Within his didactic novella, Dickens presents the theme of business and commerce to critique the dehumanizing effects of capitalism and highlight the moral consequences of greed. Not only does he explicitly criticize the pursuit of wealth at the expense of social responsibility, but shows through the transformation of Scrooge, the possibility of moral renewal via a new view to business. Immediately, in stave one, Dickens constructs Scrooge as the embodiment of a completely business-minded individual, whose obsession with wealth defines his life. Dickens from the offset of his novella, presents Scrooge as utterly absorbed in his business, indicated by the repetition of the adjective 'sole'. This clearly emphasizes his isolation, due to his constant pursuit of wealth; he has no time to form human relationships, let alone be responsible for other people. As inherently social creatures, humans require the company of others to function healthily. Dickens may have put this insight into Scrooge's character at the start of the novella to immediately highlight the negative impact of an overly commercialized, profit driven worldview, to discourage his Victorian readership from doing the same. It may also set the stage for Scrooge's transformation by stave five, where his business goes from defining his life -stripping him of his humanity- to being a tool, separate from himself, that he uses to help others. He tells the portly gentlemen that he will pay 'not a farthing less' to the charities he so readily dismissed the 'day before'. Dickens does not only critique the dehumanizing effects of commerce in Victorian society with Scrooge, but with his fellow business men as well. In stave four, the discussion of Scrooge's death is underscored with a tone of indifference, which could be Dickens criticizing the heartless nature of business culture during the Victorian era. Where relationships between business men were driven solely by profit, devoid of personal connection. For contemporary readers, this was a relevant issue given that the 19th century saw the expansion of businesses and the growth of the capitalist economy in England. With this increased industrialization, business owners were getting richer and richer and in Dickens' eyes, more and more driven by the pursuit of profit over actually caring about and wanting to help others. This moment in Dickens' didactic novella demonstrates the richest business owners in society, the dehumanizing effects of their obsession with business. When discussing Scrooge's funeral, one claims that he 'doesn't mind going if lunch is provided'. The detached, casual tone of this remark contrasts the -what should be- sombre and melancholic topic of death and reveals the dehumanizing effects of the capitalist mindset. Not only does it dehumanize Scrooge by reducing his life to his only defining feature (wealth), but it dehumanizes the speaker and therefore businessmen as a whole by emphasizing their lack of the human feeling of empathy, replaced by the blind pursuit of profit. Undeniably, Dickens here is explicitly critiquing rich business owners' relentless pursuit of wealth by showing how it not only dehumanizes others, but themselves also. This heartless attitude displayed by these men is a stark juxtaposition to the values Scrooge displays post transformation in stave five. Despite the aforementioned criticism, Dickens chooses to end his political diatribe on a more positive note: proving via the const,ruct of his protagonist Scrooge, the possibility of moral renewal through a redefined approach to business. Perhaps the decision to leave the solution to the end of the book is a deliberate one; to make sure that the business owners reading are left with an exemplar to follow. A redeemed miser whose new view on commerce and business is one rooted in social responsibility, not personal profit. The change in Scrooge is evident even in the way that he speaks, he promises his employee Bob Cratchit, that he will 'endeavour' to 'assist [his] struggling family'. The choice of the verb 'endeavour' is an interesting one, an obvious contrast to the asyndetic list of present continuous action verbs used to describe Scrooge in stave one. Unlike 'squeezing', 'wrenching' and 'grasping', 'endeavour' has connotations of effort and a journey, which could highlight the work Scrooge is willing to put in to right the wrongs of his business obsessed past and embark on a new journey to use his money to help others. The impact of him 'raising [Bob's] salary' to the Cratchit family is evident when we as readers learn that Tiny Tim 'did not die'. Through the survival of Tiny Tim, and the newfound happiness of Scrooge - who describes himself as 'light as a feather'- Dickens illustrates how commerce, when practiced with compassion and generosity, can lead to personal renewal, and a more equitable society.