Each theme within A Christmas Carol is perfectly explained, with supporting quotes, within this document, with grade nine level analysis of each theme as a whole (I received a grade nine in my English Literature GCSE in 2023).
Themes included: Christmas, Redemption/Change, Social Injustice/Pover...
Summary and Dickens's concept with this theme:
Christmas typically connotes compassion and good will, which are themes that run
throughout the novella. Dickens uses this idea of Christmas charity to fully
demonstrate the flaws within Scrooge, a miserly and bitter man, who in turn
symbolises many of the upper classes. In order to fully display his selfish ways,
Dickens contrasts him with the admirable virtues of Christmas, with the aim that
many of the rich will see such qualities in themselves and strive to change their self-
serving ways. Dickens also hopes to use the theme of Christmas as a way to appeal
to the Christian good will in the Victorians, as it was a religious time.
Quotes:
"a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty fifth of December"
"every idiot who goes about with merry christmas upon his lips should be boiled in his
own pudding"
"bah humbug"
"God bless it!.. a time when men and women open up their shut-up hearts freely"
"fuel was heaped upon the fire"
"he laughed all the way from his shoes to his organ of benevolence"
"young cratchits danced around the fire"
"a crutch without an owner"
"wonderful party…wonderful..wonderful"
"and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he became a second father"
Redemption/change
Summary and Dickens's concept with this theme:
Scrooge is an allegorical figure created by Dickens and he demonstrates the
significance of one's actions and their impact on others. His radical transformation
from stave one to stave five, "solitary as an oyster" juxtaposed to "merry as a school
boy" highlights a person's ability to change and Dickens hoped that this would
encourage his wealthy readers to also change, and correct the error of their ways.
Quotes:
"I girded it of my own free will"
"Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed"
"fuel was heaped upon the fire"
"I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk"
"have they no refuge or resource?" vs "if they would rather die, they had better do it
and decrease the surplus population"
"I shall not leave its lesson, trust me"
"and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he became a second father"
Social injustice/poverty
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