What does the quote solitary as an oyster mean?
We see how he holds tightly to everything he has. 'solitary as an oyster' - oyster shells are calcified, hard and irregular in shape. This simile suggests that Scrooge also has these tough and strange qualities and that he is hard to 'open'.
Scrooge is described as being solitary as an oyster (p. 2). Effect. This simile suggests he is shut up, tightly closed and will not be prised open except by force. However, an oyster might contain a pearl, so it also suggests there might be good buried deep inside him, underneath the hard, brittle shell.
But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous 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.
Dickens describes Scrooge as as solitary as an oyster. By comparing him to a creature that only rarely comes out, it shows how lonely and anti-social he really is, making the readers grow a stronger dislike for him.
Terms in this set (5) "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still." This quote could suggest why Scrooge is the way he is now. He was neglected by society as a child so feels he can't join society now, as he's afraid of rejection.
Oyster can be an adjective, a verb or a noun.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is a metaphor for the memories that shape our character, while the Ghost of Christmas Present is a metaphor for generosity and joy. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a metaphor for death and the legacy of our lives that we leave for others.
living alone; avoiding the society of others: a solitary existence.
He's greedy, stingy, surly and, in the case of "A Muppet Christmas Carol," looks an awful lot like Michael Caine. But it turns out there may be a big reason Scrooge is such a miser. The theory: Scrooge is so stingy because he lived through the Napoleonic Wars and knows what economic hardship is really like.
Pearls are made by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body. The oyster or mussel slowly secretes layers of aragonite and conchiolin, materials that also make up its shell.
What two similes are used to describe Scrooge in Stave 1?
| How? | |
|---|---|
| Clear narrative voice | Dickens uses a narrative voice that offers opinions on the characters. For example 'Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!' |
| Simile | When Dickens first presents Scrooge he describes him as 'Hard and sharp as flint'. |
- "Solitary as an oyster" ...
- "Nobody ever stopped him in the street... ...
- "A lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire... ...
- "Spirit, remove me from this place" ...
- "I don't know of anybody to go" ...
- "Lying gasping out his last there, alone by himself." ...
- "he was a second father...
The simile 'light as a feather' captures how he is now free from the great burden of greed. With this new attitude, Scrooge proceeds to correct the mistakes he made in Stave One by giving money to charity and improving Bob's Christmas; Dickens uses a mirrored structure to highlight the huge change in Scrooge.
Basically, it just means you're eating seafood raw, not cooked. Most of the time, you'll see oysters or clams served on a bed of crushed iced with lemon wedges, hot sauce, and a mignonette sauce (more on this later!). The top shell is popped off to reveal the meat on the inside sitting in the bottom shell.
