NEGATIVE CHARACTER TRAITS
Scrooge is described as a "clutching, covetous old sinner," "hard and sharp as flint," "secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." He is portrayed as cold, unfeeling, and unsympathetic, with no warmth or kindness towards others. These traits are repeatedly emphasized throughout the text, indicating a confirmed negative characterization.
SCROOGE
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. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days, and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.