From
the very first page, the reader is led to understand that Ebenezer Scrooge has a disdain for
Christmas or indeed any kind of celebration. The author, , masterfully weaves the holiday into
his description of Scrooge himself:
He carried his own low
temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one
degree at Christmas.
Here we see that Scrooge is cold: so
cold he doesn't mind working in a freezing office. And because Christmas means nothing to him,
he sees no reason to heat the building, even in modest celebration of the holiday. His poor
clerk, shivering at his desk, longs for just a coal or two, but Scrooge is completely impassive
to his discomfort.
A little later in the same scene, Scrooge's happy nephew
bursts in:
"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save
you!" cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so
quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!"
He had so heated
himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a
glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.
"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean
that, I am sure?""I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas!
What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You're poor
enough.""Come, then," returned the nephew gaily. "What
right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You're rich
enough."Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the
moment, said, "Bah!" again; and followed it up with "Humbug."
"Don't be cross, uncle!" said the nephew.
"What else
can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry
Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills
without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for
balancing your books and having every item in em through a round dozen of months presented dead
against you? If I could work my will," said Scrooge indignantly, "every idiot who goes
about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with
a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"
With
this exchange, Scrooge makes his feelings plain. Not only does he refuse every possibility of
joy in the Christmas season, he even calls those who do celebrate "idiots" and
declares that they deserve terrible suffering. Just for daring to seek happiness on a
once-a-year cultural holiday!
We can easily infer Scrooge's feelings from
these couple of quotes. He absolutely hates it and all who enjoy it. In short, Scrooge's
feelings are: "Christmas? Bah humbug!"
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