Nineteenth-century novel, Year 10: Scrooge, Marley and the three Spirits (A Christmas Carol option)

sinner

提示A word from religion for someone who does wrong.

为什么Seven adjectives pile up before the noun, most of them about hands closing on money. The list makes the reader feel how tight his grip is.

flint; oyster

提示One is a stone that gives sparks; the other is a shellfish shut tight in its shell.

为什么The flint is one “from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire”. An oyster is closed and alone, though one reading notes that an oyster can hold a pearl.

population

提示The number of people in a country.

为什么He talks about the poor as a number that is too large. The Ghost of Christmas Present throws these exact words back at him in Stave Three.

Himself as a lonely boy, left behind at school at Christmas

提示The other boys have all gone home.

为什么The Spirit says “A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.” It is the first sign that the old man can feel, and it suggests where his coldness began.

feather; angel; schoolboy

提示Something that floats, a being from heaven, and a child in class.

为什么The book opened with a run of hard, cold similes for him. It ends with a run of light, joyful ones: the change is written into the same technique.

chain

提示Linked metal that holds a prisoner.

为什么He goes on: “I made it link by link, and yard by yard”. He tells Scrooge that his own is already longer and heavier.

Cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy purses, all in steel

提示The tools of a money-lender's trade.

为什么The things he cared about in life have become the weight he must carry in death. It is one of the book's clearest symbols.

Mankind

提示A word for all people.

为什么He lists what he should have cared about: “charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence”. This is the book's argument in one line.

Put out its light, so that he will be shown no more

提示The cap is shaped like a candle extinguisher.

为什么The light streams out from under the cap all the same. One reading: once he has looked at his past honestly, the memory cannot be shut away again.

The Ghost of Christmas Present

提示The second of the three.

为什么He stands for generosity and plenty. He ages through his one day and, before he goes, shows the two starved children hidden under his robe.

It never speaks: it only points

提示It is hidden in a black garment, with one hand showing.

为什么Its silence leaves Scrooge to work out the meaning for himself, and makes this the most frightening visit. The future says nothing because it is not yet fixed.