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Read these opening lines: "Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail." What is the effect of the comparison to a door-nail?
AIt suggests the death was a violent one
BIt shows the narrator did not know the man
CIt puts the fact beyond any possible doubt
DIt hints that the burial was never recorded
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. It puts the fact beyond any possible doubt
1. The death is asserted, then backed by four signatures on the burial register.
2. The comparison to a door-nail is a familiar saying that means completely and finally dead.
3. Repeating the point in a homely phrase hammers it home rather than softening it.
4. So the effect is to leave no room for doubt, option C.
_Source: Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843), Stave I Marley's Ghost_
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