scrooge was excluded ever since he was a boy. As he grew up, he started to isolate himself from society, and bought a cold, dark, and lonely house in which people wouldn’t enter. Dickens also used Robinson Crusoe to show how miserable an excluded life can be. Charles Dickens employs symbolism to reinforce the theme of social exclusion in A Christmas Carol. Scrooge was initially excluded by his father from his own house. Scrooge was kept away from the home and stayed at school even during Christmas time. The Ghost of Christmas Past showed Scrooge a scene of him as a little boy, watching all the other children have fun during the holidays with their families....
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...“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...
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...Charles Dickens author of, A Christmas Carol, realized how horrible times had become so he decided to write this novella to help educate the rich and poor alike. When he was in the process of writing A Christmas Carol, he observed the many ways the poor were suffering and what he could incorporate into his novella to create awareness for it. When he finally finished his novella, his dream to create awareness for the poor who were suffering began to become a reality. More and more people were being affected by A Christmas Carol, mostly since it opened their eyes to treacherous reality of poverty. He changed the way many middle class and upper class thought. They began to hold sympathy for the less fortunate in their country and started to help rather than stand there and do nothing.Once the middle and upper class began to help out the poor, the economy boomed. The aristocrats gave the poor jobs, money, and assistance. They did what they could to help bring people out of poverty, because they did not want to turn into a “Marley”, Scrooge's old business partner whom led a horrible afterlife of suffering and despair. The middle class also helped, in the small ways they could. They gave food to the poor, helped to serve them, and even set up systems that could bring people out of the neverending cycle of poverty. In Dickens time...
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...redemption. Discuss By the end of A Christmas Carol, the main protagonist, Scrooge, is worthy of redemption. For someone with such wealth, Scrooge was an unusually morose and unhappy character, particularly at Christmas. At the start, Scrooge was unhallowed and resolute in his views about Christmas, and would not be persuaded that it was a time for kindness and merriment. However as the novel progresses, Scrooge changes his ways and displays qualities of a good person. His benevolence, kindness and generosity make him worthy of redemption. Scrooge finally makes up for his mistakes and become more friendly and charitable. This is largely as a result of the four ghosts’ visitations and his experiences with them. His witnessing the past, present and future have impacted towards changing his personality. Scrooge’s visitations with the three ghosts changed the way he viewed people and taught him about kindness and respects. During Marley’s visit, Scrooge listens to all the hardships Marley endured while he was busy making money in unscrupulous ways. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. He tells Scrooge that he didn't learn until he became a ghost that charity and kindness were the important aspects of living, but by then it was too late. He informs Scrooge that three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future will visit him during each of the next three nights. Dickens uses the invention of Christmas Spirits to elucidate (clarify, explain) on Scrooge’s...
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...A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, is not only a highly regarded form of literature in telling a story, but also in teaching moral values. Dickens used detailed adjectives and a rhythmic style of writing in many of his stories to make his readers feel a full range of intense emotions; this including A Christmas Carol. The story begins with Ebenezer Scrooge sitting in his workplace on Christmas Eve. Scrooge receives a visit from the ghost of his old work partner, Jacob Marley. Marley explains that Scrooge will receive a ghost for the next three nights in order to help change his miserable life. From this point, the reader ignites a journey following Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas. A common denominator found in all of Scrooge’s...
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...A Christmas Carol is a very deep story about a man named Scrooge who redeemed himself from being and mean old man who hates christmas to ok guy who likes christmas just like he did when he was just a boy. This redemption happened because of the three ghost who appear in the story of the christmas carol. The name of the three ghost were past, present and yet to come and they were named because of obvious reasons. The first ghost shows Scrooge the past and its visions of Scrooge loving christmas as a boy and this gets scrooge all teary eyed. The second ghost shows Scrooge how he is living and Scrooge doesn't like what he sees, he sees that he is just a mean old man and no one like him as a person. The last ghost is what really hits Scrooge the hardest....
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...A Christmas Carole is about Ebenezer scrooge who’s a man who doesn’t understand the meaning of Christmas. He doesn’t care about other people, he just cares about money. The night before Christmas Eve, the ghost of his dead friend visits him, his friend was just like him, loved money and didn’t care about anyone but himself. But now he came to warn Ebenezer. He says that he will be haunted by three spirits: the spirit of Christmas past, the spirit of Christmas present and the spirit of Christmas yet to come. Every night one. The first night Ebenezer is visited by the ghost of the Christmas past. He takes him to Ebenezer’s childhood, from when he was a little boy and Ebenezer felt the hopes, joys and cares long, long forgotten but they also went to the time that Ebenezer was engaged, to Belle, she broke op with him because of his greediness for money. He was devastated....
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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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...A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a renowned novel about an old stingy man changing for the better with help from 3 supernatural beings. If I was creating a flag based off of A Christmas Carol the most important element of the flag would be the earth with a circle around it. At the end of stave 3 when two children come out of the Spirit of Christmas Present’s robe he says on page 77 “ This boy is Ignorance… beware this boy, for on his brow I see written which is doom, unless the writing be erased.” (Dickens). This quote has a lot of figurative meaning to it. The boy ignorance represents Dickens’ unitarian beliefs showing that you should help people out, not ignore them. The earth with a circle around it, my flag design, shows that you...
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...Cesar Granda E.G 121 When reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens you realize that Scrooge’s childhood has a huge impact on his adult life, his adult self is a mirror image of his child self, both in his emotions and relationships. This becomes apparent when the ghost of Christmas past appears and takes Scrooge on a journey back into his childhood days. His childhood really molds Scrooge into the person he becomes later in life. Scrooge was a lonely and withdrawn child because he lost connection with the only parent he had left after the death of his mother at childbirth. His father sends him away to boarding school and refuses to allow the young Scrooge to return home. This disconnection from the only parent he has left leads young Scrooge to become introverted and lonely. Having been deprived of a father figure he probably could not have sustained a relationship with other boys, in fact, it probably was the opposite of that. Boys at the school could easily have picked on him for the situation he was in. At Christmas time this becomes more apparent when all the boys return home with Scrooge being the only one remaining in school. All of these events take a tremendous toll on the young Scrooge’s psychological state that culminates on Christmas day when he is alone in the deserted school reading a book next to a fireplace: “Suddenly a man, in foreign garments: wonderfully real and distinct to look at: stood outside the window, with an axe stuck in his...
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...well defined so as to construct scenes of frost covered brick alleyways in London, England, around Christmastime. The plot, which many are extremely well acquainted with, follows the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who not only neglected to celebrate Christmas himself, but also expressed spitefulness to those who could not pay off investments. Ignoring his worker’s, Bob Cratchit, ill young child and poor family, more poverty across and beyond the city, and those who needed consolation, Scrooge was visited by the ghost of his late working partner, Jacob Marley, seven years to the day after his death, falling on Christmas Eve, and told to mend his ways, so as to avoid a miserable fate like his. Scrooge was consecutively visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, (specifically of Scrooge’s), the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future, where he saw how he had once had happiness, and of how there was much suffering in the world. This corresponds to the theme of the book, which is of how a moral transformation can occur when one sees others in need, or reflects on his wrongdoings in life with repentance. This internal drive to change for the better was demonstrated when Scrooge observed Bob Cratchit’s house with the Ghost of Christmas Present; at first, he commented on Cratchit’s slovenly behaviors and inefficiency, but after he regarded an ordeal with his family, he saw the tension he had caused them, and felt remorse. Second, the setting to the novel was also of surprising...
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