The Ghost of Christmas Past returns Scrooge to his bed. The scenes of his younger self awake in Scrooge feelings he has not experienced since money took over his life. The spirit shows Scrooge the first indications of the greed that would drive away the love of his life, ultimately dooming him to loneliness. They see Scrooge’s first apprenticeship under a good man who made his employees’ lives happy and comfortable. The ghost transports Scrooge back to his childhood, showing him his younger self-lonely but with the potential for joy. Scrooge goes to bed and wakes to the first specter, the Ghost of Christmas Past: a simultaneously young and old figure from whose head burns the flame of memory. Marley has arranged for Scrooge to have one chance to escape his fate three spirits will come to him over the next three nights, and Scrooge must heed them if he hopes to save his soul. Marley is bound by “the chain forged in life” and warns Scrooge that his own chains are longer and heavier (13). Scrooge goes home, and as he sits up late by his fire, he hears the sound of rattling chains as the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley, appears. At the end of the working day, he grumbles resentfully that his clerk will probably want Christmas off and tells him to be at the office all the earlier the day after. Scrooge rebuffs the invitation, but Fred refuses to be offended.Ī pair of prosperous gentlemen call at the office soliciting donations for those who cannot afford food or warmth over the holiday, but Scrooge refuses to contribute, blaming the poor for their supposed laziness if they have no money, he says, they should go to the workhouses or debtors’ prisons, and if they won’t do that, they should die and “reduce the surplus population” (6).
Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, drops by the office full of cheer and invites Scrooge to join him and his new wife for Christmas dinner.
Scrooge won’t allow him to add coal to the fire. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, huddles in the outer office, trying to warm himself with only a candle. It is Christmas Eve, but Ebenezer Scrooge-a businessman of some sort at a London warehouse-stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the holiday. The term “Scrooge” has become synonymous with a parsimonious and misanthropic individual, and the exclamation “Bah! Humbug!” remains a facetious commentary on any person who fails to embrace the “true spirit of Christmas.” Page numbers in this study guide reference the KTHTK Kindle e-book edition (July 26, 2022).Ĭontent Warning: The original text refers to Tiny Tim as “crippled,” which was accepted terminology at the time, but the term is now considered offensive. A Christmas Carol has been adapted for film 135 times and has never been out of print.
0 kommentar(er)
