some issues I found in Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol

1. ISSUES IN
CHARLES DICKENS’
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Ariefdhianty Vibie H.
180410080035

2. Marginalization / Alienation ?
 Foul weather didn‟t know where to have him…. They often
„come down‟ handsomely, and Scrooge never did. (p. 5)
 No body ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome
looks,…. No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no
children asked him what it was a clock, no man or woman ever
once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a
place, of Scrooge. (p. 5)
 “keep Christmas in your own way, and let it in mine” (p. 8)
 “I wish to be alone, …., I don‟t make merry myself at
Christmas…” (p. 13)
 The words such as the fog, the darkness, the cold  alone
 Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.

3. Class
The comparison between three classes:
 In the main street at the corner of the court, some
labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a
great fire in a brazier, …
 The brightness of the shop where holly sprigs and berries
crackled in the lamp heat of windows,…
 The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the mighty Mansion
House, gave orders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep
Christmas as a Lord Mayor‟s household should;
 (p. 14-15)

4. The Appearance of Ghosts
 -not a knocker, but Marley‟s face
 Scrooge asked the question, because he didn‟t know
whether a ghost so transparent might find himself in a
condition to take a chair; and felt that in the event of its
being impossible, …
 The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and
thither in restless haste and moaning as they went.
 “You‟ll be haunted by Three Spirits.”

5. Time Travel (Past-Present-
Future)
 “I am the Ghost of Christmas Past”
 …, they passed through the wall, and stood upon an
open country road, with fields on either hand. The city
had entirely vanished. Not a vestige of it was to be seen.
 „These are but shadows of the things that have been,‟
said the Ghost. „They have no consciousness of us.‟
 “I am the Ghost of Christmas Present”
 „Spirit‟ said Scrooge submissively, ‟conduct me where
you will…‟

6. Self – Other?
Christmas Past
 Scrooge‟s former self grew larger at the words, and the
room became a little darker and more dirty.
 Scrooge‟s former self, now grown a young man, came
briskly in, accompanied by his fellow-prentice.
 For again Scrooge saw himself. He was older now; a
man in the prime of life.

7. Satire
 „If they would rather die,‟ said Scrooge, „they had better
do it, and decrease the surplus population…‟
 „Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my
business; charity; mercy; forbearance; and
benevolence, were, all, my business…‟