similarly when other characters talk to Scrooge he often shouts at them. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! In contrast, Scrooges routine is deliberately isolated and miserable. Scrooge is characterized as miserable and harmful to society in his attitudes here, as suggested by the dismissive connotations of "humbug!" No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. Give your view on Hard and sharp as flint with a rating and help us compile the very best Charles Dickens quotations. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- stone, Scrooge! But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Countrys done for. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!". I am not the man I was. Design changes: Please bear with us if you come across anything that may look a little disjointed. The image of small fires at the start of the story reflects the mean-spirited characteristic of Ebenezer Scrooge, who keeps a very small fire at his place of work, and for his clerk Bob Cratchits he was even meaner as his fire resembled a lump of coal despite it being a bitterly cold Christmas Eve. This almost prompts a realization in Scrooge as he catches on to the fact that his wealth provides him (and indeed Fezziwig) with the power to make people happy. 806 8067 22 Registered Office: Imperial House, 2nd Floor, 40-42 Queens Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3XB, Taking a break or withdrawing from your course. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Download. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Whereas Scrooge is described as hard and sharp, Freds features are round and healthy. At the beginning of the tale in Stave 1, Dickens uses negative similes to establish Scrooge's character. (including. "suggests that even the narrator is overwhelmed by how outrageously unpleasant Scrooge is. "No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him", Dickens uses "warmth" as a metaphor for goodwill and inversely "cold" as a metaphor for ill will throughout the novella, so here it suggests that no good will or ill will from others in society are able to affect scrooge as he's become totally impervious to and disconnected from interactions with society, "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait". As the day passes, the fog and cold become more severe. 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. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! *(Many, Nobody)* is predicting rain for tomorrow. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office. 16, no GCSES, no other qualifications, is there anything left for me? "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now! Characters of Martin Chuzzlewit: The Pecksniffs. 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. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. "Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster" To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him. Before telling us the incident with the door knocker, In order to make this night stand out as a unique milestone in Scrooges routine existence, the narrator focuses first on Scrooge's sanity and the usual normality of his world. Refine any search. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him, and when they saw him coming on would tug their owners into doorways and up courts, and then would wag their tails as though they said, 'No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!'" In other words, Scrooge is not alone; many people, while perhaps less obviously awful than Scrooge, share his sinful failings. "Oh! Flint and oysters are not very palatable things to be compared to. 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. 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. Write the kind of sentence in the blank using these abbreviations: dec. (declarative), imp. To say that Scrooge could be made neither warm nor cold by any outside influence again paints him as an outcast. 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. Flint is a form of the mineral quartz, which occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalk and limestones. 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. Finally, he is not only isolated from others, but he also keeps to himself in his own world, contained within his own shell. (meaning rubbish or nonsense) suggesting that scrooge is dismissive of Christmas and the values that come with it, and the animalistic onomatopoeia of "bah!" A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. View further examples of the literary technique of. You are fettered, said Scrooge, trembling. Much good may it do you! Hes comparing Cratchits actual body temperature to Scrooges personality. 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. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! 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. 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.". Term. Christmas Carol - Generosity Quotes. 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 . And I know I know my dears, that when we recollect how patient and how mild he was; although he was a little, little child, we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves and forget poor Tiny Tim in doing it. Scrooge represents the ignorant attitude of the wealthy classes that Dickens despised in his own society. "Oh! There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night. But Scrooge sees any such human sentimentanything that interferes with the accumulation of moneyas foolishness. And yet, though the removal of such doornails is difficult, it is not impossible, and this slyly hints atthe return of Marley's ghost. 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 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. The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. very low fire indeed; nothing on such a bitter night. boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. "Oh! It is also a fact, that Scrooge had seen it, night and morning, during his whole residence in that place; also that Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy about him as any man in the city of London, even including -- which is a bold word -- the corporation, aldermen, and livery. 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. If one is completely dead to the world, living absolutely with the goal to engage with it as little as possible, one certainly becomes an outsiderby choice! Here in this quote, one can see Dickens playing with literal and figurative meanings to great effect. 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. The cold became intense. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. The Student Room and The Uni Guide are both part of The Student Room Group. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. From this exchange, it sounds like Marley was at least somewhat generous. This is another quote where Dickens draws on the semantic field of the cold weather. This might seem like a small detail, but regardless of whether or not the reader consciously juxtaposes these similes, they underscore Scrooge's transformation and provide evidence of a true change of heart. Down banks and up banks, and over gates, and splashing into dikes, and breaking among coarse rushes: no man cared where he went. 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. Scrooge=isolation. The fact that there are three spirits and that they will arrive at the same time for the next three nights creates a definite, easy structure for Scrooge, and the story, to follow. Fred is the opposite of Scrooge in appearance and spirit. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerks fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. `You dont mean that, I am sure?, `I do, said Scrooge. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first. Instant PDF downloads. This is not just a tale of one man's redemption; it is a kind of call to arms for all people to take to heart. This girl is Want. Scrooge knew he was dead? Whatever the genre. With our Essay Lab, you can create a customized outline within seconds to get started on your essay right away. Once more? Humbug! but stopped at the first syllable, A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas. Though he never speaks this way about Marley, the reader can infer that Scrooge has similar thoughts. `Are they still in operation?, `They are. (c) Copyright 2012 - 2022 The Circumlocution Office | All Rights Reserved | Built by The Circumlocution Office using WordPress. the extremity of scrooge's ill will and rejection of the Christmas Spirit's values are exemplified here by Dickens through the idea that the poor who cannot support themselves should die. `Youll want all day to-morrow, I suppose? said Scrooge. This gives the perception of Scrooge being a very cold character, a word also associated with being mean. 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 description of Scrooge "glowing with good intentions" likens scrooge to his nephew Fred who was described as "all in a glow" at the beginning of the play, suggesting that he has adopted the values of the Christmas spirit and is now benefiting from it like Fred, contrasting against the description of his cold, harsh features from the beginning of the play which refelcted his harsh, miserly attitudes. Describe the two children who emerge from the second spirit's robe in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Why show me this, if I am past all hope! For the first time, the hand appeared to shake. ". 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. Name the six places the second spirit takes Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Its the only way to make a boy sharp, sir. At Fezziwig's party (pp. 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. Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then. How could it be otherwise? LitCharts Teacher Editions. Instead of being hard and sharp, he is soft and light. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." Even the beggars in the street are silent when he passes. `Merry Christmas! I defy himif he finds me going there, in good temper, year after year, and saying, Uncle Scrooge, how are you? If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, thats something. "No," said scrooge, "no. The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, regale him with a Christmas carol: but at the first sound of, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. flint can start fires when it is messed with. This is fitting because it is traditionally colder at Christmas but also because the cold is an apt metaphor for Scrooges personality. Scrooge sees the workhouses as a solution to a problem, and shuts out the idea that their inhabitants are real feeling human beings. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Leading up to this moment it appears as if Scrooge already fears that this is the case, but that does not detract from the tension that Charles Dickens can create here. Struggling with distance learning? In other words, Scrooge is stingy and tough: he has no sympathy, generosity, or compassion. Copyright The Student Room 2023 all rights reserved. If they would rather die, theyd better do it, and decrease the surplus population. It was not in impenetrable shadow as the other objects in the yard were, but had a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar. Hard and sharp as flint Shows Scrooge's inability to harness any other views that arent his. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. What does the quote hard and sharp as flint mean?Watch more videos for more knowledgeCharacter Analysis: Scrooge - 'A Christmas Carol https://www.youtube.com/watch/qUZwAZHf8kYThe Muppet Christmas Carol - Scrooge - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch/4jzsKJvWiEIShlep Rocks Make a Comeback - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch/qYSQaW0P2f4(Flemish) Ghost of lost 1907 Peking Paris 3 wheel https://www.youtube.com/watch/KSMdv3aJENoHow to remove a splinter - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch/21lK38lr7L0How to Use the Fillet and Chamfer Tools in AutoCAD https://www.youtube.com/watch/D7KA1OnhDooSee how a baby recovers from malnutrition in conflict https://www.youtube.com/watch/vi_a5bYDrw8Loz's magnificent 7-tone fart symphony - the #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch/Tk-5RVMerfI
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