So you think know "A Christmas Carol"? Which one of these questions would surprise you if you knew the answer?15 of 25
Does Ebenezer Scrooge tell a lie when he says that he does not know about the plight of the poor and says,
"It's not my business," Scrooge returned. "It's enough for a man to understand his own business and not to interfere with other people's."?Yes. Even though Scrooge may or not may have considered going to a workhouse and such himself, the visit of the ghost of Scrooge's Christmas past revealed rthat Scrooge was once poor. In Stave 1 Marley's Ghost, Scrooge comments about Bob Cratchit, "My clerk, with fifteen shillings a-week, and a wife and a family, talking about a merry Christmas." In "Stave Three: The Second of The Three Spirits" Scrooge has this exchange with the Ghost of Christmas Present where Scrooge is arguing a case for the poor and opposing an actually real proposed law closing bakeries on Sunday,
" Spirit, " said Scrooge, after a moment's thought, "I wonder you, of all the beans in the many worlds about us, should desire to create these peoples opportunities of his enjoyment." "I!" cried the Spirit. "Would you deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day, often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all," said Scrooge. "Wouldn't you?" "I!" cried the Spirit. "You seek to close these places on the Seventh Day?" said Scrooge. "And he comes to the same thing." "I seek!" exclaimed the Spirit. "Forgive me if I am wrong. It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your family," said Scrooge.Scrooge also becomes concerned about Tiny Tim's health too. IMHO, Scrooge does know and care. But it stops when it comes to asking him for money without a return. Remember, he is a miser which means he is tight, stingy, and frugile with money. It doesn't mean he doesn't have any human feelings at all.
Photo by Jim Henson Company, The - © 1992