Theme Of Isolation In A Christmas Carol

In Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol stave 1, Ebenezer Scrooge is a grumpy old man that is isolated from the rest of the world and he cares only for money. “The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice” (3). Since his sole partner in life, Bob Marley, has died Scrooge has gone into a recession of loving money more than anything. While in the office with Bob Cratchit we see how miserable and isolated Scrooge is because the fire is tiny and the room is very dark. The fire is a symbol of family and love, and the foggy weather outside is a symbol of the isolation. “Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much …show more content…
When his nephew Fred comes to wish him a merry Christmas and invite him to their Christmas party, Scrooge says Bah Humbug and says there is no reason to be merry on Christmas. “What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough” (5). Fred may not be rich in money but he is rich in many other things such as family, love, charity, and he knows how to balance work and play. The same goes for Bob Cratchit who struggles to put food on the table for his family. “and the clerk, with long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great coat), went down a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in honor of its being Christmas Eve, and then ran home to Camden Town, as hard as he could pelt, to play at blind man’s bluff” (12-13). When Scrooge returns home he sees the ghost of Marley in his door, but he doesn’t believe in ghosts. He then goes inside, where light is almost nonexistent and it is only Scrooge in his home. He is isolated in the dark when he is in his own home. While getting ready for bed Marley’s ghost appears to him while bound in chains of money, want, and