What did Scrooge tell the first ghost?

Answer 1

In short, the first spirit is warning Scrooge that if he doesn't change the way he lives his life, he will end up just like the spirit (bound in all the missed opportunities that the soul had missed in his life... literally, like Marley had a chain with cash boxes, purses, etc..)

Answer 2

In "A Christmas Carol," Scrooge tells the first ghost ("Jacob Marley") that he believes the ghost is a hallucination or a trick of indigestion. He initially refuses to accept the reality of Marley's existence as a spirit.

Answer 3

The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge the events that have happened in his own past that have affected him in his later life i.e being left alone at Christmas in his boarding school whilst everyone else was wit their own families

Answer 4

Their interaction is larger than any other in the book. The key message is to make Scrooge see what is occurring around him, how others keep Christmas and how much deprivation and poverty there is - The ghost highlights this factor by showing Scrooge the two children "Want" and "Ignorance" both of whom are of mans making

Answer 5

The first spirit which was the Ghost of Christmas Past showed Scrooge the place he was born at. Then, they visited Scrooge's childhood.

Stave 2:

1. As the words were spoken, they passed through the wall, and stood upon an open country road, with fields on either hand. The city had entirely vanished. Not a vestige of it was to be seen. The darkness and the mist had vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter day, with snow upon the ground.
2. "Good Heaven!" said Scrooge, clasping his hands together, as he looked about him. "I was bred in this place. I was a boy here."
3. "You recollect the way?" inquired the Spirit.
4. "Remember it!" cried Scrooge with fervor -- "I could walk it blindfold."
5. "Strange to have forgotten it for so many years," observed the Ghost. "Let us go on."
6. They walked along the road, Scrooge recognizing every gate, and post, and tree; until a little market-town appeared in the distance, with its bridge, its church, and winding river. Some shaggy ponies now were seen trotting towards them with boys upon their backs, who called to other boys in country gigs and carts, driven by farmers. All these boys were in great spirits, and shouted to each other, until the broad fields were so full of merry music, that the crisp air laughed to hear it.
7. "These are but shadows of the things that have been," said the Ghost. "They have no consciousness of us."
8. "The school is not quite deserted," said the Ghost. "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still."
9. Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed.

Answer 6

Each ghost as proclaimed by Marley had a different time frame to visit Scrooge. Each had the same underlying message about Keeping Christmas not just for a day but for life.

• The Ghost of Christmas Past showed Scrooge visions of his own past and past Christmas. These were to lay the foundation of why Scrooge changed to the man he had become and highlighted these changes to Scrooge in each time line they visited together.
• The Ghost of Christmas Present showed Scrooge what really was happening around him at that time and across the 12 days of Christmas. This was to make Scrooge see that his ignorance of what was happening to those less fortunate than himself and how his attitude to those in need was being impacted upon by that ignorance.
• Finally he was to see through the host of Christmas yet to come what would happen to him should he fail to make the changes in life expected of him and keep Christmas in his heart thereafter

Answer 7

'... you're just a lump of porridge, a piece of undigested cheese...'

Answer 8

He was transported back to his school days where he was a boarder and spent many Christmas's on his own as his father did not want him home