Download Literary Analysis Paragraph Sample

Literary Analysis Paragraph Sample
Prompt:
What hints are there that Scrooge may still change for the better?
Response:
Over the course of Act I, Scrooge is changing for the better. For example, at the
beginning of the Act he mistreats a young boy outside his counting house who is singing
Christmas carols. After Past takes Scrooge to visit the Young Scrooge as a boy, Scrooge says to
Past that he wishes he had “given him something” (656). Scrooge as an older man identifies with
how he mistreated the young caroler given how he was mistreated by the schoolmaster and his
own father. These realizations are the first time he has opened his hardened heart to the feelings
of pain and loneliness beginning the change within him. In addition to the changes that begin in
older Scrooge because of the young caroler, he also begins to feel sorrow when he relives
Fezziwig’s Christmas party. Scrooge realizes that Fezziwig was a kind-hearted man who treated
his employees kindly. Scrooge also comes to see that a few kind words and a few schillings spent
for goodwill builds friendly, happy relationships and then ultimately feels sadness for how he
treats his apprentice, Cratchit. Furthermore, Scrooge weeps over the death of his sister, Fan. This
also shows the change he is experiencing, because when he is reminded of her kind heart, Past
asks about Fan’s only son, Scrooge’s nephew, who comes by every Christmas Eve to invite
Scrooge over for dinner. Scrooge comes to see the nephew’s invite as another example of
kindness and warmth in human kind. Scrooge’s heart clearly is affected by the visions of his
past, and he is changing from a man with a hardened heart to one who sees the value in human
compassion.