There’s not much to say, so here’s something I wrote as a child:
Ebenezer Scrooge is the protagonist of the novel, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge, at the beginning of the novel is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted miser who despises the thought of Christmas.
With the plot changing so quickly, there is always a reminder of Scrooge’s character in the middle. Dickens utilizes the setting of Christmas Eve and the cold weather in comparison to Scrooge’s inner coldness
Charles Dickens first describes Scrooge as a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! He was hard as a flint, from which no steel had ever brought out generous fire. This whole description shows us that Scrooge was a man who was hard to negotiate with. It shows us that it was hard to see generosity with old Scrooge.
Scrooge’s inner coldness is described as to make his lips turn blue and his eyes turn red.
The elements of the weather which Dickens uses are the increasing cold, darkness, fog, rain, snow, sleet, hail and wind. Each element symbolises a person’s character in some way or the other. The cold symbolises what a cold- hearted person. The darkness symbolises a person who is shady, sly and lonely person. The fog shows us the character of a person who is not very straightforward and to the point. The winds, snow, hail, sleet and rain shows that a person’s thoughts, words and deeds cannot be interpreted by others.
Scrooge’s character unfolds in this manner; he was cold as a stone. A cold- hearted person, who had an improved opinion of himself and drives away 2 people who come asking for donations with nothing. As the book goes on, the cold keeps increasing, as to show the inner coldness of Scrooge increasing. The growing darkness shows us that Scrooge’s miserly ways were deeper into him. He was insensitive to other people’s needs. The intensifying fog shows us that he did deeds for a different purpose. He kept his door open to keep an eye on his clerk rather than to welcome people into his home on the merry eve of Christmas. The winds, snow, hail, sleet and rain shows that Scrooge’s thoughts, words and deeds could not be interpreted well by others. The growing fog shows Scrooge getting hateful because he despises Christmas, so wherever there is a mention of the fog it shows the readers that Scrooge continues despising Christmas. All the actions described show Scrooge’s miserly ways
When the ghost of Dead Marley arrives, Ebenezer Scrooge is scared, but the first thing he says is, “How now? What do you want with me?” Dickens writes that he said this caustic and cold as ever. This means that after Scrooge was out of the mode of a bit of warmth in his heart, he was back to his cold ways.
On Page 12, Para 3, Dickens shows the weather as, ‘Foggier yet, and colder! Piercing, searching, biting cold.’ The very upcoming action of Scrooge shows us his response to the thought of A Merry Christmas. At the sound of the Christmas Carol, Scrooge seizes the ruler with a burst of energy and anger.
On Page 3, Para 2, Dickens writes that external heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. This shows us that if the weather was warm or cold, Scrooge would be the same old person. No warmth could make his heart warm and the cold made him stay the same old cold-hearted Scrooge.
However, it is interesting to note that there is no mention of the weather when Dead Jacob Marley’s ghost arrives. This tells us readers that Scrooge was in the comfort zone with Marley and grew a bit warm hearted there.
Tejas Rao 