At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is portrayed as a hardhearted man and very unsociable. He struggles to connect with others but out of his own choice. Scrooge is shown as selfish and as someone who doesn't care for others at the start of the novel with Marley's funeral. He shows little sympathy and only cares about the money he gained from his business partner's death.
In the extract, scrooge is described as a new man who is cheerful and happy. At the start, Scrooge finds himself in his bed. He repeats his promise to “live in the past, the present, and the future”. This suggests that he is still committed to changing into a better person. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge refuses to wish anyone a happy Christmas and uses his famous phrase “bah humbug” towards Christmas itself. This phrase means that he is calling Christmas a fraud. He does this because he thinks the celebration of Christmas is a total sham. Later on in the novel he wishes everyone a merry Christmas, he says that Christmas should be “praised” for his transformation and that his understanding of the Christmas spirit is one of the things that has made him change.
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When Scrooge wakes up in the passage he realizes it's still Christmas day so he still has time to spend Christmas the way it should be spent, later in the novel he buys Bob a huge turkey so he can enjoy Christmas with his family more so lavishly. Whereas before Scrooge treated his clerk coldly. He even begrudges Cratchit's taking Christmas off to be with tiny Tim and the rest of his family and threatens to fire him when Bob is excited at Fred's Christmas speech. Scrooge's relationship with Bob changes a lot from stave one to stave five. he becomes more open to him and treats him like a friend. The office fire is weak and small in the first stave but by the fifth scrooge lets Bob buy more coal for the fire. Also, Scrooge resents having to pay Bob over Christmas in the first stave, and the fifth he gives Bob a pay rise. In the extract, Charles Dickens uses similes to show how Scrooge feels that morning, “I am as light as a feather” This suggests he feels like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders and he doesn't have to be sad anymore. This gives him relief. The weather changes from the dark, gloomy weather in the first stage to now “golden sunlight”, “clear”,” bright” and “jovial” outside. This adds to the joyful mood of the chapter, the reader can sense that the ending will be happy because of the changed weather. The weather also changes to match Scrooge's temperament. Money becomes less important to Scrooge in the latter stave because, in the first stave, he is a miser who hoards his money. And hardly ever spends his money, whereas, in the fifth stave, he meets one of the charity collectors and donates a large amount of money to their cause. He says “it's very kind” of them to do the work they do. He also offers to help the Cratchit family in this chapter, he sees that it is his responsibility to help others who are worse off than he is.
Dickens uses the transformation of Scrooge to help his readers understand the importance of helping the poor. Scrooge is now more interested in helping other people, and he realizes that he can do this by being generous with his money. Lastly in stave one scrooge is invited by Fred to spend Christmas with his family and refuses to attend. In stave five scrooge joins his family. Despite Scrooge's behavior towards Fred and his family, he is welcomed. Fred shakes his hand enthusiastically and they celebrate Christmas with “wonderful unanimity”. Dickens uses the acceptance of Fred and his family to illustrate that family love is unconditional, and can be the source of “wonderful happiness”.
Scrooge also gains another family, he becomes a “second father” to Tiny Tim. In chapter two scrooge is upset that he never became a father, helping Tiny Tim and the Cratchit has allowed him to achieve that dream.
Overall dickens presents Scrooge to change dramatically from a selfish and cold person to a loving, kind, and generous one.
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