Essay A Christmas Carol

Words: 870
Pages: 4

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
In this extract we are presented with Scrooge. From the beginning Scrooge is presented as a miser. In the extract we find out that he is an old, rude and ignorant man that doesn’t appreciate others around him. Dickens uses different language techniques to describe Scrooges appearance as clear as possible.
In the opening paragraph Dickens uses imagery to create a vivid impression of Scrooge. He is described as ‘a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone’, and this metaphor suggests that Scrooge works hard for his money but is very tight with his money. In the opening lines Dickens includes similes. ‘Hard and sharp as a flint.’ Flint is a hard stone that was used with iron to create sparks before people
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Dickens then begins to intensify the reader’s impression of Scrooge. ‘Even the blind man’s dog appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming tugged their owners into doorways and up courts,’ this connotes that not only does Scrooge give a visual impression but people and animals sense when he is around. Dickens describes Scrooge in such detail that you can almost imagine the tension in the atmosphere when he is around. ‘No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!’ The dog, who is taught to take its owner for a walk, conclude that their ‘blind master’ is better off being blind than Scrooge, who is sighted but sees everything through ‘evil eyes’.
In the last paragraph it is as though Dickens wants the reader to look at the world from Scrooge’s point of view. ‘But what did Scrooge care? It was everything he liked.’ This quotation shows the reader that maybe Scrooge does it for a reason. Scrooge may have a reason why he is so miserable but doesn’t want anyone to interfere, he probably just likes to keep himself to himself and is happy with the way he is living. The last paragraph of this extract begins to make the reader sympathise for him because we still don’t know the whole story and why he is who he