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In what ways does Charles Dickens use a ghost story to encourage people to be more humanitarian?
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In what ways does Charles Dickens use a ghost story to encourage people to be more humanitarian? This essay is discussing how Charles Dickens encourages people to be more humanitarian by using a ghost story. He does this by showing how being humanitarian can improve your life and others, what the consequences of greed are, using peoples fears to change them and showing people what they are missing if they carry on the way they are. He uses each of the three spirits to portray a different message. These messages tell Scrooge the consequences of his greed and they show him ways in which he can become more humanitarian. This may encourage the reader to be more humanitarian too because they can learn from Scrooge’s mistakes. When they see that Scrooge is taking in these important lessons, the reader will do the same because it will prevent them from going through what Scrooge is going through. The first spirit started off showing him his old neighbourhood. He had fond memories of it because when he saw his old friends his face lit up and he laughed, “he was rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them!” it said in the text. This message that the spirit is telling him is that he used to be so happy when he celebrated and took part in Christmas. We know he took part in Christmas because it says in the text, “Why was he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry Christmas”. This is such a contrast from what Scrooge is like now and it is making Scrooge realise that Christmas is a happy time of year. He was more humanitarian when he celebrated Christmas and we know he was humanitarian because he was loved. We know that he was loved because when his little sister, Fan, bounced into the room the text says, “putting her arms about his neck, and often kissing him.” The second spirit has a message too. It is showing Scrooge what he is missing because of his ignorance and greed, he is making him realise that his money has cost him his family life. It is telling him that he is missing so many things because he has let money get in the way of love. There are several examples of Scrooge missing things because he has chosen money over love. One example was when the spirit of the present took him to his nephew’s Christmas party. Scrooge had previously been invited to it but he turned it down because of his ill feelings about Christmas and he didn’t want to spend time there when he could be earning money. The spirit showed him the party and it was clear that Scrooge wanted to be there. When the spirit said it was time to leave that scene, Scrooge said, “Here’s a new game, one half hour, Spirit, only one!” He wanted to stay and watch the games that he could have been playing if only he had accepted the invite.
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