How is Scrooge an outsider?

In A Christmas Carol, we can find evidence of Scrooge's status as an outsider in the first stave. Dickens describes Scrooge as someone who deliberately avoids other people and who has exiled himself to the fringes of society.

To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call nuts to Scrooge.

Secondly, Scrooge has no interest in spending time with his...

In A Christmas Carol, we can find evidence of Scrooge's status as an outsider in the first stave. Dickens describes Scrooge as someone who deliberately avoids other people and who has exiled himself to the fringes of society.

To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call nuts to Scrooge.

Secondly, Scrooge has no interest in spending time with his only surviving family member, Fred. When Fred asks to spend Christmas with him, for example, Scrooge flatly denies his request. For Scrooge, Christmas is just like any other day and he will not change this opinion, even though it is at odds with the rest of society, saying,

Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.

Additionally, Scrooge does not subscribe to the idea that society has a moral and financial obligation to the poor. This contributes to his outsider status and we see this when two gentlemen call at his premises to request a charitable donation. For Scrooge, poor people are "idle" and should be placed in prisons and workhouses.