The theme of a
christmas is clear
from the beginning
of the novella from
the title 'A Christmas
Carol'
This also refers to the
traditional carols that are
sung at christmas time.
The theme of Christmas
carols is also shown by
the fact that the novella
is written in staves rather
than chapters relflecting
the link to singing and
christmas
Scoorge's nephew Fred is
persistant in his christmas
cheer and he enjoys
celebrating with his friends
and family.
'its good to be children
sometimes, and never
better than at christmas'
Fred is presented as being the
opposite of scrooge and is able to
enjoy himself, in some ways this
reflects Scrooge's attitudes at
feeziwigs party later on the book'
Redemption
At the start of the novel
scrooge all rejects
Christmas cheer from
everyone he meets
This is shown when scrooge
addresses Christmas as a
'Humbug'
From this we see scrooge rejecting all the
compassion that Christmas offers, this also shows
how scrooge isolates himself from the people and
how he does not have any compassion towards
anything in his life apart from money.
In the middle of the novel
Dickens uses the ghost of
christmas present to show how
awful scrooge has been in his life
since Marley's death
'Scrooge hung his head to hear his
own word spoken by the spirit and
was overcome with penitence and
grief'
This is one of the first turning points towards Scrooge's redemption, the fact
he is showing some remorse towards what he has done shows this.
Furthermore the word 'grief' demonstrates further his redemption as at the
start of the novel he is described as 'hard and sharp' as flint which means
that he doesn't like to show his emotions but the fact he is now overcome
with grief is showing his start of change.