First, let's begin with opening description of Scrooge as
he is in Stave One:
Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand
at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching,
old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous
fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an
oyster.
So, before we see the
young man he was, as shown to him by the Ghost of Christmas Past in Stave Two, we see
the shrivelled, "tight-fisted," miser that he has grown to be. In his counting house,
he does not let Cratchitt add coal to the fire, spurns his nephew's invitation to join
him on Christmas day, refuses to give some of his great wealth to charity to help the
poor. He says:
Are there no prisons?. . .And the workhouses?. .
.Are they still in operation?. . .I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't
afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned:
they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go
there.
And he ends the scene
begrudgingly allowing his employee to take Christmas day off, telling him to be in "all
the earlier the next morning."
This is in huge contrast to
Fezziwig's warehouse in Stave Two. Fezziwig himself is jolly and approachable, and
Scrooge and his companion Dick work happily for him. In contrast, to Scrooge's cold,
miserable counting house, here is how Dickens describes the
warehouse:
[T]he floor was swept and watered, the lamps
were trimmed, fuel was heaped upon the fire; and the warehouse was. . .snug, and warm,
and dry.
There were. . .dances, and there were forfeits,
and more dances, and there was cake. . .and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and
there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of
beer.
In short, Fezziwig is
throwing an all-out "office" Christmas party, with Scrooge out amongst the crowd, making
merry, dancing, eating and drinking with his fellows. Quite the contrast to the sort of
employer that Scrooge has proved to be in his later years at his own counting
house.
The Ghost and Scrooge then discuss the sort of
employer that Fezziwig was:
“A small matter,” said the Ghost, “to make these
silly folks so full of gratitude.”
“Small!” echoed
Scrooge.. . .
“Why! Is it not? He has spent but a few
pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves
this praise?”
“It isn't that, Spirit. He has the power to
render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a
toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant
that it is impossible to add and count ’em up: what then? The happiness he gives is
quite as great as if it cost a
fortune.”
And with these
words, Scrooge has made his first step towards transformation. He realizes, in
comparing himself to Fezziwig, that he isn't the sort of employer he would like to be at
all!
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