A key to a good society is one in which each person has equal opportunity. The U.S.A has a good society because no matter, your situation, reputation you still have the chance to make something of your future. However, not everyone has that opportunity. In other countries you can 't overcome your situation or poverty you were born in. However, if a person in a position realizes this then they can make a change for the better. In “A Christmas Carol”, Charles Dickens uses the protagonist, Scrooge, to illustrate that a society can be effected by the heart of one person. One way Scrooge was causing a bad society was because of his greed and selfishness. When Charles Dickens wrote this book he was using Scrooge to refer to the communist government …show more content…
Scrooge answered the question by stating “Are there no prisons”?(Dickens 9) Scrooge viewed poor people as unimportant and useless to society. This outlook caused poor people to remain in the state of poverty.In this economy the poor remain poor and the rich remain rich. There is no way to get out of the poor state you are in. Scrooge was being selfish and not thinking about other people. However, at this stage of his life it 's hard for him to realize that the choices he is making is bad.”The chain I forged in life”.(Dickens 31) Marley was just like Scrooge in terms of he was only worried about himself and didn 't care about others. Now he is wearing chains and is condemned to misery after failing to benefit others and be of any use. Scrooge never realized that Marley was in this state and he doesn 't realize that he will be in the same position if he does not change. However, in the society the rich don 't necessarily realize the affect they have on others. In fact at first Scrooge refuses to believe that he actually sees Marley. Dickens uses this to symbolize how people can be blinded by reality. By not recognizing that what you are …show more content…
Bob has not only been overworked but is underpaid. Bob has a son, Tiny TIm who is likely to die unless his family is able to make more money to keep him alive. However Scrooge fails to see the concerns and needs of his employer and continue to underpay him. Dickens refers in communism that the government fails to see the needs. In the book the society was being affected by the selfish decisions of one person, Scrooge. However, Charles Dickens did not literally mean one person. He was referring to government or rich people. A certain group that relate in their views and class. In order for the society to change the group of peron must change. However one reason that it is so hard for them to change is greed. In fact, Dickens shows that the ultimate downfall of society is greed. When people get greedy and only care about themselves you won 't have a nation in which everyone will benefit and prosper. In the government the people only cared about what they had and didn 't want to share any wealth with the poor. When greed comes in your heart it can cause you to make decisions that aren 't good for you. Scrooge was so caught up in his money that it causes him to lose
Dickens displays guilt as the main form of how Scrooge’s character develops into a compassionate person by the end of the novella. As Scrooge feels this quilt, it's purely based on the visions that the ghosts provide which further causes Scrooge to realise the consequences of his actions. His alienation from specific characters that he used to love such as Belle, “...has displaced me…” whom left Scrooge, due to his desire for money and wealth which grew. This desire grows with him as he is rejecting the christmas joy and spirit as he continuously states that Christmas is a “humbug,” but by stating this it provides comparison. Dickens depicts that Scrooge has become a better person because of fear but in the end he has become kinder. As the
Scrooge was and owner of a factory and made a whole bunch of money, but he did not care about anyone else. “Merry Christmas said his nephew, what right do have to be merry you are poor enough”. This shows that scrooge is mean to family and does not care about Christmas.
This is shown in the quote:” Not so much in obedience, as in surprise and fear.” When Marley tells Scrooge to stop when he reaches the window he does as he is told but not because he is respecting Marley’s command but because he is terrified of what he might witness. He is afraid of what it might mean and what it could lead to as “The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste.” Dickens uses the motif of fear to portray Scrooge’s fate if does not change. The words “restless haste,” shows how not only will he be regretful and sorrowful as Marley was but also he will never be free. The phantoms move around desperately wanting to be free in hope that they can change their ways and make up for the things that they didn’t do but it’s too late as they burdened by the weight of their regrets. This foreshadows Scrooge’s fate if he resists change. This gives the reader an understanding and warns modern day readers and the Victorians to change before it is too late. It foreshadows the truth that Scrooge is so afraid of as he stops “not so much in obedience, as in surprise and fear.” Scrooge is the result of us realising our mistakes. And that is what Dickens was trying to
In the 19th century in the Victorian period there was a huge difference in the way the rich and the poor live. The Victorians believed in "self" help" so the poor did not have a lot of help with money or equipment to get. work or do it? So most of the poor had to work in dangerous factories. Scrooge himself believed this was a good thing as he believed in "self."
In the beginning of the play in spite of being selfish Scrooge is also cheap, cold-hearted, and cruel. Scrooge behaves in this manner to his nephew, Fred. One way of proving this is when Fred said “Merry Christmas.” Scrooge replied salty saying “Humbug Christmas is just a time for spending and wasting money.” Not only he treats Fred badly but many more people. For instance take one of his quotes towards the Gentleman Visitor, “Are there no Jails for the poor, are there no
In the play, Mr. Scrooge is a greedy man who thinks Christmas is “Bah Humbug!” (Dickens 3). His family has always wanted him to join them for a Christmas feast, but Mr. Scrooge has never wanted anything to do with Christmas. Marley, Mr. Scrooge’s old business partner, didn’t want Mr. Scrooge to end up like him with chains of greed attached to him when he died, so he sent Mr. Scrooge three spirits: Christmas Past, Present, and Future.
Scrooge is a great example of the wealthy, who never gave to the poor and would rarely put money into charities. Dickens was appalled by the conditions the working class had to endure. “Dickens felt that self-interest, uncontrolled, subject to the passions and desires
Charles Dickens’s powerful novel encompasses the notion that generosity involves more than just the giving of money, it requires the giving of one's goodwill and compassion, this required for Scrooge’s own redemption as well as attempting to insinuate within the reader a reflection of their own values and behaviours. Dickens’s novella also acts to warn Scrooge and the audience of the ramifications of their actions if they do not take this into consideration, that generosity always involves more than just the giving of money, it requires the giving of one's goodwill and compassion.
When we first met Scrooge, we are informed, and also observe that he is cold, miserly, and bitter. However, after the visit of the Ghost of Christmas future, Scrooge changes into a generous and cheerful man. It is clear that something must have caused a man who is really nice, turn into a mean and nasty person, in this case it was the Industrial Revolution.
In the fictional play, A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley, by Israel Horovitz, Scrooge’s first impression is not very good. He refuses to donate to the poor, he dismisses family who want a relationship, and he is miserable and tries to make others the same way. When two men come to see Scrooge, they were asking for donations for the poor. Scrooge, being one of the wealthiest people in the community, is very dismissive, wrongfully so, and asks the two men to leave empty handed. When Scrooge asks if there are workhouses for the poor to go to, the men explain that most people would rather die than to go there. In response Scrooge states, “If they would rather die, than they had better do it and decrease the surplus in population.” (649) When
The novel introduces Scrooge as a man of greed. This is shown in the first stave when Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit can barely keep warm by such a small fire "that it looked like one coal." Because of Scrooge's greed, he insists on storing up on his wealth by burning less coal, despite it's lack of warmth. Furthermore, one can notice Scrooge's greed as he refuses to give any donation from his surplus wealth to the poor and destitute that the collectors were raising money for. Scrooge's selfish response to the collectors was, " 'I wish to be left alone...I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry..."
In my coursework I am going to analyse what Charles Dickens’ ‘Ghost of an Idea’ is and how the idea is portrayed at the beginning of Stave 1. Charles Dickens wanted to change people’s lives and their opinions about the horrors of the poor and the middle-class all because of how he was treated as a child. The cold-hearted capitalism which ruled the society at that time was businesses owned by private people and all they care about was money and how they could make it. They didn’t care about other people’s welfare the working classes were livening in small houses in cramped streets and not a lot of food as they cannot afford it. I think that Charles Dickens was trying to imply to the readers that rich people will find true joy and love through sharing with the poor however he influences the way people thought about Christmas. Charles Dickens separated his books into staves in the first stave Scrooge was visited by the ‘ghost of Marley’, the second stave he is visited by the ‘ghost of Christmas past’, the third stave he was visited by the ghost of the Christmas present, the fourth stave the ‘ghost of Christmas Yet to Come’ and the fifth stave is the ending. The structure of the novella determined by what is in the story in this case in stave 2, 3 and 4 were Scrooge is visited by the three ghosts. However the first stave Marley’s ghost introduces what Scrooge was like as a person to begin with and his feelings. Stave 5 show us how Scrooge has changed since stave 1.
These similes provide the reader with a clear image of Scrooge as somebody who is wealthy but is unwilling to share what he has got. In writing the novel Dickens presents a portrayal of the rich and poor people in 1843. The fictional works of Charles Dickens are profoundly intertwined with the real events of his past. Dickens' themes often prove to have powerful reference points in his personal experience, particularly to those of his youth and adolescence.
Dickens had the cold hearted character Scrooge portray someone who changed his lifestyle and brought several families together to get through a time of great poverty. He planted several characters in the novel to represent impoverished people during the 19th century and what generosity of the wealthy could do to them and the town(Gevatheatre). Dickens never had someone take care of him as a child and he went his whole life with a feeling of abandonment(Gevatheatre). Dickens used realism in his novel to inspire change in the way that the wealthy treat the impoverished families and children, particularly by making the child Tiny Tim’s life rest in the hands of Scrooge in The Christmas Carol
...t, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within [him]." With this still resonating in his mind, he jumps out of bed and immediately begins setting things right. He buys a turkey bigger than Bob Cratchit's son and sends it to him, and instead of being rude to the Poulterer, he pays for a cab to get them to Cratchit's home. He then goes out with joy in his heart and bumps into a man who asked him to donate money to the poor the day before. As opposed to being unkind and cruel, the new and improved Scrooge donates a large sum of money to the cause happily. This kind, happy, and generous man is a complete change from the stingy and unkind Scrooge from Christmas Eve. If someone this awful can change, anyone and everyone can do the same. They just need a little push in the right direction.