‘A Christmas Carol’
example essay 1

Starting with this extract [old Joe from Stave 4], explore how Dickens presents the lessons Scrooge learns about life in A Christmas Carol.

In this extract and in ‘A Christmas Carol’ as a whole, Dickens suggests that anyone can be redeemed no matter their starting point in life if they learn the same lessons that Scrooge did - the importance of virtue rather than money. Dickens also suggests that it is important to learn these lessons as the way in which people treat others in life will influence how they are treated in death.

In ‘A Christmas Carol’, Dickens suggests that by learning to take social responsibility and helping others, all of mankind can be redeemed. In Stave 1, when the charity collectors tell Scrooge that many people would rather die than go to workhouses, he says, “if they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.” Here, Dickens uses a quote said by Reverend Thomas Malthus to reflect the view of many of the upper-class society in the Victorian era that saw the poor as a nuisance rather than people suffering in abject poverty as they were. This immediately characterises Scrooge as a cold, misanthropic man, which Dickens establishes in order to encourage his audience to hate Scrooge and strive to be the opposite of him. Furthermore, it also portrays Scrooge’s greed, which is seen as one of the 7 deadly sins, which Dickens uses in order to appeal to the Christian morality of his audience and remind them that greed goes against the inherent Christian virtues. Altogether, this suggests that the rich were apathetic to the suffering of the poor, which Dickens argues is wrong and must be changed. Later on in the novella, when the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge “a solitary child”, “Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed.” Here, Dickens uses two minor sentences in a short paragraph to give each sentence a moment to breathe. First, the first sentence demonstrates Scrooge’s first real moment of recognition and the second sentence conveys his first real moment of emotion which suggests that Scrooge is no longer the cold, apathetic man from Stave 1. Here, Dickens portrays Scrooge’s realisation of how his past has influenced the person he became which causes him to feel guilty. This suggests that when people reflect on the past, it can cause them to re-evaluate their life choices and strive to take social responsibility in their own lives as they wish someone did for them. Then, when Scrooge asks if Tiny Tim will die, the Ghost of Christmas Present responds by saying if no one intervenes, he will die. The Ghost also then says “Oh God! To hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust.” Here, Dickens uses the Ghost as a mouthpiece to display his own disgust at the views of Scrooge or at least he symbolises the ignorance of the rich. Here, the use of the exclamation mark displays how ardently the Ghost and Dickens feel about this view. Moreover, the use of the metaphor of “insect” suggests that all of mankind are simply insects trying to live - everyone is equal. Furthermore, the noun “pronouncing” speaks to the pomposity of the rich that looked down on the poor instead of helping others. The use of the noun phrase “hungry brothers” speaks to the solidarity that should feel to all people, which they don’t, and also links to the Christian idea of the brotherhood of man that should help each other. Finally, the use of the noun “dust” evokes the Biblical idea of “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”in Genesis 3:19, which suggests that everyone is equal as we all end up in the same place. It also alludes to the grim conditions of Victorian cities that many people were forced to live on due to the Industrial Revolution. Collectively, this suggests that the ignorance of the rich leads to abject poverty and also implies that if the rich do not learn this lesson the great suffering of the poor will continue. This idea is best exemplified by the Cratchit family who lost Tiny Tim and were left with a house that was “Quiet. Very Quiet.” Here, the use of the two short sentences displays how definitive they are and conveys how no other words can explain the magnitude of their loss. This demonstrates to Scrooge and the audience the grave consequences of not taking social responsibility, which urges Scrooge to become a “second father” to Tiny Tim. Therefore, Dickens uses the lessons that Scrooge learns to encourage his 1843 audience to also change their greedy ways and understand the importance of helping one another.

Dickens also suggests that the way in which people treat others in life will greatly influence how they are treated in death, which is why he argues it is important to learn the same lessons that Scrooge did. In Stave 1, Scrooge is initially described as “hard and sharp as flint…solitary as an oyster”. Here, the use of the simile of flint characterises Scrooge as a cold man that is hard to like as flint is sharp and impossible to cuddle. It also includes the motif of heat and cold as Scrooge is unable to start fires as he is internally cold. Also, the use of the simile of the oyster emphasises his solitude as he is closed-up and hard to open up and therefore understand. However, oysters contain pearls, which suggests that there is hope for even the most misanthropic like Scrooge. This, along with his description as a “tight-fisted hand at the grindstone” characterises him as a greedy, unlikeable man who was loved by no-one. This is clearly portrayed in his death as well as his body was “plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, uncared for.” Here, Dickens uses a magnitude of adjectives with the prefix un- to portray how much Scrooge lacks in death - it is about loss. The noun “plundered” suggests that since he was greedy in life, his body was stolen from in death. “Bereft” suggests that people are lost with nothing in death which suggests that money is of little value compared to virtue. Moreover, “unwatched” suggests no one is looking after his body and “unwept” suggests no one is mourning him. Finally, “uncared for” suggests he is lonely in death. This demonstrates that as Scrooge was isolated, greedy and uncaring in life, he was treated the same in death. Dickens uses this to encourage his 1843 audience to learn the same lessons as Scrooge - that actions have consequences even after death - and desire to forsake their misanthropic attitudes and change. This is particularly effective as in the 19th century when the novel was written, many people were Christian and feared the afterlife so Dickens uses the supernatural to appeal to their Christian views and frighten them into change.

Ultimately, in ‘A Christmas Carol’, Dickens portrays Scrooge as a man who learns the importance of social responsibility and virtue rather than money through the visits of the Ghosts such as Marley’s Ghost who culminates this view by saying “Mankind was my business.” Dickens also has Scrooge learn that his actions have consequences in the afterlife. Dickens uses this to suggest that people should be mindful of how they treat others as there will be grave consequences. He does this to influence his 1843 audience to take personal responsibility to help the poor in order to defend against the abject poverty brought about by the New Poor Law and the Industrial Revolution.