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Scrooge's transformation
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Scrooge's change from miser to generous friend is the heart of the novella. Learn a quotation for each stage.
Before: cold and mean
Dickens piles up harsh verbs: "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!"
He is "solitary as an oyster": closed off and alone.
Asked to help the poor, he says: "Are there no prisons?" and suggests they should die and "decrease the surplus population."
He is "solitary as an oyster": closed off and alone.
Asked to help the poor, he says: "Are there no prisons?" and suggests they should die and "decrease the surplus population."
During: the first signs of change
Seeing his younger self, he weeps.
He asks whether Tiny Tim will live, showing new concern.
The spirit throws his own words back at him about the "surplus population", and he is ashamed.
He asks whether Tiny Tim will live, showing new concern.
The spirit throws his own words back at him about the "surplus population", and he is ashamed.
After: joyful and generous
In Stave 5 he is "as light as a feather" and "as happy as an angel".
He becomes "as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man" as the city knew.
He becomes "as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man" as the city knew.
Analyse "solitary as an oyster".
- It is a simile comparing Scrooge to an oyster.
- An oyster has a hard shell that is difficult to open, and keeps to itself.
- But oysters can hold a pearl: this hints that there is good inside Scrooge waiting to be revealed.
Answer: It shows Scrooge is closed off and isolated, but hints at hidden goodness.
Scrooge moves from a "covetous old sinner" who is "solitary as an oyster" to a man "as light as a feather" and "as good a man" as any. Track his change through each spirit.
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