How does Dickens present the redeemed character of
Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘The Christmas Carols?’
By Yasin Barik
Charles Dickens had a great sympathy for the poor and
hoped his story ‘A Christmas Carol’ would make people
become more generous and charitable like his protagonist,
Ebenezer Scrooge became by the end of the novella.
At first, Scrooge can be described as “self-contained and
solitary as an oyster,” where the use of an allegory gives the
quote a deeper meaning regarding Scrooge. Like an oyster
that lives alone at the the bottom of the seabed, this echoes
the uncongenial and unsociable character of Scrooge’s
existence. However, this can also allude that like a pearl,
there might be a pleasant surprise within, as we learn later in
the novella.
And after the visits from the Ghost, who had changed him
and which he was grateful for, Scrooge finally awoke on
Christmas day and looked to have become a completely new
man. This can be seen in Stave 5 where he wished “a merry
Christmas to everybody” when previously before, he rejects
all offers of Christmas cheer from everyone he meets, most
notably, his nephew Fred in which he replies with the typical
‘Bah’ and ‘Humbug’ of a “covetous old-sinner.” The morals in
which Dickens in trying to show us is that Christmas should
be spent without grief and isolationism, but rather with full
of joy and optimism for the future ahead.
Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘The Christmas Carols?’
By Yasin Barik
Charles Dickens had a great sympathy for the poor and
hoped his story ‘A Christmas Carol’ would make people
become more generous and charitable like his protagonist,
Ebenezer Scrooge became by the end of the novella.
At first, Scrooge can be described as “self-contained and
solitary as an oyster,” where the use of an allegory gives the
quote a deeper meaning regarding Scrooge. Like an oyster
that lives alone at the the bottom of the seabed, this echoes
the uncongenial and unsociable character of Scrooge’s
existence. However, this can also allude that like a pearl,
there might be a pleasant surprise within, as we learn later in
the novella.
And after the visits from the Ghost, who had changed him
and which he was grateful for, Scrooge finally awoke on
Christmas day and looked to have become a completely new
man. This can be seen in Stave 5 where he wished “a merry
Christmas to everybody” when previously before, he rejects
all offers of Christmas cheer from everyone he meets, most
notably, his nephew Fred in which he replies with the typical
‘Bah’ and ‘Humbug’ of a “covetous old-sinner.” The morals in
which Dickens in trying to show us is that Christmas should
be spent without grief and isolationism, but rather with full
of joy and optimism for the future ahead.
