Isolation

Isolation

1. Key Examples

   • Scrooge watches Belle and husband talk about his mental and emotional
     • Scrooge is physically isolated from them, because he appears only with the ghost of Christmas present
   • Nobody genuinely wants to go to Scrooge's funeral except for the food
     • Nobody is affected by his death just like how he was never affected by Marley's death
   • When Scrooge talks to the 'remarkable boy' he refers to the boy in the third person, possibly suggesting he's forgotten how to interact with humans due to his isolation

2. Quotes

   • 'It's not my business...understand his own business'
     • Repetition of 'business' may convey the accumulation of money as being a clear driving factor in Scrooge's life. Very different to other rich Victorians, because most wanted to accumulate and spend. However, he mentions it less and less as the staves go on (link to redemption)
   • 'lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire'
     • Fouund comfort in stories
   • 'Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, his sole mourner
     • Repetition of 'sole' emphasises Marley's obsession with business being the reason why he had no time for friends/family

3. Context

   • 1840s was midst of industrial revolution, younger children may have been feeling neglected by parents due to work
     • People were forced into isolation, but what makes Scrooge so terrible is that he chose to be alienated, he is the reason for his own isolation.
   • Poor Laws further alienated the poor and working class from the rich and middle class.

4. More Quotes

   • 'Solitary as an oyster'
     • Juxtaposes Scrooge being greedy, for when you're greedy you want a lot of items, however when you're 'solitary' you want nothingness or you're surrounded by nothingness
     • Negative connotations of a serpent due to the sibilance may remind the reader of a snake, which may in turn remind them of Adam and Eve. Could suggest that wanting solitarity is evil, unnatural
     • Something precious is hidden inside, a hard shell against the tough world OR Scrooge is trapping himself inside a shell of stubborness to remain 'solitary'
   • 'The school is not quite deserted...A solitary child neglected by his friends is left there still'
     • Little children are not even protected from the faults in society