Second, he is uncharitable . They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. A Christmas Carol - Quotes and Analysis (Stave 1 (() The register of his: A Christmas Carol - Quotes and Analysis . monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step. A great many very young girls grown into bold women before they had well ceased to be children. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Analysis, Pages 4 (801 words) Views. Browse Library, Teacher Memberships (Dickens 6). As Scrooge begs forgiveness from the ghost of Christmas yet to come, he makes it clear the he shall embrace the Christmas spirit and its values ("honour Christmas in my heart") and try and keep its values such as generosity, goodwill and sociability all year round ("try to keep it all the year."). Instant PDF downloads. Instead of being hard and sharp, he is soft and light. Though Fred is poor (though not as poor as Cratchit), his attire is colorful and he is generous and sociable with his Christmas provisions. No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. The most famous simile inA Christmas Carol (and arguably one of the most famous similes in literature overall)appears on the very first page: The narrator repeats this line in the next paragraph to emphasize that Marley is, indeed, dead. Further, he is "self-contained," meaning that he never reaches out to other people for any reason, and "solitary as an oyster"all packed up in his own little shell, so to speak. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Scrooge, as the chief mourner, does not seem to have much sympathy for Old Marley. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again. Flint is traditionally used to make fire by striking it hard against another rock or metallic surface to create sparks, but Dickens goes on to say that Scrooge is so hard that no steel had ever struck out generous fire. The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, regale him with a Christmas carol: but at the first sound of, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action. You are fettered, said Scrooge, trembling. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his. Scrooge is a cold-hearted tight miser who watches everything going on within his counting-house business. This girl is Want. Date: First published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. Exam focus: Writing about Scrooge. Of course he did. The Student Room and The Uni Guide are trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. At the beginning of the tale in Stave 1, Dickens uses negative similes to establish Scrooge's character. The narrator sets Scrooge up as the quintessential sinner, the most miserable man in the whole city. Download. Fred is the opposite of Scrooge in appearance and spirit. The simile first appeared in Shakespeare's Henry IV. 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 merry Christmas to everyone.". He is smug and condescending about the poor, and refuses to listen to the gentlemens reasoning. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping,scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" The Student Room and The Uni Guide are both part of The Student Room Group. (exclamatory).\ Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Apparently, Scrooge is: Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Generally speaking, nails can usually be used more than once. https://www.youtube. Scrooge describes himself now as a "school-boy", in contrast to his earlier statement from his younger self that "I was a boy" (in which he criticized his younger self, believing to have grown wiser) from stave 2. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. Teachers and parents! Oysters are confined solitarily. This is another quote where Dickens draws on the semantic field of the cold weather. I will live in the past, the present, and the future. `You dont mean that, I am sure?, `I do, said Scrooge. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights, A doornail was a kind of nail or stud that was often used in Dickens's time tobothaesthetically adorn, The simile first appeared in Shakespeare's. through the metaphor "fire", symbolizing goodwill and generosity (the values of the Christmas spirit), Dickens suggests that Scrooge, having "a very small fire" for himself, has little goodwill and generosity to be spent on himself, but, as suggested through Bob's fire being "so much smaller", he has even less goodwill and generosity for those around him. such was I! The dark, wintry night, and the approach of Christmas Day, should provide the conditions for some seasonal camaraderie between Scrooge and his clerk, but Scrooges misery wins out over all. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. 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. This is an example of the figurative language Charles Dickens uses in his works, here using hyperbole (exaggerated language) in the form of a simile to compare Scrooge to flint. Accessed 2 March 2023. It is through your support of visiting Book Analysis that we can support charities, such as Teenage Cancer Trust. Leading up to this moment it appears as if Scrooge already fears that this is the case, but that does not detract from the tension that Charles Dickens can create here. The word 'analysis' literally means to loosen something up. wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! What have recent studies shown about a spirit of cooperation in nature? Dine with us tomorrow.. Scrooge and Cratchit both live on routine. I want to be an Architect, what GCSEs should I do? A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! He believes solely in money. Complete your free account to request a guide. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Term. Much good it has ever done you!, There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round. Scrooge, however, aggressively fights it off. 'Oh! `Christmas a humbug, uncle! said Scrooges nephew. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The power of light and music to shine through the winter gloom is a visual way of showing the moral of this story. Whatever the genre. Explain. I have got a paragraph here from the book Christmas Carol explaining what scrooge was like. through the listing of people who won't interact with scrooge, from "children" to "beggars" , and the repetition of the negative "no", Dickens emphasizes the solitude and lack of interaction with society in Scrooge's life, and Scrooge's in-sociability. "If they would rather die.they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." Near the beginning of the book, as we are being introduced to Scrooge, we read, Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, 'My dear Scrooge, how are you? ". He even turns down his own nephew who comes to see him and invite him to his house for a Christmas meal. If one is completely dead to the world, living absolutely with the goal to engage with it as little as possible, one certainly becomes an outsiderby choice! 'Hard and sharp as a flint.' Flint is a hard stone that was used with iron to create sparks before people used matches. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. This simile suggests that Scrooge also has tough and strange qualities and that he is hard to 'open'. How is the theme of isolation presented in A Christmas Carol? In contrast, Scrooges routine is deliberately isolated and miserable. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one lifes opportunity misused! He is cold and greedy, not the kind of man people want to befriend. Spirit! he cried, tight clutching at his robe, hear me! A doornail is notably small and insignificant, but it can be used to build things. What right have you to be merry? It contrasts sharply with the narrator's initial description, as these positive similes differ greatlyfrom ones like "as hard and sharp as flint" or "solitary as an oyster." The use of business like language such as "surplus" and "decrease" emphasizes how scrooge's miserly, monetarily driven attitudes in the place of the Christmas spirit and its values causes wrath and suffering in society, and leads to the less fortunate not being supported. Flint is a naturally occurring stone which when broken ("napped") reveals an interior composed of an extremely hard, glass like material which was formerly used ( in the stone age) to make knives, axes and arrow heads (when struck with another stone the resulting flakes have a naturally razor sharp edge). But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! Marley brings only warnings; he cannot himself help Scrooge. Its the only way to make a boy sharp, sir. (interrogative), or exc. It suggests that even though cruelty seems to reign, the goodness embodied by the Christmas message can always find a way through, through the fog, through the keyhole. Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. "Oh! To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him. If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population". What reason have you to be merry? The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. Scrooge never painted out Old Marleys name. Latest answer posted December 06, 2020 at 12:31:06 PM. For characters like Fred and Bob Cratchit, Christmas represents the Christian ideal of goodness and moral prosperity, but Scrooge is at his. Marley's purgatorial afterlife is described as a wasteland of endless journeying. Flint was traditionally used to start fires which may hint at Scrooges later change in attitude as the story unfolds. Down banks and up banks, and over gates, and splashing into dikes, and breaking among coarse rushes: no man cared where he went. "Hard and sharp as flint." BEFORE CHANGE Shows his personality. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Flint is a form of the mineral quartz, which occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalk and limestones. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first. "He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer his call.". What to expect as an older masters student? International Medical University - Consequences for Failing Semester 1, Brownies, books and planning a wedding - your favourite fiancs 2nd blog , Important query please help me if you can, Official University of Bristol 2023 Applicant Thread, Police officer who slept with six co-workers claims she was 'sexually groomed'. This makes me think that Scrooge would have very sharp features, a pointy nose and always has a scowl on his face. The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. ", "If they would rather die.they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." This is an odd simile. The hair was curiously stirred, as if by breath or hot air; and, though the eyes were wide open, they were perfectly motionless. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Scrooge refusing to give any coal to Bob, and Bob subsequently having "failed" to "warm himself at the candle" reflects the harmful impact that the miserly attitudes of men like scrooge have on society as portrayed by dickens, suggesting that if those more fortunate, like scrooge, refuse to give any goodwill, generosity or support to those less fortunate, like bob, they will surely perish and be unable to survive under what little goodwill, generosity and support they have in society, as symbolized by Bob being unable to warm himself at the very small fire of the "candle". God save you! cried a cheerful voice. Refine any search. This is fitting because it is traditionally colder at Christmas but also because the cold is an apt metaphor for Scrooges personality. Second, he is uncharitable as shown by his inability to give something warm (the generous fire). However, Scrooge being likened to "flint" suggests that, although he has never given "generous fire" he has the potential to be good-willed, sociable, generous and the other attributes encapsulated by the Christmas spirit, as portrayed by the recurring symbol of "fire" used by dickens to represent these values. Christmas Carol - Generosity Quotes. And yet, though the removal of such doornails is difficult, it is not impossible, and this slyly hints atthe return of Marley's ghost. "Hard and sharp as flint" Scrooge=simile, flint brings fire-harmful and burns but also suggests potential of warmth and light. A Christmas Carol is a widely studied book filled with memorable quotes. `The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then? said Scrooge. 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. -, "The ancient tower of a church whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge", Click here to study/print these flashcards. Cards. They often `came down handsomely, and Scrooge never did. "No," said scrooge, "no. Come! In this way, Dickens universalizes his message. Struggling with distance learning? The Spirit pointed from the grave to him, and back again. The narrator describes Scrooge as "Hard and sharp as flint." His appearance matches his character, with cold-looking, pointy features. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. Click the card to flip . 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