Scrooge's Journey of Growth and Redemption in a Christmas Carol
In 'A Christmas Carol', Charles Dickens represents Scrooge as an unsympathetic man who is offered the opportunity to redeem himself. Through use of language, the reader is positioned to view him adversely, but during the journey of morality lessons shown by three spirits, Scrooge recovers his sense of joy by undergoing a significant transformation. Scrooge seeks redemption through the many lessons taught by the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.
In 'A Christmas Carol', Dickens represents Scrooge as a 'squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner' who is against Christmas and happiness and values money, yet given a chance to redeem his fate. Marley's Ghost has come to warn Scrooge to change his avarice ways or he, too, will be condemned to wander the Earth in the pain he has caused and the happiness he cannot share, weighed down by 'the chain [he] forged in life' which he has made 'link by link, and yard by yard'. Dickens uses the metaphor to contribute to the burden Marley carries because of the selfish ways he has acted in his life on Earth. Scrooge is shaken by what has happened to his sole friend, who offers no console and furthermore exemplifies his fate by showing him the phantoms who, like Marley, wore chains and were linked together, unable to be free as 'misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good…and had lost the power for ever' as for the dead, it is too late for anything, which is the message given to Scrooge. The Spirit of Christmas Past visits to reminisce Scrooge's unhappy childhood as a 'solitary child, neglected by his friends'. Scrooge pities himself, and wishes that he had given something to the boy 'singing a Christmas Carol at [his] door last night', which becomes his first step towards his transformation. When Scrooge is shown his fiancé upset that 'another idol has replaced [her]'…a golden one', he recollects how greedy he was and his true values is reflected.
In 'A Christmas Carol', Dickens represents Scrooge as a 'squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner' who is against Christmas and happiness and values money, yet given a chance to redeem his fate. Marley's Ghost has come to warn Scrooge to change his avarice ways or he, too, will be condemned to wander the Earth in the pain he has caused and the happiness he cannot share, weighed down by 'the chain [he] forged in life' which he has made 'link by link, and yard by yard'. Dickens uses the metaphor to contribute to the burden Marley carries because of the selfish ways he has acted in his life on Earth. Scrooge is shaken by what has happened to his sole friend, who offers no console and furthermore exemplifies his fate by showing him the phantoms who, like Marley, wore chains and were linked together, unable to be free as 'misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good…and had lost the power for ever' as for the dead, it is too late for anything, which is the message given to Scrooge. The Spirit of Christmas Past visits to reminisce Scrooge's unhappy childhood as a 'solitary child, neglected by his friends'. Scrooge pities himself, and wishes that he had given something to the boy 'singing a Christmas Carol at [his] door last night', which becomes his first step towards his transformation. When Scrooge is shown his fiancé upset that 'another idol has replaced [her]'…a golden one', he recollects how greedy he was and his true values is reflected.