Scrooge himself, in his counting house.
1. “I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentleman, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there" (6).
From a historical standpoint, this quote from Ebeneezer Scrooge exposes many of the Victorian middle-class feelings towards the poor during the 19th century: a nonchalant and ignorant disinterestedness. The poor were viewed as lazy, and who were the middle-class to argue with the old dogma that “God helps those who help themselves”? But it is this attitude that is exactly what Dickens aims to expels through A Christmas Carol.
Scrooge is a representative character of the Victorian middle-class, who were at the time incredibly much better off than those of the working-class. Scrooge's passionate refusal to aid the poor may perhaps be an extreme exaggeration of the attitudes of others, but it is in many ways also quite accurate. By appearances, the Victorian middle-class may have been judged to be benevolent and relatively good Christian people, however Dickens utilizes Scrooge not only as a representative, but as a mirror that he holds up to show the hard hearts of the wealthy middle-class. Through his mirror, Dickens displays his belief that having money is not explicitly the problem, it is the fact that during those hard economic times (of the 1840's especially) there was a tremendous lack of charity.
In this particular quote, Scrooge condemns the poor and views them as a mere inconvenience; the poor must do as they must so that Scrooge may be left alone. His denial of responsibility and lack of desire to “make merry at Christmas” is a cold-hearted response to the issues that Dickens knew needed to be resolved within his society.
2. “’You fear the world too much,’ she answered, gently. ‘All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not? . . . Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, until, in good season, we could improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry. You are changed. When it was made, you were another man.’
Belle and a Young Scrooge
2. “’You fear the world too much,’ she answered, gently. ‘All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not? . . . Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, until, in good season, we could improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry. You are changed. When it was made, you were another man.’
’I was a boy,” he said impatiently’” (27).
Throughout the novel, Dickens incorporates many themes which all seem to revolve around one object: money. In this passage, Dickens warns his audience of the vice of Gain through the voice of Scrooge’s past love, Belle. This specific moment in the text is quite pivotal for Scrooge because he is given the unique opportunity to see exactly what it is he lost because of greed. Belle serves as a figure that stands in place for any sort of worthwhile relationship or pursuit that is lost or crippled due to the pursuit of worldly fortunes.
The emphasis that Scrooge places on the fact that he and Belle were quite young when they entered into their engagement contract is important because it is how Dickens informs his audience that Scrooge has lost his sense of childlike innocence as well as his sense of priorities. Belle and Scrooge were both content to be poor until they could improve their circumstances, however, it is Scrooge that has lost his desire for mere contentment with the woman he loves, and he has replaced the desire for the lust of fortune. Scrooge’s problem was never that he wanted to make a good living with which he could support a family, it was that he desired fortune more than family. Through Scrooge’s condemnation of humility, Dickens condemns worldly pride and the overwhelming greed and covetousness that has the power to wrap souls in chains. Dickens views greed as a completely debilitating force which steals away much while it replaces little.
3. "'He is past relenting,' said her husband. 'He is dead.' . . . She was thankful in her soul to hear it, and she said so, with clasped hands. . . . 'To whom will our debt be transferred?' 'I don't know. But before that time we shall be ready with the money; and though we were not, it would be bad fortune indeed to find so merciless a creditor in his successor. We may sleep to-night with light hearts, Caroline!'" (111).
This quote features a part of the Carol that is less well-known but has just as much a place in the story as any other better-known parts. It describes a family that owes a burdensome debt to Mr. Scrooge, and at news of his death they express the expected relief at the news. However, they simultaneously feel ashamed to be glad of his death and try to repress their ill-timed feelings. Their efforts to hold in their positive feelings are interesting considering he never gave them cause to feel anything but resentment for him. They know him only as an unforgiving creditor, yet try to respect his death. These efforts are commendable, and Dickens casts this struggling yet honest family in a gracious light. Dickens’s respect for the hard-working, upright family is a widely know fact. He himself came from a debtor’s home; it is ironic then that Dickens is said to have written this humble family’s tyrannical creditor as a loose version of himself. Not wholly based on himself, but derived from his faults and regrets, including his desire of money by any means, even if it meant altering his authorial “integrity” by writing to what was popular. His father is also a much-discussed candidate for a Scrooge inspiration. In either scenario, Dickens ironically derived material for this enemy of humble families from himself and his own humble family. In the end, this reading only supports the theme of the book: if Scrooge turned from those negative attributes that both he and Dickens had, then they can be just as good and honest as the pure debtor’s family is depicted.
Illustration of debtor's prison in England
3. "'He is past relenting,' said her husband. 'He is dead.' . . . She was thankful in her soul to hear it, and she said so, with clasped hands. . . . 'To whom will our debt be transferred?' 'I don't know. But before that time we shall be ready with the money; and though we were not, it would be bad fortune indeed to find so merciless a creditor in his successor. We may sleep to-night with light hearts, Caroline!'" (111).
This quote features a part of the Carol that is less well-known but has just as much a place in the story as any other better-known parts. It describes a family that owes a burdensome debt to Mr. Scrooge, and at news of his death they express the expected relief at the news. However, they simultaneously feel ashamed to be glad of his death and try to repress their ill-timed feelings. Their efforts to hold in their positive feelings are interesting considering he never gave them cause to feel anything but resentment for him. They know him only as an unforgiving creditor, yet try to respect his death. These efforts are commendable, and Dickens casts this struggling yet honest family in a gracious light. Dickens’s respect for the hard-working, upright family is a widely know fact. He himself came from a debtor’s home; it is ironic then that Dickens is said to have written this humble family’s tyrannical creditor as a loose version of himself. Not wholly based on himself, but derived from his faults and regrets, including his desire of money by any means, even if it meant altering his authorial “integrity” by writing to what was popular. His father is also a much-discussed candidate for a Scrooge inspiration. In either scenario, Dickens ironically derived material for this enemy of humble families from himself and his own humble family. In the end, this reading only supports the theme of the book: if Scrooge turned from those negative attributes that both he and Dickens had, then they can be just as good and honest as the pure debtor’s family is depicted.
Happy Times at the Fezziwig's
4. "During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits. His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. . . . It was not until now, when the bright faces of his former self and Dick were turned from them, that he remembered the Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking full upon him, while the light upon its head burnt very clear . . . 'A small matter,' said the Ghost, 'to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.' 'Small!' echoes Scrooge" (71).
Until the Spirit brought his attention back from the scenes before him, Scrooge was completely and happily absorbed in his past. He is so invested in the way it once was that he defends his former employers despite the Spirit's challenges. Scrooge ends up insisting how much Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig meant to his former self: not because of money they spent on him or his coworkers, but on the ability they had to affect them for good. This causes him to stop short, as he hears himself say: “The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune” (72). This is not at all the Scrooge that exists in the present. It is time that has primarily changed him. Even the sudden jump with the Spirit into the past is enough for Scrooge to slip into his former self and the joys he had once found. He is completely transformed back into the more carefree, optimistic self that existed. His ideologies about life and what makes a life important undergo a sudden reversal. The undeniable effect of memories brings him back to a time and place where the burdens and choices he has already made do not yet exist. The stark contrast between the philosophy of his younger years and his present-day philosophy is so great that he pauses within the flow of the story to note it to himself. The theme of time already present in A Christmas Carol with the three Spirits is further emphasized in passages like this, where time has made all the difference.
Until the Spirit brought his attention back from the scenes before him, Scrooge was completely and happily absorbed in his past. He is so invested in the way it once was that he defends his former employers despite the Spirit's challenges. Scrooge ends up insisting how much Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig meant to his former self: not because of money they spent on him or his coworkers, but on the ability they had to affect them for good. This causes him to stop short, as he hears himself say: “The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune” (72). This is not at all the Scrooge that exists in the present. It is time that has primarily changed him. Even the sudden jump with the Spirit into the past is enough for Scrooge to slip into his former self and the joys he had once found. He is completely transformed back into the more carefree, optimistic self that existed. His ideologies about life and what makes a life important undergo a sudden reversal. The undeniable effect of memories brings him back to a time and place where the burdens and choices he has already made do not yet exist. The stark contrast between the philosophy of his younger years and his present-day philosophy is so great that he pauses within the flow of the story to note it to himself. The theme of time already present in A Christmas Carol with the three Spirits is further emphasized in passages like this, where time has made all the difference.
