Background.

A Christmas Carol.
  • ' You lot may exist an undigested bit of beef ' is a quotation from A Christmas Ballad (Stave 1).
  • A Christmas Ballad is a novella, or short story, written past Charles Dickens and start published in the Christmas of 1843. The allegorical tale tells the story of the transformation of the hateful-spirited Ebenezer Scrooge through the visits of the spirit of his former business partner and three ghosts over the course of a Christmas Eve night. It remains a much-loved traditional Christmas tale.

Context.

This quote is said by Ebenezer Scrooge to the ghost of Jacob Marley. While he is preparing to go to bed on Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his business partner, Jacob Marley, who had died seven years earlier on the same solar day.

Scroooge is clearly frightened by the visit as Marley'due south voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones.All the same, Scrooge, in his characteristic hard mental attitude, dismisses the sight of the ghost with this light-hearted response, although Scrooge is described as not much in the habit of cracking jokes .

By commenting to Marley that yous may be an undigested chip of beef , Scrooge is bold that the vision he is witnessing may be every bit a result of the food he has eaten. This follows the belief that eating certain foods prior to bedtime may atomic number 82 to a person getting nightmares or having brilliant dreams during the nighttime.

Symbolism in A Christmas Ballad: Nutrient.

Food is used inside A Christmas Carol to highlight individual characteristics and complement some of the themes that run through the story, such as Christmas and the importance of family. At the start of the novella, imagery of food is used to show characteristics of the protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge as a airtight, self-isolated character when he is described as beingness as solitary as an oyster. On Christmas Day morning, Scrooge is shown city streets full of delicious nutrient prepared for the festive menses. Charles Dickens pays detailed attending to describing some of the food and often adds sense of humour to the depictions, almost giving them their own personality such as bully, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly quondam gentlemen, and ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Castilian Onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars. We read of the Cratchit family sitting down to a small roast goose dinner on Christmas Day. Goose was a cheaper meat than Turkey, reflecting the poverty of the family. The meat is eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, reflecting the Cratchit'south making do with cheap accompaniments. Poor households did not accept their ain ovens so the goose is cooked in the ovens of a local bakers and a dress-washing pot is used to cook the modest pudding for a large family, causing the cloth to have a smell similar a washing-twenty-four hour period! Bob Cratchit makes a festive punch-type drink of a hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, gin beingness a cheap alcoholic ingredient to add. Despite the meagre meal the dinner at the Cratchit's shows Christmas tradition of bringing the family together and the emotional warmth inside the household. After he is visited past the spirits of his former business organisation partner, Jacob Marley and three ghosts, we come across Scrooge, a changed human being, purchasing a large turkey for the Cratchits, symbolising his transformation from miserly to a generous grapheme.

  • Discover more symbolism in A Christmas Carol.

Ebenezer Scrooge.

Ebenezer Scrooge is ane of the most famous characters created by Charles Dickens and arguably one of the about famous in English language literature. The protagonist of A Christmas Carol , Scrooge is the common cold-hearted and mean-spirited accountant. His business organization partner, the as hateful Jacob Marley, died seven years previous and he lives alone, having never married. Through a visit one Christmas Eve past the ghost of Marley and 3 subsequent spirits, Scrooge is awakened to his meanness and the touch on it has on others.

Source.

Taken from the following passage of Stave 1 (Marley'southward Ghost) of A Christmas Ballad :

"You don't believe in me," observed the Ghost.

"I don't," said Scrooge.

"What bear witness would you have of my reality beyond that of your senses?"

"I don't know," said Scrooge.

"Why do you doubtfulness your senses?"

"Because," said Scrooge, "a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef , a absorb of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave well-nigh you, whatsoever you are!"

Scrooge was not much in the habit of nifty jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish so. The truth is, that he tried to exist smart, every bit a ways of distracting his own attention, and keeping down his terror; for the spectre'southward vox disturbed the very marrow in his bones.

Have Your Say.

You may be an undigested bit of beef.

Related.

  • Click here to encounter our collection of quotations related to the character of Ebenezer Scrooge.
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Resource.

We accept made our A Christmas Carol quotation slides (seen at the top of each quotation folio) available to download for academic or other non-commercial purposes. Available as GIF images, the files tin be used for presentation slides, flashcards, handouts etc. Dimensions are 1500 by 850 pixels. We brand them free to download and use on the agreement they are not so sold or used for commercial purposes (and a credit to our site would be overnice!).

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