A Christmas Carol
Theme: Christmas spirit and charity
This extract is from Stave One, when Fred visits Scrooge.
"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came
upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!"
He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a
glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.
"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean that, I am sure."
"I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry?
You're poor enough."
"Come, then," returned the nephew gaily. "What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be
morose? You're rich enough."
Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said "Bah!" again; and followed it up with
"Humbug." "Don't be cross, uncle!" said the nephew. "What else can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such
a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for
paying bills without money; 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? If I could
work my will," said Scrooge indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be
boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"
"Uncle!" pleaded the nephew.
"Nephew!" returned the uncle, sternly, "keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine."
"Keep it!" repeated Scrooge's nephew. "But you don't keep it."
"Let me leave it alone, then," said Scrooge. "Much good may it do you! 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," returned
the nephew. "Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come
round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from
that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of
the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people
below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on
other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it
has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"
Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present the theme of charity and Christmas Spirit?
Write about:
∙ how Dickens presents the theme of charity and Christmas spirit in this extract
∙ how Dickens presents the theme of charity and Christmas spirit in the novel as a whole.
[30 marks]
Theme: Christmas spirit and charity
This extract is from Stave One, when Fred visits Scrooge.
"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came
upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!"
He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a
glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.
"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean that, I am sure."
"I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry?
You're poor enough."
"Come, then," returned the nephew gaily. "What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be
morose? You're rich enough."
Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said "Bah!" again; and followed it up with
"Humbug." "Don't be cross, uncle!" said the nephew. "What else can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such
a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for
paying bills without money; 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? If I could
work my will," said Scrooge indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be
boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"
"Uncle!" pleaded the nephew.
"Nephew!" returned the uncle, sternly, "keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine."
"Keep it!" repeated Scrooge's nephew. "But you don't keep it."
"Let me leave it alone, then," said Scrooge. "Much good may it do you! 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," returned
the nephew. "Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come
round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from
that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of
the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people
below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on
other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it
has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"
Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present the theme of charity and Christmas Spirit?
Write about:
∙ how Dickens presents the theme of charity and Christmas spirit in this extract
∙ how Dickens presents the theme of charity and Christmas spirit in the novel as a whole.
[30 marks]
