PERSONAL CHANGE
Scrooge is described as having changed over time, becoming more avaricious and focused on gain, which led to the loss of his nobler aspirations and affected his relationship with the young girl. The text provides evidence of his transformation from a happier, more content person to one consumed by the pursuit of wealth.
SCROOGE
There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye, which showed the passion that had taken root, and where the shadow of the growing tree would fall... 'You fear the world too much,' she answered gently. 'All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?'... 'You are changed. When it was made you were another man.' 'Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are,' she returned. 'I am. That which promised happiness when we were one in heart is fraught with misery now that we are two.'