Themes in A Christmas Carol

Themes in A Christmas Carol

1. Poverty & Child Labour

   • Dickens lived an impoverished childhood, when his father was imprisoned, and he had to turn to factory-working, a the age of 12.
   • "Are there no workhouses?
     • "The Poor Law and Treadmill are in full vigour, then"
     • "This time-- when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices"
       • "many thousands are in want of common necessities"
   • "my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife, and a family"
   • The Cratchit family, poor, but happy:
     • "a goodly show for a sixpence"
       • "We'd a deal of work" - replied the girl"
         • "it was a small pudding for a large family"
           • "God bless us, every one!"
     • "laughed tremulously"
       • "drew around the hearth-- in a family circle"
   • Ignorance & Want
     • "yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish" "wretched, abject, frightful"
     • "They are Man's. And they cling to me"
     • "on his brow-- is written Doom"

2. Family

   • The Cratchits
     • works hard, to support his large family= love= strength
     • "My little child!"
     • "but he was very light to carry"
     • "drew around the hearth"
   • Fred
     • "A merry Christmas, Uncle"
       • Persistently invites Scrooge to dinner, despite his rudeness
     • "contagious as laughter and good-humour"
     • "I am sorry for him. Who suffer his ill whims? Himself always."
       • "A merry Christmas and a happy New year, to the old man"
         • "Let him in! Its a mercy he didn't shake his arm off!"
   • Bell (& family)
     • "I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master passion, Gain, engrosses you"
       • "another idol has displaced me " "A golden one."
         • Scrooges rejection of family, and its impact on him is shown by the Ghost of Xmas Past
     • "the mother and daughter laughed heartily"
       • "her and her mother at his own fireside"
         • but Scrooge is "Quite alone in the world"
     • "not very large or handsome, but full of comfort"
   • Little Fan
     • "dear brother!" "To bring you home, home, home!"
       • "we'll be together all christmas long, and have the merriest time in all the world"
       • "You are quite a woman"
     • "She had a large heart--- had children-- Your nephew"
       • Scrooge is reminded of the happiness and love that family can bring, and then, "seemed uneasy in his mind"
     • "clapped her tiny hands"

3. Transformation

   • "hard and sharp as flint"
   • "solitary as an oyster"
   • "clutching, covetous old sinner!"
   • "I am as light as a feather"
   • "I am quite a babay'
   • "happy as an angel"
   • "merry as a schoolboy"
   • "Scrooge regarded everyone with a delighted smile"

4. Redemption

   • "I should like to be able to say a thing or two to my clerk just now. That's all."
     • "I should like to have given him something. That's all."
   • "Tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"
   • "I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me!"
   • "the time before him was his own, to make amends in!"

5. The Supernatural

   • "Spirit! Show me no more!"
   • "You will be haunted, by three Spirits"
   • "the spirit" "the Phantom" "the Spectre"
   • "the ghost grew older, clearly older"
   • "my time is short"
   • "the air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste , and moaning as they went"
   • "-not a knocker, but Marley's face."
   • Ghost of Christmas yet to come = grim reaper/death "it was shrouded in a deep black garment"

6. Christmas Spirit

   • "gleaming"
   • "a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney"
   • "a blaze of ruddy light"
   • "glowing"
   • "wished him or her a Merry Christmas"
   • "The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune"
   • "No more work tonight, Christmas Eve"
   • "A merry Christmas Uncle.God save you!"
   • "sparkled"
   • fire and warmth and love motif!!

7. Generosity

   • "not a farthing less!"
   • "I should have liked to be able to give him something. That's all"
   • "I'll send it to the Cratchits"
   • "Come in! and know me better, man!"
   • "he shed a few drops of water on them from it"
   • "a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone" = opposite!
   • "he has the power to render us happy or unhappy" -- "quite as great as if it cost a fortune"

8. Religion

   • "A Christmas carol" "Christmastime"
   • " I was doomed to wander through the world- oh woe is me! and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!"
     • = Purgatory 9and regret)
   • "face of Marley-- like the ancient Prophet's rod, and swallowed up the whole"
   • "it wore a tunic of the purest white"
     • "a bright clear jet of light"
   • "its head wore no other covering than a holly wreath"
   • "Gold Bless us, everyone"
   • "I am quite a baby"
   • "happy as an angel"
   • "a torch" = cornucopia, paganism- which dickens mocked eg. "you deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day"