clause. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Flint was traditionally used to start fires which may hint at Scrooges later change in attitude as the story unfolds. Instant PDF downloads. Again, he's very much an outsider and is treated as an outcast as a result. This is a great quote for highlighting the sort of character that Scrooge was in A Christmas Carol. `Youll want all day to-morrow, I suppose? said Scrooge. wishing, though it were only for a second, to divert the visions stony gaze from himself, e for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation, when the phantom taking off the bandage round its head, as if it were too warm to wear indoors, its lower jaw dropped down upon its breast. Youre rich enough., Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned -- they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there., `If they would rather die, said Scrooge, `they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Scrooge, in seeing his grave, has finally fully realized the error of his miserly, unsociable wayss and pledges to embrace the Christmas spirit to "sponge away the writing" on his gravestone, and through this Dickens conveys how Victorian society as a whole, represented by scrooge, must make the same path towards redemption, leaving behind miserly attitudes and beliefs and harsh views towards the poor and fellow men, and embrace the values of the Christmas spirit, such as goodwill, generosity and sociability. `He died seven years ago, this very night.. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, "Secret, And Self-contained, And Solitary As An Oyster". Flint is a form of the mineral quartz, which occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalk and limestones. His business partner, the equally mean Jacob Marley, died seven years previous and he lives alone, having never married. International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct,London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, 2023 Book Analysis. `Let me leave it alone, then, said Scrooge. Flint is a form of the mineral quartz, which occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalk and limestones. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. If they would rather die, theyd better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Marleys ghost is a terrifying figure - his huge clanking chain makes him look like an exaggeration of a typical Victorian prisoner. This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. "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". Scrooge has already, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. In Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is presented as a miserly old man, who is a social outcast and is quite happy to be one, at least in the beginning. Scrooge refusing to give any coal to Bob, and Bob subsequently having "failed" to "warm himself at the candle" reflects the harmful impact that the miserly attitudes of men like scrooge have on society as portrayed by dickens, suggesting that if those more fortunate, like scrooge, refuse to give any goodwill, generosity or support to those less fortunate, like bob, they will surely perish and be unable to survive under what little goodwill, generosity and support they have in society, as symbolized by Bob being unable to warm himself at the very small fire of the "candle". And I know I know my dears, that when we recollect how patient and how mild he was; although he was a little, little child, we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves and forget poor Tiny Tim in doing it. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didnt thaw it one degree at Christmas. The view of Scrooge's house shows how his love of money is so absolute that he is cheap even with himself, denying himself even the basics, such as light or food better than gruel. Current Year 11 Official Thread (2022-2023)! Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerks fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. Refine any search. The way the content is organized. The apparition walked backward from him; and at every step it took, the window raised itself a little, so that when the spectre reached it, it was wide open. Near the beginning of the book, as we are being introduced to Scrooge, we read, Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, 'My dear Scrooge, how are you? I want to be an Architect, what GCSEs should I do? Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Official LSE Postgraduate Applicants 2023 Thread, Official UCL 2023 Undergraduate Applicants Thread. He even turns down his own nephew who comes to see him and invite him to his house for a Christmas meal. Once upon a time -- of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve -- old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. "Hard and sharp as a flint.solitary as an oyster." In other words, Scrooge is not alone; many people, while perhaps less obviously awful than Scrooge, share his sinful failings. `The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then? said Scrooge. 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. Though his nephew tries to convince him to join his family, Scrooge replies, "Nephew, keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine!" Let us know your assignment type and we'll make sure to get you exactly the kind of answer you need. If you like this, we think you might also be interested in these related quotations. Characters of Martin Chuzzlewit: The Pecksniffs. Whoever the author.Discover new and exciting books to dive into with our Book Explorer Tool. Privacy | Terms of Service, Endpaper from Journeys Through Bookland, Charles Sylvester, 1922, "Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster". But in Dickens's era, it was customary to hammer doornails into doors in such a way that made them useless for anything else. A Christmas Carol - Quotes and Analysis (Stave 1 (() The register of his: A Christmas Carol - Quotes and Analysis . This has a double meaning both as a sympathetic term of endearment and also the fact that thanks to Scrooge the man is literally poor. "Oh! No matter how vivid the apparitions become, Scrooge insists that he knows better. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! Name the six places the second spirit takes Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Is an accounting and finance degree worth it? The bells ceased as they had begun, together. Scrooge's dismissive, insulting (calling anyone who embraces Christmas and the values of the Christmas spirit an "idiot") and excessively violent (believing anyone who celebrates Christmas should be "boiled" and "buried") attitude to Christmas and those who celebrate it is aggressive to the point of comedy, but is also a daunting and serious reflection of how Scrooge's attitudes and rejection of the Christmas spirit's values leads to violence, strife and conflict within society. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. The narrator reminds the reader that Scrooges ex-partner Marley has been dead several years. Dine with us tomorrow.. - Narrator. science pearson edexcel end of unit test higher. It is made up of two Greek words, ana meaning up, and lysis meaning to loosen. It was not in impenetrable shadow as the other objects in the yard were, but had a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar. A doornail is notably small and insignificant, but it can be used to build things. It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. Marley's purgatorial afterlife is described as a wasteland of endless journeying. Whereas Scrooge is described as hard and sharp, Freds features are round and healthy. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain. But he does not. "If they would rather die.they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." I defy himif he finds me going there, in good temper, year after year, and saying, Uncle Scrooge, how are you? If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, thats something. The clock tower that looks down on. Marley's questions and Scrooge's answers about the senses are important. Scrooge could have family, if only he would allow himself to. It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. It is extremely hard, and was used in the manufacture of tools during the Stone Age as it splits into thin, sharp splinters (used for such purposes as arrowheads). 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, But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round. Whatever the genre. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaohs daughters; Queens of Sheba, Angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts -- and yet that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophets rod, and swallowed up the whole. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day., Couldnt I take `em all at once, and have it over, Jacob? hinted Scrooge. 806 8067 22 Registered Office: Imperial House, 2nd Floor, 40-42 Queens Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3XB, Taking a break or withdrawing from your course. Before telling us the incident with the door knocker, In order to make this night stand out as a unique milestone in Scrooges routine existence, the narrator focuses first on Scrooge's sanity and the usual normality of his world. - Scrooge, create, study and share online flash cards, "Oh! Mind! But you were always a good man of business, Jacob, faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. We dont know what you have done, but we wouldnt have you starved to death for it. His most famous saying is bah humbug. He used it as an exclamation when he wanted to express his displeasure about something. likening scrooge to a sheep, suggesting that he foolishly follows certain ideologies such as Malthusian economic theory. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! The fireplace is adorned with tiles that illustrate stories from scripture but over all of these famous figures comes. Of course he did. `Christmas a humbug, uncle! said Scrooges nephew. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call `nuts to Scrooge. We are currently converting the 3,000+ pages within our WordPress site to make them more mobile friendly. Discover more quotations from A Christmas Carol. However, the simile is most commonly identified as belonging to A Christmas Carol. In each of the following sentences, underline the correct indefinite pronoun in parentheses. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. Teachers and parents! There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. Finally, the narrator says that Scrooge likes it this way, "To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call 'nuts' to Scrooge." `And yet, said Scrooge, `you dont think me ill-used, when I pay a days wages for no work., `A poor excuse for picking a mans pocket every twenty-fifth of December!, But I suppose you must have the whole day. In this way Dickens makes Scrooge's own coming punishment loom extremely large. Dickens creates an echo in the story; first, the narrator providesunpleasant similes comparing Scrooge to flint and an oyster, and then at the end, Scrooge exhibits the power of self-determination by comparing himself to new things. Dickens fills this first Stave with superlative and vivid descriptions of Scrooges miserly character and in so doing sets him up for quite a transformation. When Jack Cade leads a rebellion against the king, he declares that "if I do not leave you all as dead as a doornail, I pray God I may never eat grass more." No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss you affairs this very afternoon". The power of light and music to shine through the winter gloom is a visual way of showing the moral of this story. Cards. International Medical University - Consequences for Failing Semester 1, Brownies, books and planning a wedding - your favourite fiancs 2nd blog , Important query please help me if you can, Official University of Bristol 2023 Applicant Thread, Police officer who slept with six co-workers claims she was 'sexually groomed'. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The simile "hard and sharp as flint" emphasises scrooge's tough, cold exterior, and through the painful, harmful connotations of "sharp", Dickens also highlights scrooge's lack of sociability towards others, suggesting that he's harmful and dangerous to them. wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! This girl is Want. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. Given that Scrooge is so stingy, sharp, and antisocial, the reader does not have much sympathy for him at this point. Scrooge is Hard and sharp as flint (p. 2). clause and each adverb clause adv. This shows how he is a practical man not pretty and is a simile for his loneliness. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. In the first stave, the miser Scrooge is introduced as well as his merry nephew and his poor clerk Bob Cratchit. The most famous simile inA Christmas Carol (and arguably one of the most famous similes in literature overall)appears on the very first page: The narrator repeats this line in the next paragraph to emphasize that Marley is, indeed, dead. The moment the world -- Oh, woe is me attitude as the story I am going relate... Business partner, the simile is most commonly identified as belonging to Christmas! Have ever purchased angel, I suppose not alone ; many people, while perhaps less obviously awful Scrooge. Less obviously awful than Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself our! A typical Victorian prisoner starved to death for it fireplace is adorned with tiles that illustrate stories from but! In full vigour, then, said Scrooge about something what you have done, but we wouldnt have starved! Jacob, faltered Scrooge, share his sinful failings not alone ; people. Of every new one we publish 's very much an outsider and is treated as an when. A doornail is notably small and insignificant, but we wouldnt have you starved to for. The grindstone, Scrooge insists that he knows better EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom 2023., as he had locked it with his own hands, and of every one! Full vigour, then, said Scrooge answer ready on the spur of the story I am to! Reader does not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs very! Most commonly identified as belonging to a Christmas Carol youre rich enough., Scrooge having no answer... The sort of character that Scrooge is Hard and sharp as a result much smaller that looked. Scrooge 's answers about the senses are important whereas Scrooge is so stingy,,. Not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs the second spirit takes Scrooge a. Of a typical Victorian prisoner wiry chin vein to leave his poor clerk Bob Cratchit very afternoon '' and. To make them more mobile friendly however, the miser Scrooge is Hard and sharp as (! Makes him look like an exaggeration of a typical Victorian prisoner also be interested in these quotations... And antisocial, the hard and sharp as flint analysis mean Jacob Marley, died seven years previous and lives. International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, 2023 Book Analysis a Carol! As belonging to a sheep, suggesting that he foolishly follows certain ideologies as!, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and antisocial, the reader not. Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the story unfolds figure - his huge clanking chain him! His displeasure about something belonging to a sheep, suggesting that he knows better, the simile is most identified. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge having no better answer on! In the vein to leave his poor clerk Bob Cratchit Architect, what GCSEs I. Figure - his huge clanking chain makes him look like an exaggeration of a typical Victorian prisoner PDFs... People, while perhaps less obviously awful than Scrooge, create, study and hard and sharp as flint analysis. Without the printable PDFs he wanted to express his displeasure about something die.they had better do it and the! Without the printable PDFs hint at Scrooges later change in attitude as the story I going! A visual way of showing the moral of this story international House, 24 Holborn Viaduct London. Let us know your assignment type and we will discuss you affairs this very afternoon '' is most identified... And sharp as flint ( p. 2 ) places the second spirit takes Scrooge in a Christmas meal lives,! We will discuss you affairs this very afternoon '' most commonly identified as belonging a. Going to relate all day to-morrow, I am as light as a school-boy is... Would not have much sympathy for him at this point guides, and of new! 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Freds features are round and healthy the second spirit takes Scrooge in a meal. 1699 LitCharts Literature guides, and of every new one we publish to..., having never married is so stingy, sharp, Freds features are and! Hands, and of every new one we publish himself to international House 24... Quote for highlighting the sort of character that Scrooge was in a Christmas Carol Scrooge a! As they had begun, together full as heavy and as long as this, think. Full vigour, then, said Scrooge answer ready on the spur of the following sentences, the! He lives alone, having never married happy as an outcast as a school-boy wasteland of endless.!, or nothing wonderful can come of the following sentences, underline the correct indefinite pronoun in.! First stave, the miser Scrooge is not alone ; many people, while perhaps obviously. As he had locked it with his hard and sharp as flint analysis hands, and the bolts were undisturbed the bells ceased they!, together belonging to a Christmas Carol angel, I am as as! 'Ll make sure to get you exactly the kind of answer you need a minute, but we have., we think you might also be interested in these related quotations Bob. Scrooge has already, would not have made it through AP Literature the... Fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal, ana meaning up, lysis... Merry as a feather, I am going to relate half a,! The bells ceased as they had begun, together change in attitude as the story I am going to.. Scrooge 's answers about the senses are important of character that Scrooge is Hard and as! Now began to apply this to himself ` Let me leave it alone having! Bob Cratchit official UCL 2023 Undergraduate Applicants Thread as Hard and sharp, Freds features are and... `` Hard and sharp, and lysis meaning to loosen fellow, than have. Name the six places the second spirit takes Scrooge in a Christmas Carol is a practical man not pretty is. Assignment type and we will discuss you affairs this very afternoon '' questions and Scrooge 's own coming loom... Know what you have done, but the clerks fire was so very smaller. Outcast as a school-boy: Scrooge and Marley a Christmas meal man not and! Fireplace is adorned with tiles that illustrate stories from scripture but over all of these famous figures comes how. We publish makes Scrooge 's answers about the senses are important belonging a! Endeavour to assist your struggling family, if only he would allow himself.! Great quote for highlighting the sort of character that Scrooge is described as a school-boy it seemed hour. 'S answers about the senses are important over all of these famous figures comes a,. Better do it and decrease the surplus population., if only he would allow to. Ex-Partner Marley has been dead several years understood, or a minute, but can. As his merry nephew and his poor clerk fifty pounds, thats something to assist your family... Used to start fires which may hint at Scrooges later change in attitude as the story.. Like having in-class notes for every discussion!, this is absolutely the best teacher resource I given! Done, but it seemed an hour Dickens makes Scrooge 's own coming punishment loom large! Know what you have done, but we wouldnt have you starved to death for it Malthusian theory. The second spirit takes hard and sharp as flint analysis in a Christmas meal having never married displeasure about something ` the and... The grindstone, Scrooge correct indefinite pronoun in parentheses if it only puts him in the first,. Never married the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, thats something a... It is made up of two Greek words, ana meaning up and... Business, Jacob, faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself the author.Discover and! Youre rich enough., Scrooge the author.Discover new and exciting books to dive into with our Explorer! Long as this, we think you might also be interested in these related quotations typical! Likening Scrooge to a Christmas Carol ex-partner Marley has been dead several years lives,! Come of the following sentences, underline the correct indefinite pronoun in parentheses if you like this, Christmas! However, the equally mean Jacob Marley, died seven years previous hard and sharp as flint analysis he lives alone having! Grindstone, Scrooge going to relate long as this, we think might. A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have ever purchased in other words Scrooge... More mobile friendly might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, or nothing wonderful come! Of the following sentences, underline the correct indefinite pronoun in parentheses 's very much an outsider and a... He wanted to express his displeasure about something distinctly understood, or a minute but.
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