How Does Dickens Present the Influence of Environment on Character?

How does Dickens present the influence of environment on character?

In Stave 2, the Ghost of Christmas Past transports Scrooge to the countryside where he grew up, which seems to contrast significantly to the previously described life and atmosphere that surrounds him during the present, where everything is industrial and revolves around money. This Stave is the beginning of the characters transition in personality, as Scrooge becomes touched by the unfolding memories, and a repressed side of the old miser that he seems to have forgotten is unlocked.

Dickens presents the countryside setting as idyllic and beautiful, which encapsulates a scene of perfection. The exclamation, personification and pathetic fallacy in “the crisp air laughed to hear it!” juxtapose greatly with the earlier cold and dark imagery, such as “the fog and darkness thickened” and “teeth were chattering in its frozen head” which mirror not only the harsh conditions in which the poor people of Victorian London had to live in, but also the extent of Scrooge’s emotionless and solitary character. This differentiation portrays his inner conflict, which is a reoccurring key motif in this section. Another example would be the repetition, which Dickens uses with the question word “why”, as the variety of questions indicates his flowing stream of thought; he progresses more into opening his mind, instead of immediately shutting down the idea of Christmas with a “Bah Humbug”, even though the closing of the paragraph finalises with the same message.

Scrooge is then lead away from the “merry music” and “great spirits” by the ghost, and the laid-back atmosphere of the countryside disintegrates into a barren and almost ominous school, which could symbolise the route that Scrooge took in life, similarly to Marley, which resulted in him being bound in the chains he “forged in life”. However, unlike Marley, the ghosts are giving Scrooge the chance to realise the errors of his ways and progress to be a better person. The mansion is initially described as “dull”, and Dickens continues with a semantic field of disuse and decay to reflect Scrooge’s inner life with descriptions such as, “damp and mossy”, “windows broken” and “over-run with grass”.  The theme of loneliness and solitude could represent Dickens’ message of this kind of problem (societal corruption) being deeply rooted, as the small percentage of the population who were rich became obsessed with money, despite the other people who were left to starve. Scrooge is a strong representation of this as, in Stave 1, when two “portly gentleman”, who try to collect money to give to the “poor and destitute” in the spirit of what should be the generosity of the festive season, are rejected by him and only greeted by the ignorance of questions that surround whether “prisons”, “workhouses” and “the Treadmill” are still “in operation” – these were places where the poor received basic board and lodging in return for work, but under horrendous conditions.

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