Then, the Spirit reminds Scrooge that it is not for him to decide who is "surplus." But now, the plates being changed by Miss Belinda, Mrs. Cratchit left the room alonetoo nervous to bear witnessesto take the pudding up and bring it in. Not coming upon Christmas Day!. And how did little Tim behave? He is obviously distressed by it and protests the spirit's words. He watches as Bob Cratchit takes Tiny Tim's, . Admiration was the universal sentiment, though some objected that the reply to Is it a bear? ought to have been Yes; inasmuch as an answer in the negative was sufficient to have diverted their thoughts from Mr. Scrooge, supposing they had ever had any tendency that way. Mrs. Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour. So did the room, the fire, the ruddy glow, the hour of night, and they stood in the city streets on Christmas morning, where (for the weather was severe) the people made a rough, but brisk and not unpleasant kind of music, in scraping the snow from the pavement in front of their dwellings, and from the tops of their houses, whence it was mad delight to the boys to see it come plumping down into the road below, and splitting into artificial little snow-storms. withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him. Bob said he didnt believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Latest answer posted December 03, 2020 at 4:13:31 PM. He regards Cratchit merely as an expense and resents having to pay his miserable wages. Oh, a wonderful pudding! Its dark brown curls were long and free; free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air. " His wealth is of no use to him. He wears tattered clothes as he cannot afford a coat. Scrooge is concerned about the fate of Tiny Tim Scrooge was the Ogre of the family Metaphor, Scrooge is essentially the opposite the family he begged like a boy to be allowed to stay Scrooge rediscovers his inner child and has enthusiasm again two children, wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable What we're witnessing here is a remarkable change in attitude. You have never seen the like of me before! exclaimed the Spirit. The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent, caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear hearts content. If you had fallen up against him (as some of them did), on purpose, he would have made a feint of endeavouring to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understanding, and would instantly have sidled off in the direction of the plump sister. Long life to him! Ghost of Xmas Past "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still - Scrooge sobbed." He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as . M.A. He works Bob Cratchit very hard . After it had passed away, they were ten times merrier than before, from the mere relief of Scrooge the Baleful being done with. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die., No, no, said Scrooge. But this the Spirit said could not be done. Well. God love it, so it was! Ill give you Mr. Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast! He wouldnt take it from me, but may he have it, nevertheless. Awaking in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that the bell was again upon the stroke of One. But, they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time; and when they faded, and looked happier yet in the bright sprinklings of the Spirits torch at parting, Scrooge had his eye upon them, and especially on Tiny Tim, until the last. But now, the plates being changed by Miss Belinda, Mrs Cratchit left the room alonetoo nervous to bear witnessesto take the pudding up and bring it in. But she joined in the forfeits, and loved her love to admiration with all the letters of the alphabet. "Spirit," said Scrooge submissively, "conduct me where you will. Not coming upon Christmas Day!. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. It was a much greater surprise to Scrooge to recognise it as his own nephews and to find himself in a bright, dry, gleaming room, with the Spirit standing smiling by his side, and looking at that same nephew with approving affability! I wish I had him here. ", Scrooge wants to profit in a different way, he recognises that there are things that are just as valuable as money. Which it certainly was. Id give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope hed have a good appetite for it.My dear, said Bob, the children! And at the same time there emerged from scores of bye-streets, lanes, and nameless turnings, innumerable people, carrying their dinners to the bakers shops[5]. What do you say, Topper?. Topper had clearly got his eye upon one of Scrooges nieces sisters, for he answered that a bachelor was a wretched outcast, who had no right to express an opinion on the subject. And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. In time the bells ceased, and the bakers were shut up; and yet there was a genial shadowing forth of all these dinners and the progress of their cooking, in the thawed blotch of wet above each bakers oven; where the pavement smoked as if its stones were cooking too. Whats the consequence? Ha, ha, ha!. If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, thats something; and I think I shook him yesterday.. Altogether she was what you would have called provoking, you know; but satisfactory, too. He is such a ridiculous fellow!. from The University of Texas at Arlington. All this time, he lay upon his bed, the very core and centre of a blaze of ruddy light, which streamed upon it when the clock proclaimed the hour; and which, being only light, was more alarming than a dozen ghosts, as he was powerless to make out what it meant, or would be at; and was sometimes apprehensive that he might be at that very moment an interesting case of spontaneous combustion, without having the consolation of knowing it. Complete the following sentences with the FUTURE forms of the verbs in parentheses. I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is working now. Taken from the following passage inStave 3 (The Second Of The Three Spirits) ofA Christmas Carol: Mr. After his interactions with the ghosts, Scrooge gratefully resolved to change his ways and be a more generous and kind person. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. Man, said the Ghost, if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. A smell like an eating-house and a pastrycooks next door to each other, with a laundresss next door to that! There was nothing of high mark in this. The very lamplighter, who ran on before, dotting the dusky street with specks of light, and who was dressed to spend the evening somewhere, laughed out loudly as the Spirit passed, though little kenned the lamplighter that he had any company but Christmas! He dont make himself comfortable with it. Are there no workhouses?. He believed it too!. I wish I had him here. At last the plump sister, falling into a similar state, cried out: I have found it out! His active little crutch was heard upon the floor, and back came Tiny Tim before another word was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister to his stool before the fire; and while Bob, turning up his cuffsas if, poor fellow, they were capable of being made more shabbycompounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it round and round and put it on the hob to simmer; Master Peter, and the two ubiquitous young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned in high procession. Bakers were forbidden to bake bread on Sundays and holidays, but for a small fee they allowed people to bring meals to be cooked in their bakery ovens. He always knew where the plump sister was. The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not dispelled for full five minutes. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. More than eighteen hundred, said the Ghost. Add commas where necessary. At every fresh question that was put to him, this nephew burst into a fresh roar of laughter; and was so inexpressibly tickled, that he was obliged to get up off the sofa and stamp. As the last stroke ceased to vibrate, he remembered the prediction of old Jacob Marley, and lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming, like a mist along the ground, towards him. Charles Dickens speech to Metropolitan Sanitary Association. My life upon this globe, is very brief, replied the Ghost. Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he didn't care twopence for it. They are always in earnest. There never was such a goose. He has given us plenty of merriment, I am sure, said Fred, and it would be ungrateful not to drink his health. But, finding that he turned uncomfortably cold when he began to wonder which of his curtains this new spectre would draw back, he put them every one aside with his own hands, and lying down again, established a sharp look-out all round the bed. The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not dispelled for full five minutes. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. The Daughters of the Late Colonel: XII, 189. I was only going to say, said Scrooges nephew, that the consequence of his taking a dislike to us, and not making merry with us, is, as I think, that he loses some pleasant moments, which could do him no harm. He wouldnt take it from me, but may he have it, nevertheless. Prior to this visit, Scrooge had declared that if poor people would rather die than go to the workhouse or poorhouse, then they should just do it and decrease the surplus population. He did not care about their lives, and he does not seem to have cared about anything other than money. Whereat Scrooges nieces sister - the plump one with the lace tucker[10]: not the one with the rosesblushed. 5. It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor mans child. To a poor one most., Spirit? said Scrooge, after a moments thought, I wonder you, of all the beings in the many worlds about us, should desire to cramp these peoples opportunities of innocent enjoyment., You would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day[6], often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all, said Scrooge. For they were a musical family, and knew what they were about, when they sung a Glee or Catch, I can assure you: especially Topper, who could growl away in the bass like a good one, and never swell the large veins in his forehead, or get red in the face over it. I am sorry for him; I couldnt be angry with him if I tried. Whats the consequence? Study Questions, Activities, and Resources, 9. Scrooge was the ogre of the family. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. And I no more believe Topper was really blind than I believe he had eyes in his boots. He begins to care about them, especially poor Tiny Tim, who can't get medical treatments because of how little Scrooge pays his father. It ends to-night., To-night at midnight. A tremendous family to provide for! muttered Scrooge. He knows and cares nothing about Cratchit's life and family. After it had passed away, they were ten times merrier than before, from the mere relief of Scrooge the Baleful being done with. The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxeds Church, 11. He is especially emotionally affected by Tiny Tims poignant words and behavior, by seeing how much the child is loved and how much he loves others, even when his own lot in life is so difficult. The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not dispelled for full five minutes. Id give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope hed have a good appetite for it., My dear, said Bob, the children! There was nothing of high mark in this. In half a minute Mrs Cratchit enteredflushed, but smiling proudlywith the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask, said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirits robe, but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Oh, no, kind Spirit! Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him. Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are! said Mrs. Cratchit, kissing her a dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonnet for her with officious zeal. Study Questions, Activities, and Resources, 115. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family. The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent, caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear hearts content. For his pretending not to know her; his pretending that it was necessary to touch her head-dress, and further to assure himself of her identity by pressing a certain ring upon her finger, and a certain chain about her neck; was vile, monstrous! They are always in earnest. Theres such a goose, Martha!. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made, in the shopkeepers benevolence to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that peoples mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins, squat and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove; from every part of which, bright gleaming berries glistened. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but when she did, and when the long expected gush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all round the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah! Nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow., My dear, was Bobs mild answer, Christmas Day., Ill drink his health for your sake and the Days, said Mrs Cratchit, not for his. It was a great surprise to Scrooge, while listening to the moaning of the wind, and thinking what a solemn thing it was to move on through the lonely darkness over an unknown abyss, whose depths were secrets as profound as Death: it was a great surprise to Scrooge, while thus engaged, to hear a hearty laugh. At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire made up. The Grocers! At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. His wealth is of no use to him. eNotes Editorial, 20 Feb. 2021, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-is-scrooge-affected-by-seeing-the-cratchits-71891. Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their marriage. After tea, they had some music. For he wished to challenge the Spirit on the moment of its appearance, and did not wish to be taken by surprise, and made nervous. Great heaps of sea-weed clung to its base, and storm-birds born of the wind one might suppose, as sea-weed of the waterrose and fell about it, like the waves they skimmed. Lauren has taught English at the university level and has a master's degree in literature. Introduce him to me, and Ill cultivate his acquaintance. Perhaps, the Almighty may decide Scrooge to be "surplus," less worthy to live than "millions like this poor child. Oh, Man! Of course there was. Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle. In time the bells ceased, and the bakers were shut up; and yet there was a genial shadowing forth of all these dinners and the progress of their cooking, in the thawed blotch of wet above each bakers oven; where the pavement smoked as if its stones were cooking too. Hallo! The text says that he is considered the "ogre" of the family. If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooges nephew, all I can say is, I should like to know him too. The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker, contrasting with the smooth white sheet of snow upon the roofs, and with the dirtier snow upon the ground; which last deposit had been ploughed up in deep furrows by the heavy wheels of carts and waggons; furrows that crossed and re-crossed each other hundreds of times where the great streets branched off; and made intricate channels, hard to trace in the thick yellow mud and icy water. Hide, Martha, hide!. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.. Scrooge bent before the Ghosts rebuke, and trembling cast his eyes upon the ground. Then up rose Mrs Cratchit, Cratchits wife, dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown[8], but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence; and she laid the cloth, assisted by Belinda Cratchit, second of her daughters, also brave in ribbons; while Master Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of potatoes, and getting the corners of his monstrous shirt collar (Bobs private property, conferred upon his son and heir in honour of the day) into his mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to show his linen in the fashionable Parks. What then. They are contented and grateful for what little they have, because they have one another and the love of family. oh, the Grocers! The Importance of Being Earnest: Act I, 61. What has ever got your precious father then? said Mrs. Cratchit. They were a boy and girl. The moment Scrooges hand was on the lock, a strange voice called him by his name, and bade him enter. Its dark brown curls were long and free; free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air. The ghost replies by saying that if things go on as they are, then the poor boy will die. Why is Kentucky a good place to raise horses? Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadnt ate it all at last! Any Answers? But being thoroughly good-natured, and not much caring what they laughed at, so that they laughed at any rate, he encouraged them in their merriment, and passed the bottle joyously. He said that Christmas was a humbug, as I live! cried Scrooges nephew. They are Mans, said the Spirit, looking down upon them. Answer each of the following questions in the form of a sentence. Analysis. English Literature: Victorians and Moderns, Self-ignition. And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. Scrooge's eyes are well and truly opened by the sight of the Cratchits' homelife. Hark! He sat very close to his fathers side upon his little stool. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. He looked down on every human being who did not share his own values. If a question does not contain a vocabulary word from the lesson's word list, use one in your answer. All this time the chestnuts and the jug went round and round; and by-and-bye they had a song, about a lost child travelling in the snow, from Tiny Tim, who had a plaintive little voice, and sang it very well indeed. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die., No, no, said Scrooge. I am sure he loses pleasanter companions than he can find in his own thoughts, either in his mouldy old office, or his dusty chambers. There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars, and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe. After it had passed away, they were ten times merrier than before, from the mere relief of Scrooge the Baleful being done with. To-night, if you have aught to teach me, let me profit by it.. "How is Scrooge affected by seeing the Cratchits in A Christmas Carol?" The Daughters of the Late Colonel: IV, 179. A light shone from the window of a hut, and swiftly they advanced towards it. Study Questions, Activities, and Resources, 156. It was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is working now. A man who once expressed so much contempt and callous disregard for the welfare of the poorest members of society is now beginning to understand just how hard it is for those at the bottom rung of society's ladder. The way he went after that plump sister in the lace tucker, was an outrage on the credulity of human nature. We are currently converting the 3,000+ pages within our WordPress site to make them more mobile friendly. Study Questions, Activities, and Resources, 31. The narrator states that there was no doubt about Marley 's death. The poulterers shops were still half open, and the fruiterers were radiant in their glory. Not coming! said Bob, with a sudden declension in his high spirits; for he had been Tims blood horse all the way from church, and had come home rampant. Once home, he falls asleep only to be awakened by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future who torment him with visions. Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it, while they were merry with the goosea supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid! Likewise at the game of How, When, and Where, she was very great, and to the secret joy of Scrooges nephew, beat her sisters hollow: though they were sharp girls too, as could have told you. If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooges nephew, all I can say is, I should like to know him too. Describe the two children who emerge from the second spirit's robe in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Come in! Who suffers by his ill whims? It was a much greater surprise to Scrooge to recognise it as his own nephews and to find himself in a bright, dry, gleaming room, with the Spirit standing smiling by his side, and looking at that same nephew with approving affability. Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end. I have a big packet of the Christmas Carol Questions and I have barely read the book. All this time the chestnuts and the jug went round and round; and by-and-bye they had a song, about a lost child travelling in the snow, from Tiny Tim, who had a plaintive little voice, and sang it very well indeed. Heres Martha, mother! cried the two young Cratchits. Well! And perhaps it was the pleasure the good Spirit had in showing off this power of his, or else it was his own kind, generous, hearty nature, and his sympathy with all poor men, that led him straight to Scrooges clerks; for there he went, and took Scrooge with him, holding to his robe; and on the threshold of the door the Spirit smiled, and stopped to bless Bob Cratchits dwelling with the sprinkling of his torch. Oh God! Then Bob proposed: A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. Forgive me if I am wrong. A smell like a washing-day! Im very glad to hear it, said Scrooges nephew, because I havent great faith in these young housekeepers. But he raised them speedily, on hearing his own name. Slander those who tell it ye! When two men approach Scrooge about donating to charity, he asks them whether there are prisons and workhouses for the poor. Scrooge promised that he would; and they went on, invisible, as they had been before, into the suburbs of the town. When this strain of music sounded, all the things that Ghost had shown him, came upon his mind; he softened more and more; and thought that if he could have listened to it often, years ago, he might have cultivated the kindnesses of life for his own happiness with his own hands, without resorting to the sextons spade that buried Jacob Marley.