A Christmas Carol Time Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Stave.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Now, being prepared for almost anything, he was not by any means prepared for nothing; and, consequently, when the Bell struck One, and no shape appeared, he was taken with a violent fit of trembling. Five minutes, ten minutes, a quarter of an hour went by, yet nothing came. All this time, he lay upon his bed, the very core and centre of a blaze of ruddy light, which streamed upon it when the clock proclaimed the hour; and which, being only light, was more alarming than a dozen ghosts, as he was powerless to make out what it meant, or would be at; and was sometimes apprehensive that he might be at that very moment an interesting case of spontaneous combustion, without having the consolation of knowing it. (3.3)

Again, we get the text counting out the time. But instead of it bringing a rush of fun, like at Fezziwig's house, now the counting highlights Scrooge's fear and dread of time passing.

Quote #5

It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the Christmas Holidays appeared to be condensed into the space of time they passed together. It was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a children's Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey.

"Are spirits' lives so short?" asked Scrooge.

"My life upon this globe is very brief," replied the Ghost. "It ends to-night […] at midnight. Hark! The time is drawing near."

The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment. (3.131-136)

Okay, so let's get this straight. For the ghost, biological time is rushing forward at breakneck speed as it gets older and older as Christmas passes. Meanwhile, human time within the vision is advancing normally. And at the same time, real time is going backwards because Scrooge will wake up earlier than when he fell asleep. Whew.

Quote #6

"Spectre," said Scrooge, "something informs me that our parting moment is at hand. I know it, but I know not how." (4.141)

Scrooge is now operating on ghost time. Sweet.