“Change begets change”-Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol is a novella that explores the idea of Christmas and how it can be an opportunity to give to the less fortunate and change society for the better. It also explores the relationship between family and Christmas and how the lack of family leaves a void that Scrooge decides to fill with money.
Scrooge’s attitudes towards Christmas are presented as miserable and nihilistic in the extract. Scrooge tells Fred Christmas is a time when you “find yourself a year older but not an hour richer” which demonstrates that even in the festive season Scrooge only cares about money. In comparison, Fred encapsulates Dickens family orientated attitude towards Christmas. He wants to spread joy to every family member, even Scrooge who continuously shuts him down. Scrooge’s isolation is a key description of his character at the beginning of the novella with Dickens describing him as “solitary as an oyster”. We can tell from this quote that he has isolated himself from society like an oyster isolates with its shell. However, we can also tell from the use of
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Dickens may be emphasising family due to his family situation which isn't dissimilar to the Cratchit family, the impoverished family of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s employee. Dickens depicts the Cratchits enjoying Christmas despite their poverty. The ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the Cratchits enjoying Christmas which some view as a key turning point for Scrooge. It shows scrooge how money isn’t as important as family and that his individualistic lifestyle has led him to misery. Dickens may be projecting his loneliness and isolation as a child after he was sent to work at just 12 after his father was sent to debtors prison leaving him virtually without a family for many