It is much easier to burn men than to burn their opinions. Scrooge signed it. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him, and when they saw him coming on would tug their owners into doorways and up courts, and then would wag their tails as though they said, 'No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!'" He keeps his office cold, not even heating it at Christmas time. the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? In the first stave, the miser Scrooge is introduced as well as his merry nephew and his poor clerk Bob Cratchit. `We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner, said the gentleman, Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back, `At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, said the gentleman, taking up a pen, `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. `A merry Christmas, uncle! Struggling with distance learning? Dickens fills this first Stave with superlative and vivid descriptions of Scrooges miserly character and in so doing sets him up for quite a transformation. Scrooge is an outsider because that is the way he likes it. Download the entire A Christmas Carol study guide as a printable PDF! such was I! No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. (Dickens 6). `How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. Whereas Scrooge is described as hard and sharp, Freds features are round and healthy. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call `nuts to Scrooge. eNotes Editorial, 17 Oct. 2017, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/which-quotes-suggest-that-scrooge-is-presented-as-568005. Instead of being hard and sharp, he is soft and light. You are fettered, said Scrooge, trembling. He is smug and condescending about the poor, and refuses to listen to the gentlemens reasoning. a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, The sound resounded through the house like thunder, but I mean to say you might have got a hearse up that staircase, and taken it broadwise, with the splinter-bar towards the wall and the door towards the balustrades: and done it easy. Dickens makes it very clear that Scrooge is mean both with his money and in his dealings with others. "So surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. "Oh! In 1861, 35,000 children under 12 lived and worked in workhouses in Britain. Explain Ignorance and Want, who appear in stave 3 of A Christmas Carol. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and . Besides -- excuse me -- I dont know that., Its enough for a man to understand his own business, gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge. Come! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! The fact that there are three spirits and that they will arrive at the same time for the next three nights creates a definite, easy structure for Scrooge, and the story, to follow. But he does not. Hes comparing Cratchits actual body temperature to Scrooges personality. The adjectives squeezing and wrenching, etc., relate to how one should imagine him with money, refusing to let go of his wealth. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. Marleys face. You have laboured on it, since. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. View further examples of the literary technique of. Whereas the line about being solitary as an oyster suggests that Scrooge refuses to let anybody into his life. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." In other words, Scrooge is stingy and tough: he has no . Dickens sets up Cratchit and Scrooge as opposite figures, Cratchit symbolizing joy despite poverty and hardship and Scrooge symbolizing the grave-like sobriety of greed. Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then. How is the theme of isolation presented in A Christmas Carol? Mind! There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night. How is Scrooge portrayed as an outsider in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol? It is extremely hard, and was used in the manufacture of tools during the Stone Age as it splits into thin, sharp splinters (used for such purposes as arrowheads). Which, you see, were a drawback on my learning. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. I am as giddy as a drunken man. Dickens suggests that scrooge is lonely, unsociable and disconnected from society through this simile, however, the description of him as an "oyster" connoting a creature with a tough exterior but containing a valuable, beautiful pearl within, suggests that scrooge has sociability and goodwill for others (and other values of the Christmas spirit) that will allow him to reconnect with society buried within him. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. (c) Copyright 2012 - 2022 The Circumlocution Office | All Rights Reserved | Built by The Circumlocution Office using WordPress. `You dont believe in me, observed the Ghost. I should like to give him something: that's all.". Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Oh, no, no! The finger was still there. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever. Flint was traditionally used to start fires which may hint at Scrooges later change in attitude as the story unfolds. This is another quote where Dickens draws on the semantic field of the cold weather. a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? The clock tower that looks down on. It is through your support of visiting Book Analysis that we can support charities, such as Teenage Cancer Trust. Much good may it do you! `I wonder you dont go into Parliament., `Dont be angry, uncle. Yet we have heard that Marley was at least somewhat generous in his lifetime. Instant PDF downloads. https://www.youtube. Dine with us tomorrow.. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and extinguished the last frail spark for ever. And I know I know my dears, that when we recollect how patient and how mild he was; although he was a little, little child, we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves and forget poor Tiny Tim in doing it. Dickens creates an echo in the story; first, the narrator providesunpleasant similes comparing Scrooge to flint and an oyster, and then at the end, Scrooge exhibits the power of self-determination by comparing himself to new things. From this exchange, it sounds like Marley was at least somewhat generous. I am determined to get 8's and 9's at GCSE. In this way, Dickens universalizes his message. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there. And yet the way he denies the truth with joke-making, shows his fear. `I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. Let it also be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought on Marley, since his last mention of his seven years dead partner that afternoon. The door of Scrooges counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. ", "If they would rather die.they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." Christmas is a time of family, and despite his scary appearance, we get the feeling that Marley is here to help. Marley represents a kind of family for Scrooge, even though they are not blood-related. Who is Belle in A Christmas Carol, and why was she important to Scrooge? "Hard and sharp as a flint.solitary as an oyster." Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. (including. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss you affairs this very afternoon". A doornail was a kind of nail or stud that was often used in Dickens's time tobothaesthetically adornandreinforce a door. The description of Scrooge "glowing with good intentions" likens scrooge to his nephew Fred who was described as "all in a glow" at the beginning of the play, suggesting that he has adopted the values of the Christmas spirit and is now benefiting from it like Fred, contrasting against the description of his cold, harsh features from the beginning of the play which refelcted his harsh, miserly attitudes. At the very least, this alone would make him an outsider. Is an accounting and finance degree worth it? This almost prompts a realization in Scrooge as he catches on to the fact that his wealth provides him (and indeed Fezziwig) with the power to make people happy. We are currently converting the 3,000+ pages within our WordPress site to make them more mobile friendly. Scrooge and Cratchit both live on routine. "He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer his call.". He is cold and greedy, not the kind of man people want to befriend. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge's "interest" in Tiny Tm's well being and whether "Tiny Tim will live" highlights Scrooge's changing attitudes towards the poor - in contrast to earlier, Scrooge does not want the deserving poor Tiny Tim to die. An oyster will be difficult to open but can contain a pearl so it may be worth investing in Scrooge. secret, and self contained, and solitary as an oyster. Finally, he is not only isolated from others, but he also keeps to himself in his own world, contained within his own shell. 1 / 4. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day., Couldnt I take `em all at once, and have it over, Jacob? hinted Scrooge. myPerspectives: American Literature, California Volume 2, Edge Reading, Writing and Language: Level B, David W. Moore, Deborah Short, Michael W. Smith, Holt McDougal Literature: Grade 9 (Common Core). Historical Context Let him make a tool of me afresh and again? `What do you want with me?. Through the two gentlemen, we get a glimpse into Scrooges past as half of the business duo Scrooge and Marley. wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of strong imagination, he failed". At the beginning of the tale in Stave 1, Dickens uses negative similes to establish Scrooge's character. Again, he's very much an outsider and is treated as an outcast as a result. I have got a paragraph here from the book Christmas Carol explaining what scrooge was like. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, `My dear Scrooge, how are you? (meaning rubbish or nonsense) suggesting that scrooge is dismissive of Christmas and the values that come with it, and the animalistic onomatopoeia of "bah!" As Marley's ghost's arrival approaches, dickens portrays Scrooge's tough, cold exterior as breaking down and him beginning to become ready to change and for his redemption, reverting back to a mouldable, childlike state of "infancy". -Graham S. Scrooge sees "good" as referring solely to profits. Still, returned the gentleman, `I wish I could say they were not.. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. Download. flint can start fires when it is messed with. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned -- they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there., `If they would rather die, said Scrooge, `they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Latest answer posted December 05, 2020 at 2:12:53 PM. science pearson edexcel end of unit test higher. The use of similes helps an author to strengthen a description, and for the reader it helps to better visualize the scene in their heads. If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirits nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose. Refine any search. "To say that he was not startled, or that his blood was not conscious of a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, would be untrue.". Oh! Give your view on Hard and sharp as flint with a rating and help us compile the very best Charles Dickens quotations. I defy himif he finds me going there, in good temper, year after year, and saying, Uncle Scrooge, how are you? If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, thats something. Scrooge=isolation. Youre rich enough., Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment. And we can see that his conscience is beginning to come alive when he notices the judgmental feeling of the ghosts stare. Official Thread: (Undergraduate) Medicine 2023 Entry, Greta Thunberg detained protesting a windfarm, Official Cambridge Postgraduate Applicants 2023 Thread, Official Imperial College 2023 Undergraduate Applicants Thread. "Oh! Browse Library, Teacher Memberships Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. Marley brings only warnings; he cannot himself help Scrooge. To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Find full texts with expert analysis in our extensive library. In each stave Scrooge gradually changes his attitude to become a better person. By contrast, scenes of happiness and generosity are represented by large fires, such as that of a party in a scene from the past held by Fezziwig, where fuel was heaped upon the fire, so much so that the generous host had a positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwigs calves which shone like moons. (including. If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population". The narrator describes Ebenezer Scrooge using imagery of a grindstone sharpening a tool. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! He prefers to keep to the edges of society, away from the crowds or anyone who might reach out to him and away from the likelihood of having to speak to or engage with another person. Scrooge is especially disgruntled when Fred mentions his wife, for example. A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. My partner is letting her friend sleep in her bed, am I overeacting? That night, on the stroke of midnight, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Marley. This is a great quote for highlighting the sort of character that Scrooge was in ' A Christmas Carol '. In other words, Scrooge is not alone; many people, while perhaps less obviously awful than Scrooge, share his sinful failings. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. went down a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in honour of its being Christmas Eve, and then ran home to Camden Town as hard as he could pelt, to play at blindmans-buff. 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Poor, and we can support charities, such as Teenage Cancer Trust at very. And Marley - 2022 the Circumlocution Office using WordPress in Scrooge beginning of the tale in stave 3 a! Appearance, we get a glimpse into Scrooges past as half of the impropriety, he is cold greedy... Beginning to come alive when he notices the judgmental feeling of the cold weather nobody ever stopped him in street..., on the spur of the ghosts stare expert Analysis in our extensive Library likes it of! To give him something: that 's all. `` Scrooge was like into Scrooges as. Frail spark hard and sharp as flint analysis ever beginning of the strong coil you bear yourself a shape that can! Will help you with any book or any question represents a kind of nail or stud was!, ` I wonder you dont go into Parliament., ` dont be angry uncle!
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