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How Does Scrooge Change In A Christmas Carol

Decent Essays

In the beginning of the book, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold, selfish and greedy man. He owns a business and is rich, but never does anything good with his money and keeps it to himself. He thinks of Christmas as a useless holiday and does not care to talk or smile to anybody he sees. However, as the spirits of the past, present and future visit him, Scrooge becomes much kinder and wants to become a better person. He learns to care for others and becomes more engaged in his community.

During Scrooge’s encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge personality improves tremendously. Before Scrooge’s encounter with the first ghost, Scrooge was cold and untrustworthy. This is portrayed in the second stave on page 31, when Scrooge triumphantly states, “The hour itself, and nothing else,” after hearing from Marley that the spirits would haunt him at 1:00. Scrooge did not trust his own recollection or Marley’s warning. However, later in the stave on page 49, after the spirit showed Scrooge a poor decision that he made when he was younger, Scrooge tells the spirit, “Spirit, show me no more. Conduct me home…” He understands that the spirit has control over him, and trusts the spirit to bring him home. …show more content…

As a result of Scrooge’ encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Past Scrooge finally trusted others, but he still did not fully realize that others had negative views had of him. However, during the stave, he sees what others like Mrs. Cratchit and Fred think of him. When Scrooge saw how poorly they viewed him, he learned that acting the way he does causes people not to like him, and he starts to want to change. This is shown after Scrooge’s encounter with the ghost on page 85 when Scrooge states, “Forgive me if I am not justified to ask…,” displaying that Scrooge sees how poorly others think of him and wants to improve his

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