5.1.3
Narrative Voice & Tone
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Narrative Voice
The narrative voice is engaging and entertaining. It seems to describe Scrooge as a villain, which the reader agrees with, and so the reader comes to trust the narrative voice.
Chatty and humorous
- Charles Dickens uses a fairly chatty narrative voice in this story.
- The narrator comes across as humorous. He says things like "Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail". This allows the reader to warm to the narrator.
Opinionated about Scrooge
- We quickly get the sense that the narrator has a negative opinion of Scrooge. Some of the opinions he injects into Stave 1 include:
- “Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand.”
- “A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”
- Because we warm to the narrator early on, we trust the narrator's view of Scrooge.
Tone
The narrator's voice dictates the tone throughout the novella.
Entertaining tone
- The narrator injects humour and sarcasm into the start of the novella, which creates an engaging tone.
- Humour: "Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail".
- Sarcasm: he calls Scrooge an "excellent man of business" amid many negative comments.
- This gives the start of the novel a light-hearted feel.
Sad and sympathetic tone
- As the story delves into Scrooge's sad past, the tone becomes less lively and more sad.
- From insulting Scrooge in Stave 1, the narrator moves to pitying Scrooge: “a solitary child, neglected by his friends”.
- The narrator speaks tenderly when describing Tiny Tim and the other Cratchits: "Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame".
Jovial
- But in the final stave, once Scrooge has vowed to change his ways, the narrator's tone turns jovial.
- This reflects both Scrooge's own happiness at his transformation, and reinforces the positivity of the novella's message about his transformation.
- The stave contains many exclamations, e.g. "Oh, glorious, glorious!"
Darker tone
- Dickens dampens the mood when he wants to stress the ignorance of his society and the importance of social responsibility:
- Ignorance and Want are described as “wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable” to emphasise how ugly these problems are for society.
- Dickens emphasises how awful the poverty is in parts of London with descriptions like "reeked with crime, with filth and misery".
1Plot Summary
2Key Characters & Quotes
2.1Ebenezer Scrooge
2.2Other Characters
2.2.1Bob Cratchit2.2.2Tiny Tim2.2.3Fred2.2.4The Ghosts Pt 12.2.5The Ghosts Pt 22.2.6End of Topic Test - Other Characters2.2.7Diagnostic Misconceptions - Bob Marley2.2.8Diagnostic Misconceptions - Two Ghosts2.2.9Diagnostic Misconceptions - Ghost of Christmas2.2.10Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Cratchits
2.3Grade 9 - Key Characters
3Key Ideas
4Context
5Authorial Method
6Recap: Main Quotes
Jump to other topics
1Plot Summary
2Key Characters & Quotes
2.1Ebenezer Scrooge
2.2Other Characters
2.2.1Bob Cratchit2.2.2Tiny Tim2.2.3Fred2.2.4The Ghosts Pt 12.2.5The Ghosts Pt 22.2.6End of Topic Test - Other Characters2.2.7Diagnostic Misconceptions - Bob Marley2.2.8Diagnostic Misconceptions - Two Ghosts2.2.9Diagnostic Misconceptions - Ghost of Christmas2.2.10Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Cratchits
2.3Grade 9 - Key Characters
3Key Ideas
4Context
5Authorial Method
6Recap: Main Quotes
Practice questions on Narrative Voice & Tone
Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
- 1Quotes showing the narrator's negative opinion of Scrooge:Fill in the list
- 2The Narrator's Negative Opinion of Scrooge Put in order
- 3Features of the narrative voice:True / false
- 4
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