Themes in A Christmas Carol

Poverty & Child Labour
1. Dickens lived an impoverished childhood, when his father was imprisoned, and he had to turn to factory-working, a the age of 12.
2. "Are there no workhouses?
  1. "The Poor Law and Treadmill are in full vigour, then"
  2. "This time-- when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices"
    1. "many thousands are in want of common necessities"
3. "my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife, and a family"
4. The Cratchit family, poor, but happy:
  1. "a goodly show for a sixpence"
    1. "We'd a deal of work" - replied the girl"
      1. "it was a small pudding for a large family"
        "God bless us, every one!"
  2. "laughed tremulously"
    1. "drew around the hearth-- in a family circle"
5. Ignorance & Want
  1. "yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish" "wretched, abject, frightful"
  2. "They are Man's. And they cling to me"
  3. "on his brow-- is written Doom"
Family
1. The Cratchits
  1. works hard, to support his large family= love= strength
  2. "My little child!"
  3. "but he was very light to carry"
  4. "drew around the hearth"
2. Fred
  1. "A merry Christmas, Uncle"
    1. Persistently invites Scrooge to dinner, despite his rudeness
  2. "contagious as laughter and good-humour"
  3. "I am sorry for him. Who suffer his ill whims? Himself always."
    1. "A merry Christmas and a happy New year, to the old man"
      1. "Let him in! Its a mercy he didn't shake his arm off!"
3. Bell (& family)
  1. "I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master passion, Gain, engrosses you"
    1. "another idol has displaced me " "A golden one."
      1. Scrooges rejection of family, and its impact on him is shown by the Ghost of Xmas Past
  2. "the mother and daughter laughed heartily"
    1. "her and her mother at his own fireside"
      1. but Scrooge is "Quite alone in the world"
  3. "not very large or handsome, but full of comfort"
4. Little Fan
  1. "dear brother!" "To bring you home, home, home!"
    1. "we'll be together all christmas long, and have the merriest time in all the world"
    2. "You are quite a woman"
  2. "She had a large heart--- had children-- Your nephew"
    1. Scrooge is reminded of the happiness and love that family can bring, and then, "seemed uneasy in his mind"
  3. "clapped her tiny hands"
Transformation
1. "hard and sharp as flint"
2. "solitary as an oyster"
3. "clutching, covetous old sinner!"
4. "I am as light as a feather"
5. "I am quite a babay'
6. "happy as an angel"
7. "merry as a schoolboy"
8. "Scrooge regarded everyone with a delighted smile"
Redemption
1. "I should like to be able to say a thing or two to my clerk just now. That's all."
  1. "I should like to have given him something. That's all."
2. "Tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"
3. "I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me!"
4. "the time before him was his own, to make amends in!"
The Supernatural
1. "Spirit! Show me no more!"
2. "You will be haunted, by three Spirits"
3. "the spirit" "the Phantom" "the Spectre"
4. "the ghost grew older, clearly older"
5. "my time is short"
6. "the air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste , and moaning as they went"
7. "-not a knocker, but Marley's face."
8. Ghost of Christmas yet to come = grim reaper/death "it was shrouded in a deep black garment"
Christmas Spirit
1. "gleaming"
2. "a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney"
3. "a blaze of ruddy light"
4. "glowing"
5. "wished him or her a Merry Christmas"
6. "The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune"
7. "No more work tonight, Christmas Eve"
8. "A merry Christmas Uncle.God save you!"
9. "sparkled"
10. fire and warmth and love motif!!
Generosity
1. "not a farthing less!"
2. "I should have liked to be able to give him something. That's all"
3. "I'll send it to the Cratchits"
4. "Come in! and know me better, man!"
5. "he shed a few drops of water on them from it"
6. "a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone" = opposite!
7. "he has the power to render us happy or unhappy" -- "quite as great as if it cost a fortune"
Religion
1. "A Christmas carol" "Christmastime"
2. " 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!"
  1. = Purgatory 9and regret)
3. "face of Marley-- like the ancient Prophet's rod, and swallowed up the whole"
4. "it wore a tunic of the purest white"
  1. "a bright clear jet of light"
5. "its head wore no other covering than a holly wreath"
6. "Gold Bless us, everyone"
7. "I am quite a baby"
8. "happy as an angel"
9. "a torch" = cornucopia, paganism- which dickens mocked eg. "you deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day"

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Themes in A Christmas Carol

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	Created by Charlotte Bartlett almost 4 years ago