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A Christmas Carol- Stave 1, Stave 1 - Coggle Diagram
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Stave 1
"Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and sole mourner."
- The repetition of the word "sole" emphasises they only had each other
- This shows the protagonist (Scrooge) and Marley's relationship, primarily business
- This makes the reader think about what character you would have to be to be this lonely
- Marley had a lonely isolated life
"A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!"
- List of adjectives/ verbs in present continuous tense to highlight Scrooge never stops being like this
- All the verbs shows Scrooge is greedy
- "covetous old sinner!" this was at a time where christian rituals are very important, sinner shows lack of religion
"Hard and sharp as flint,"
- This metaphor is Dickens telling the reader Scrooge has potential to be a good person
- Flint is used to make a spark, showing Scrooge can't make warmth
- However has the potential to make warmth
"solitary as an oyster."
- This simile shows the isolation of Scrooge
- An oyster is hard on the outside soft on the inside
- Scrooge is being compared to an oyster, he is being compared to hard things
- An oyster finds it hard to open up
- An oyster has the potential to grow a pearl
"No warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him."
- Scrooge is represented as an embodiment of winter
- Scrooge is harsh, cold, unforgiving
- Dickens uses this to show Scrooge is not influenced by society or the World as he is so influenced
- There is no emotion or warmth in his character
"who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters."
- Shows the clerks working conditions are very poor, cold and small
- The word "cell" is evocative of a prison
- The word "dismal" gives the thought of gloomy, sombre atmosphere
- The clerk is made to do repeated, boring actions
"Scrooge has a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one cole"
- Highlights Scrooge's lack of generosity
- Treats Bob like a slave, lack of care
- Bob's biggest fear is losing his job, the threat his family will end up in the workhouse
"that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkles, and his breath smoked again."
- Fred is a massive contrast from Scrooge
- The word "glow" shows Fred excludes warmth and happiness, goodness radiates out of him
- Scrooge's misery does not come from his family
"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 through his heart."
- Dickens uses strong language to illustrate this strong image
- emphasising an exaggerated hatred of Christmas
- Massive contrast from Stave 5
" a kind, forgiving, charitable,pleasant time;"
- list of positive adjectives about Christmas
- This is a depiction of Christmas spirit
- Fred is an epitome of Christmas spirit
- Dickens uses Fred to present the joys of the season
- In Victorian era Christmas traditions were being revived amongst the middle-class, this is reflected in Fred
"Are there no prisons?" ... "And the union workhouses?" ... "The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour,then?"
- These taunting questions come back to haunt Scrooge later on
- The purpose of these questions is to alert the Victorian audience to the suffering of the poor and evoke their empathy
- This highlights Scrooge's lack of generosity, he wants to keep his money, he is negative and greedy
- The poor is represented throughout this novella through Bob Crachit
- This shows Scrooge's casual cruelty
- The charity workers hate the workhouses, as they have poor conditions
- When writing there was a great social change the 1840s known as the 'Hungry Forties' many families forced starvation
- Workhouses were intentionally designed to be harsh
- The common attitude was if you were poor you were lazy and it was your fault
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