The Importance Of Fire In A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens

To many people a warm crackling fire brings about memories of the Christmas season. By listening to some of the Christmas carols played throughout the festive holiday season, it is easy to pick up on this. In one such Christmas carol, they mention “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” in this line fire is the provider of warmth light, and good spirits. By roasting the chestnuts the fire gives food and allows people to share with one another in a warm comfortable atmosphere. A second popular Christmas carol that mentions fire it “Let it Snow”. In this song, one of the main verses is “Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, And since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”. In this verse fire is

The weather “was cold, bleak, biting weather” (Dickens 2) and “it had not been light all day” (Dickens 3). While Scrooge worked away in his counting-house on the dismal day he allowed himself a small fire. But he kept an eye on his clerk Bob Cratchit. Who’s fire was so “that it looked like one coal” (Dickens 3). But the clerk could not refill his fire for fear Scrooge would deem it “necessary for them to part” (Dickens 3). Scrooge’s self-centered and greedy deeds did not end here. Two men came to ask Scrooge to help them “raise a fund to buy the Poor some mean and drink and means of warmth” (Dickens 6). Instead of donating some of his large fortune for the less fortunate, Scrooge instead asked inquired if the prisons and Union workhouses were still operational. When the men replied that they were Scrooge said the poor should go there if they were so desperate. While Scrooge and the gentlemen spoke “the fog and darkness [outside] thickened” (Dickens 6). After speaking the two gentlemen Scrooge was “in a more facetious temper than was usual” (Dickens 6). When a caroler came by the counting-house’s keyhole to sing, Scrooge, instead of welcoming the caroler “seized [a] ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost” (Dickens 7). This pattern of darkness clearly represents Scrooge’s

When the two first arrive in Fred’s house it was a great “surprise to Scrooge to recognize it as his own nephew’s, and to find himself in a bright, dry, gleaming room” (Dickens 44). By the time Scrooge had arrived, the party was already in full swing; everyone present was enjoying themselves. Fred especially was thoughtful and full of love. This is clear because even though the family was bashing Scrooge, Fred stood up for him although he had every reason not to, because no matter how hard Fred tried to cheer up his uncle and have him join in the festivities, Scrooge always refused. Not only did Fred stand up for his uncle but also encouraged the others to be merry and joyous during the party he was hosting although he was poor and barely had enough for bills and things of that matter. During the party, Fred started a game called Yes and No a game similar to 20 questions. With all the hints complied, the party guests knew it was a live and disagreeably animal that lived in London, walked around, and wasn’t a cow, bull, tiger, dog or cat, and other things of that nature. Eventually the answer was found: Fred’s Uncle Scrooge. The amount of good-cheer and high spirits at the party was so contagious that even Scrooge had “become so gay and light of heart” (Dickens 48) that he would have thanked them and joined in the toast to him