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Examples Of Greed In A Christmas Carol

Decent Essays

In a Victorian Age society where making money is everyone’s goal, one may forget that making money isn’t the most important thing. Children grow up knowing they’d be no one without money, but they aren’t being taught that this isn’t the most imperative thing to worry about. A lot of people tend to ignore the negatives that come with having a lot of money. One such book that teaches this lesson would be A Christmas Carol. In A Christmas Carol, wealth is a sign of a moral corruption and the devastating effects of greed because it changed Scrooge into a cheap, selfish person who valued money above all. Scrooge was a perfect example as in to how wealth changes a person for the worse. When he was younger, he was engaged to Belle. She eventually left him because he changed into a man she no longer loved. He had begun to value money more than her and their love. She even told him, “You are changed” (Dickens, 45) straight out to emphasize just how much he had really changed. Money really changed Scrooge into a different person and not for the better. This conveys how powerful the influence of money can be on anyone. Scrooge used to be very poor, …show more content…

One such quote that depicted his cheapness was,” Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it” (Dickens, 15). He preferred the darkness because then he didn’t have to pay for the electricity bill. He even refused to give donations to the two men who came collecting money for the poor (Dickens, 10). Scrooge didn’t want to give his money away, and instead, wanted to keep it all for himself. In addition, he didn’t allow Bob to take the day off on Christmas (Dickens, 12). For Scrooge, this was a day went to waste because he wouldn’t be making money. He constantly worked because his work was his life. Working meant making money, which was very significant in his life. It was his purpose in life. Wealth caused Scrooge to become very cheap and selfish with his

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