"So surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Owl Eyes is an improved reading and annotating experience for classrooms, book clubs, and literature lovers. Cards. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Teachers and parents! Discover more quotations from A Christmas Carol. I lived rough, that you should live smooth. `Tell me why?. Now, it is a fact, that there was nothing at all particular about the knocker on the door, except that it was very large. Oysters are confined solitarily. Ask me if you need help for GCSE revision? Copyright The Student Room 2023 all rights reserved. At Fezziwig's party (pp. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights, A doornail was a kind of nail or stud that was often used in Dickens's time tobothaesthetically adorn, The simile first appeared in Shakespeare's. These include Scrooges cold nature, the power of wealth, and loss. How could it be otherwise? Latest answer posted December 05, 2020 at 2:12:53 PM. Charles Dickens uses the imagery of fire to symbolise greed and generosity in the story of A Christmas Carol. Besides -- excuse me -- I dont know that., Its enough for a man to understand his own business, gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge. -Graham S. Scrooge sees "good" as referring solely to profits. A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. The door of Scrooges counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Hot and Cold Extensive imagery describes Scrooge as cold because of his cold heart; in contrast, his nephew is described as warm because he is merry and loving. . Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. What have recent studies shown about a spirit of cooperation in nature? Come! Dickens fills this first Stave with superlative and vivid descriptions of Scrooges miserly character and in so doing sets him up for quite a transformation. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. The power of light and music to shine through the winter gloom is a visual way of showing the moral of this story. Flint and oysters are not very palatable things to be compared to. Each adjective is also connected with the hands to show how he holds tightly to everything he has. Much good may it do you! This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. Flint is a type of ground that makes it difficult for life to grow kind of like how scrooges character allows no imaginations to grow. I took a good deal o pains with his eddication, sir; let him run in the streets when he was wery young, and shift for hisself. Stave One. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices, I dont make merry myself at Christmas and I cant afford to make idle people merry. Again, he's very much an outsider and is treated as an outcast as a result. Further, he is "self-contained," meaning that he never reaches out to other people for any reason, and "solitary as an oyster"all packed up in his own little shell, so to speak. From this exchange, it sounds like Marley was at least somewhat generous. Instead of being a crotchety old man, he feels like a schoolboy. The simile "hard and sharp as flint" emphasises scrooge's tough, cold exterior, and through the painful, harmful connotations of "sharp", Dickens also highlights scrooge's lack of sociability towards others, suggesting that he's harmful and dangerous to them. "Oh! My partner is letting her friend sleep in her bed, am I overeacting? Near the beginning of the book, as we are being introduced to Scrooge, we read, Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, 'My dear Scrooge, how are you? He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.". https://www.youtube. He keeps his office cold, not even heating it at Christmas time. His business partner, the equally mean Jacob Marley, died seven years previous and he lives alone, having never married. Current Year 11 Official Thread (2022-2023)! LitCharts Teacher Editions. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." In other words, Scrooge is stingy and tough: he has no . `Dont be cross, uncle! said the nephew. International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct,London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, 2023 Book Analysis. Finally, the narrator says that Scrooge likes it this way, "To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call 'nuts' to Scrooge." No, no, no. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever. Let it also be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought on Marley, since his last mention of his seven years dead partner that afternoon. (Dickens 6). Download. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. Spirit! he cried, tight clutching at his robe, hear me! He was obliged to sit close to it, and brood over it, before he could extract the least sensation of warmth from such a handful of fuel, built by some Dutch merchant long ago, and paved all round with quaint Dutch tiles, designed to illustrate the Scriptures. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didnt thaw it one degree at Christmas. It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. It is a ponderous chain! By contrast, scenes of happiness and generosity are represented by large fires, such as that of a party in a scene from the past held by Fezziwig, where fuel was heaped upon the fire, so much so that the generous host had a positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwigs calves which shone like moons. This is fitting because it is traditionally colder at Christmas but also because the cold is an apt metaphor for Scrooges personality. When will come to see me?' And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain. These cover themes like wealth, poverty, Christmas, and kindness. Scrooge sees the senses as pointless, as easily fooled or manipulated. Current Year 10 Official Thread (2022-2023). If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlets Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot -- say Saint Pauls Churchyard for instance -- literally to astonish his sons weak mind. Join for Free Analysis of "flint": hard rock people used to use to light fires before matches were invented. This is one of Freds lines, and it really helps to highlight the difference in viewpoints between Fred and his uncle. Scrooge bends over his weak fire. 'Hard and sharp as a flint.' Flint is a hard stone that was used with iron to create sparks before people used matches. He is smug and condescending about the poor, and refuses to listen to the gentlemens reasoning. His only concern is the amount of money he can make for himself. You have laboured on it, since. Whereas the line about being solitary as an oyster suggests that Scrooge refuses to let anybody into his life. The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Flint is a form of the mineral quartz, which occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalk and limestones. Of course he did. Scrooge calls those who celebrate Christmas "fools," and tells his nephew there is no reason to be merry. Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. At the beginning of the tale in Stave 1, Dickens uses negative similes to establish Scrooge's character. "Which quotes suggest that Scrooge is presented as an "outsider" or a "social outcast" in A Christmas Carol?" PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. With our Essay Lab, you can create a customized outline within seconds to get started on your essay right away. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. Instead of being hard and sharp, he is soft and light. "no beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock". In Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is presented as a miserly old man, who is a social outcast and is quite happy to be one, at least in the beginning. such was I! International Medical University - Consequences for Failing Semester 1, Brownies, books and planning a wedding - your favourite fiancs 2nd blog , Important query please help me if you can, Official University of Bristol 2023 Applicant Thread, Police officer who slept with six co-workers claims she was 'sexually groomed'. ", "If they would rather die.they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; beguiled the rest of the evening with his bankers-book, He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner, it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaohs daughters; Queens of Sheba, Angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts -- and yet that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophets rod, and swallowed up the whole. Even the beggars in the street are silent when he passes. Last weekend, I read $\underline{\color{#c34632}\text{To Build a Fire}}$ . This is a great quote for highlighting the sort of character that Scrooge was in ' A Christmas Carol '. What reason have you to be morose? "Hard and sharp as a flint.solitary as an oyster." `He died seven years ago, this very night.. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. 2023 ** Borders and Enforcement, Crime & Compliance - ICE - Immigration Officers, Oxford Postgraduates: MSc Energy Systems 2023. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and . for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. (Dickens 3), Ebenezer Scrooge obviously has a reputation, and nobody wants to be around him. Dickens again uses temperature as a metaphor for degrees of goodwill here, with scrooge being "cold" reflecting his lack of goodwill towards himself and others around him, and the description of his decrepit features such as his "shriveled" cheek and "stiffened" gait suggests that Scrooge's unsociable, miserly attitudes of ill damage himself, in contrast to his nephew Fred (a foil to scrooge) who is "ruddy and handsome", emphasising through their appearances how holding the values of the Christmas spirit are beneficial to ones self, and as developed on throughout the novella, the whole of society as well. The narrator describes Scrooge as "Hard and sharp as flint." His appearance matches his character, with cold-looking, pointy features. Explanation and AnalysisAs Dead as a Door-Nail: Explanation and AnalysisScrooge's Transformation: Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Scrooge signed it. Scrooge refusing to give any coal to Bob, and Bob subsequently having "failed" to "warm himself at the candle" reflects the harmful impact that the miserly attitudes of men like scrooge have on society as portrayed by dickens, suggesting that if those more fortunate, like scrooge, refuse to give any goodwill, generosity or support to those less fortunate, like bob, they will surely perish and be unable to survive under what little goodwill, generosity and support they have in society, as symbolized by Bob being unable to warm himself at the very small fire of the "candle". `The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then? said Scrooge. If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population". This is a great quote for highlighting the sort of character that Scrooge was in A Christmas Carol. Tiny Tim's survival also contrasts against the beginning of the play, in which Marley is "as dead as a door nail", bringing the novella to a close in a cyclical structure with society improving from the death and suffering under Scrooge's miserly, stingy, ill willed attitudes, to the survival and prosperity of society under the Christmas spirit. This girl is Want. Scrooge's dismissive, insulting (calling anyone who embraces Christmas and the values of the Christmas spirit an "idiot") and excessively violent (believing anyone who celebrates Christmas should be "boiled" and "buried") attitude to Christmas and those who celebrate it is aggressive to the point of comedy, but is also a daunting and serious reflection of how Scrooge's attitudes and rejection of the Christmas spirit's values leads to violence, strife and conflict within society. _____Why did the puppy hide when Sebastian appeared? A doornail is notably small and insignificant, but it can be used to build things. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! God save you! cried a cheerful voice. Scrooge is Hard and sharp as flint (p. 2). The clerk in the Tank involuntarily applauded. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. Scrooge refuses to believe in Marley, just as he refuses to believe in Christmas. The passage precisely states that Scrooge is "a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone" and "hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel struck out a generous fire." Furthermore, the passage shows greater detail by saying that he's "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner" and "solitary as an . See in text(Stave One). Many's the hard day's walking in rain and mud, and with never a penny earned. Oh! His most famous saying is bah humbug. He used it as an exclamation when he wanted to express his displeasure about something. Marley's questions and Scrooge's answers about the senses are important. Discipline was harsh and. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. Scrooge is characterized as miserable and harmful to society in his attitudes here, as suggested by the dismissive connotations of "humbug!" Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Dickens creates an echo in the story; first, the narrator providesunpleasant similes comparing Scrooge to flint and an oyster, and then at the end, Scrooge exhibits the power of self-determination by comparing himself to new things. The way the content is organized. Summary of Stave 1 Official Thread: (Undergraduate) Medicine 2023 Entry, Greta Thunberg detained protesting a windfarm, Official Cambridge Postgraduate Applicants 2023 Thread, Official Imperial College 2023 Undergraduate Applicants Thread. Teachers and parents! At this time of the rolling year, the spectre said `I suffer most. He took us home and hammered us. All rights reserved. --------------------------------------------------------, "He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars". `Because, said Scrooge, `a little thing affects them. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never believed it until now. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. Oyster shells are calcified, hard and irregular in shape. Scrooge keeps the fuel in his own room, frightening Cratchit into wearing extra clothing and trying to warm himself by a candle. The Student Room and The Uni Guide are trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. Whoever the author.Discover new and exciting books to dive into with our Book Explorer Tool. Oh, no, no! The finger was still there. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping,scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" - Narrator. "Scrooge was better than his word. Hes comparing Cratchits actual body temperature to Scrooges personality. By showing Marleys face among the faces of legends and saints from scripture, Dickens puts him in a saint-like position, showing Scrooge the light like a religious leader. Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. wishing, though it were only for a second, to divert the visions stony gaze from himself, e for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation, when the phantom taking off the bandage round its head, as if it were too warm to wear indoors, its lower jaw dropped down upon its breast. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Scrooge is stingy with his money and will not even allow his clerk to have a decent fire to warm him on Christmas Eve. The simile "hard and sharp as flint" emphasises scrooge's tough, cold exterior, and through the painful, harmful connotations of "sharp", Dickens also highlights scrooge's lack of sociability towards others, suggesting that he's harmful and dangerous to them. For characters like Fred and Bob Cratchit, Christmas represents the Christian ideal of goodness and moral prosperity, but Scrooge is at his. Scrooge never painted out Old Marleys name. Despite Scrooge's ill temper Fred generously and authentically invites him over. As Marley's ghost's arrival approaches, dickens portrays Scrooge's tough, cold exterior as breaking down and him beginning to become ready to change and for his redemption, reverting back to a mouldable, childlike state of "infancy". To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call `nuts to Scrooge. Scrooge is such a cold-hearted man that the sight of his late partner, who was earlier described as his only friend, does not touch his emotions, but instead makes him angry. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now! Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." 1. Note how Scrooge here condemns such fools to death, when over the next few nights it will be he who learns that he is condemned to a terrible death. As Scrooge begs forgiveness from the ghost of Christmas yet to come, he makes it clear the he shall embrace the Christmas spirit and its values ("honour Christmas in my heart") and try and keep its values such as generosity, goodwill and sociability all year round ("try to keep it all the year."). The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. Design changes: Please bear with us if you come across anything that may look a little disjointed. 'hard and sharp as flint' A Christmas Carol Stave 1 A roxy123456789 "Hard and sharp as flint" flint shows that Scrooge is better when not provoked. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his. "What then? Much good it has ever done you!, There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round. Scrooge is described as "solitary as an oyster". Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The protagonist of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is a cold-hearted and mean-spirited accountant. The clock tower that looks down on. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. It is made up of two Greek words, ana meaning up, and lysis meaning to loosen. This is an odd simile. -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin. Scrooge! `How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. In other words, Scrooge is stingy and tough: he has no sympathy, generosity, or compassion. The apparition walked backward from him; and at every step it took, the window raised itself a little, so that when the spectre reached it, it was wide open. Latest answer posted December 11, 2020 at 10:52:15 AM. School Memberships, 2023 OwlEyes.org, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The mention of Marleys funeral brings me back to the point I started from. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Whatever the genre. `I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. The adjectives squeezing and wrenching, etc., relate to how one should imagine him with money, refusing to let go of his wealth. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. and youll keep your Christmas by losing your situation! If you like this, we think you might also be interested in these related quotations. It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. `Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years, Scrooge replied. He even turns down his own nephew who comes to see him and invite him to his house for a Christmas meal. That, and its livid colour, made it horrible; but its horror seemed to be in spite of the face and beyond its control, rather than a part or its own expression. as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. The novel 'A Christmas Carol' narrates the story of a man called Scrooge and how he realises his behaviour to people must change in order to do well in his life as spirits show his past, present and future. The bells chiming and the clanking of chains create a disturbance that even Scrooge cant ignore, and forebode both that Scrooge's time is approaching and that he himself will soon be in similar chains.