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Summary A Christmas Carol, ISBN: 9780141389479 English
Summary study book A Christmas Carol of Charles Dickens - ISBN: 9780141389479, Edition: 1, Year of publication: -
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Stave Summary Key Themes QuotesEbenezer Scrooge (solitary, mean, stingy) works • Loneliness, isolation solitary as an oyster’
meticulously in his counting-house. He watches over • Greed ‘“I wear the chain I forged in life,”
his clerk, Bob Cratchit (poor diminutive). Despite the • Supernatural “What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor
harsh weather Scrooge refuses to pay for another enough.”
lump of coal to warm the office. Fred (nephew) allegorical structure. (characters and events “I can’t afford to make idle people merry.”
bursts into the office offering holiday greetings, represent particular ideas or themes, lots of “Mankind was my business.”
invites Scrooge to Christmas dinner. Scrooge symbolism. Scrooge represents avarice, apathy, and ‘He carried his own low temperature always about
refuses. Then charity workers ask for donation to all that stands in opposition to the Christmas spirit. with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and
help the poor. Scrooge angrily replies that prisons Bob personifies those who suffer under the ignorant didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.’
and workhouses are the only charities he is willing to upper class - the English poor. Fred reminds readers ‘A frosty rime was on his head, and on his
support and the gentlemen leave empty-handed. of the joy and good cheer of the Christmas holiday) eyebrows, and his wiry chin.’
Scrooge gives Bob day off for Christmas reluctantly The opening section also highlights the novel's ‘No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill
narrative style - comedic. him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he,’
Scrooge goes home, door-knocker is Jacob Marley.
When Scrooge takes a second re-focused look, he Dickens criticises the Poor Laws, exposes flaws of
sees nothing but a door-knocker. Makes little effort to the unfair system of government that essentially
brighten his home. Rushing to his room, Scrooge restricts the underclass to life in prison or in a
locks the door behind him and puts on his dressing workhouse. (Dickens' father served time in debtor's
gown. As he eats his gruel before the fire. Marley’s prison.) Through Scrooge's defence of the Poor
ghost appears and warns him of his future - ghosts, Laws (his argument that prisons are the only
afterlife. "charity" he cares to support), Dickens dismisses
the excuses of the indifferent upper class as an
irresponsible, selfish, and cruel defence.
, Stave Summary Key Themes Quotes
Scrooge wakes up at midnight, he’s baffled as slept • Lonely
after 2 am. He thinks he has slept through an entire day • Regret
or that it's actually noon and the sun has merely gone • Family
under cover. He remembers the words of Marley's • Supernatural
ghost. The first of the three spirits will arrive at one.
Scrooge waits. At one the curtains of Scrooge's bed are
• Generosity
blown aside by the Ghost of Christmas Past and orders
the Scrooge to rise and walk with him. The spirit
touches Scrooge's heart, granting him the ability to fly.
The pair exits through the window.
The ghost transports Scrooge to the countryside where
he was raised. He sees his old school, his childhood
mates, and familiar landmarks. Touched by these
memories, Scrooge begins to sob. the school where a
solitary boy (young Scrooge) passes the Christmas
holiday all alone. The ghost takes Scrooge shows more
Christmases of the past, the boy in the schoolhouse
grows older. At last, a little girl, Scrooge's sister Fan
(Fred mum) runs in and tells Scrooge that she has
come to take him home. Their father is much kinder
and has given consent to Scrooge’s return. The ghost
shows Scrooge more Christmases of the past: party
thrown by Fezziwig (Scrooge apprentice).
And also him (older) in conversation with his ex-fiancee
Belle - who breaks off their engagement because greed
has corrupted the love in Scrooge's heart. The spirit
then takes Scrooge to a more recent Christmas scene
(perfect family life - what Scrooge could have had).
Middle-aged Belle reminisces with her husband about
Scrooge. The older Scrooge can no longer bear sights,
begs the Ghost of Christmas Past to take him back.
Scrooge seizes the ghost's hat and pulls it firmly over
its head, dimming the light. As the inextinguishable,
luminous rays flood downward onto the ground,
Scrooge finds himself zipped back in his bedroom,
where he stumbles to bed yet again and falls asleep
immediately.
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