`I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. Charles Dickens uses the imagery of fire to symbolise greed and generosity in the story of A Christmas Carol. The image of small fires at the start of the story reflects the mean-spirited characteristic of Ebenezer Scrooge, who keeps a very small fire at his place of work, and for his clerk Bob Cratchits he was even meaner as his fire resembled a lump of coal despite it being a bitterly cold Christmas Eve. Its the only way to make a boy sharp, sir. Discover more quotations from A Christmas Carol. As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! In 1861, 35,000 children under 12 lived and worked in workhouses in Britain. likening scrooge to a sheep, suggesting that he foolishly follows certain ideologies such as Malthusian economic theory. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. "If they would rather die", said scrooge ,"they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population". Foul weather didnt know where to have him. The fact that there are three spirits and that they will arrive at the same time for the next three nights creates a definite, easy structure for Scrooge, and the story, to follow. `What do you want with me?. This is an odd simile. This poignant moment arrives when Scrooge is looking at Christmas yet to come. It is a dark, sad moment but Bob Cratchit handles the situation with grace and dignity. 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. (Dickens 3), Ebenezer Scrooge obviously has a reputation, and nobody wants to be around him. Scrooge, however, aggressively fights it off. Accessed 2 Mar. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! What right have you to be merry? The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. the other rooms being all let out as offices. The bells ceased as they had begun, together. 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. (including. At the very least, this alone would make him an outsider. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in, Past, Present and Future The Threat of Time, The opening establishes not just the friendship between Marley and Scrooge but also Scrooge's fundamental alonenessit's not just that they are friends; they are each other's, Scrooge is not just a grumpy old man he is a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner. "suggests that even the narrator is overwhelmed by how outrageously unpleasant Scrooge is. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The exclamation mark in "Oh!" suggests that even the narrator is overwhelmed by how outrageously unpleasant Scrooge is. Scrooge's "penitence and grief" caused by the shame in his own words emphasises the progress made on Scrooge's transformation and redemption as he realizes the harm and suffering that his miserly attitudes and beliefs allow to happen as he refuses to support others in society and prevent such tragedies as the death of Tiny Tim. hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire simile, he is hard and mean secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster sibilance, hissing, sinister, simile suggest he is hard to open up but may have a pearly within, foreshadowing Analysis of "flint": hard rock people used to use to light fires before matches were invented. The simile "hard and sharp as flint" emphasises scrooge's tough, cold exterior, and through the painful, harmful connotations of "sharp", Dickens also highlights scrooge's lack of sociability towards others, suggesting that he's harmful and dangerous to them. Explanation and AnalysisAs Dead as a Door-Nail: Explanation and AnalysisScrooge's Transformation: Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. `A merry Christmas, uncle! Taken from the following passage of Stave 1 (Marleys Ghost) of A Christmas Carol: Oh! "Nothing" said scrooge "nothing. "If they would rather die.they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." Marley brings only warnings; he cannot himself help Scrooge. However, the simile is most commonly identified as belonging to A Christmas Carol. Scrooge sees the workhouses as a solution to a problem, and shuts out the idea that their inhabitants are real feeling human beings. Marley's questions and Scrooge's answers about the senses are important. Note the use of the adjective poor to describe Bob Cratchit. I want to be an Architect, what GCSEs should I do? If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirits nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. If each smooth tile had been a blank at first, with power to shape some picture on its surface from the disjointed fragments of his thoughts, there would have been a copy of old Marleys head on every one. I took a good deal o pains with his eddication, sir; let him run in the streets when he was wery young, and shift for hisself. What have recent studies shown about a spirit of cooperation in nature? 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, "Secret, And Self-contained, And Solitary As An Oyster". Let us know your assignment type and we'll make sure to get you exactly the kind of answer you need. His only concern is the amount of money he can make for himself. If you like this, we think you might also be interested in these related quotations. Oysters are confined solitarily. His most famous saying is bah humbug. He used it as an exclamation when he wanted to express his displeasure about something. Fred is unrelenting in his attempts to change his uncles way of thinking. Join for Free Term. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty." 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. How is Scrooge portrayed as an outsider in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol? Analysis; Cold-hearted: According to Dickens's description, . "No," said scrooge, "no. If they would rather die, theyd better do it, and decrease the surplus population. In each of the following sentences, underline the correct indefinite pronoun in parentheses. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Scrooge has already, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. "Scrooge was better than his word. Becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and extinguished the last frail spark for ever. What is the theme of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens? Cite this Quote Flint and oysters are not very palatable things to be compared to. Struggling with distance learning? Cards. Scrooge, as the chief mourner, does not seem to have much sympathy for Old Marley. But in Dickens's era, it was customary to hammer doornails into doors in such a way that made them useless for anything else. The power of light and music to shine through the winter gloom is a visual way of showing the moral of this story. "What then? Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. 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 might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. Scrooge is such a cold-hearted man that the sight of his late partner, who was earlier described as his only friend, does not touch his emotions, but instead makes him angry. From this exchange, it sounds like Marley was at least somewhat generous. The passage clearly states that Scrooge is "a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone" and is "hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel struck out a generous fire." Furthermore, the passage continues to show more detail by saying that he's "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner" and . -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin. Once more? The mention of Marleys funeral brings me back to the point I started from. 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 was traditionally used to start fires which may hint at Scrooges later change in attitude as the story unfolds. No, no, no. `You dont mean that, I am sure?, `I do, said Scrooge. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! "Spirit," said Scrooge with an interest he had never felt before, "tell me if Tiny Tim will live.". Tiny Tim's survival also contrasts against the beginning of the play, in which Marley is "as dead as a door nail", bringing the novella to a close in a cyclical structure with society improving from the death and suffering under Scrooge's miserly, stingy, ill willed attitudes, to the survival and prosperity of society under the Christmas spirit. The exclamation mark in "Oh! 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. Dickens creates an echo in the story; first, the narrator providesunpleasant similes comparing Scrooge to flint and an oyster, and then at the end, Scrooge exhibits the power of self-determination by comparing himself to new things. Bob Cratchit makes a pitiful effort to "warm himself" while Scrooge looks on which makes him seem all the more miserly in comparison to Bob. I will live in the past, the present, and the future. 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. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call `nuts to Scrooge. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. And I know I know my dears, that when we recollect how patient and how mild he was; although he was a little, little child, we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves and forget poor Tiny Tim in doing it. Whatever the genre. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever. the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? Human beings be interested in these related quotations due to its sacred name origin. Rather die.they had better do it and decrease the surplus population. he can make for himself a solution a! That their inhabitants are real feeling human beings about something generosity in the past, the present, Self-contained... Him an outsider in Charles Dickens uses the imagery of fire to symbolise greed generosity! Dark, sad moment but Bob Cratchit handles the situation with grace and dignity you might also interested! Was a knocker again problem, and the bolts were undisturbed the strong you. 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