A Christmas Carol Workbook 4544d
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What is A Christmas Carol? ‘A Christmas Carol’ is a short novel (novella) about a bitter man called Scrooge. With the help and guidance of three ghosts, Scrooge changes dramatically, from a harsh bitter and cold man to someone who is kind and generous by the end of the novel. Although it is a fictional story, the novel explores the very real problem of poverty in Victorian society. It criticises the attitudes of many rich people, who Dickens saw as dismissing and ignoring the problem. Dickens argues in the novel that people have a duty to help the less fortunate. Is this something you agree with?
Context: Charles Dickens We are going to watch a short video about the life of Charles Dickens. This will help to develop your understanding of the novella and you will need to include this information in all future essays. Make notes below. How does this information influence your thoughts about A Christmas Carol?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AB9poWDeDs
Charles Dickens
Historical Context Information • Although initially wealthy, John Dickens fell into debt and was sent to Marshal sea Prison • The Dickens family then moved to a poor area of London • He worked labelling blacking-bottles to help his family • He trained as a law clerk and then a journalist • His novels have social messages and attempt to reform society • Early in 1843, as a response to a government report on the abuse of child labourers in mines and factories, Dickens vowed he would strike a "sledge-hammer blow ... on behalf of the Poor Man's Child."
How can we relate each of these bullet points to the novella?
What is meant by ‘Victorian Society’? • The Victorian era was from 1837 – 1901 and it marks the reign of Queen Victoria. • Victoria was the longest reigning British monarch (until the current Queen) and the figurehead of a vast empire. • She oversaw huge changes in British society and gave her name to an age.
The Prisons and The Treill Victorians were worried about the rising crime rate: offences went up from about 5,000 per year in 1800 to about 20,000 per year in 1840. They were firm believers in punishment for criminals, but faced a problem: what should the punishment be? The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built and old ones extended. The Victorians also had clear ideas about what these prisons should be like. They should be unpleasant places, to deter people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners were made to do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.
Ebenezer Scrooge
The Poor Law & The Workhouses The Poor Law was the way that the poor were helped in 1815. The law said that each parish had to look after its own poor. If you were unable to work then you were given some money to help you survive. However, the cost of the Poor Law was increasing every year. By 1830 it cost about £7 million and criticism of the law was mounting.
What problems in society do you think occurred because of this?
In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act was ed by Parliament. This was designed to reduce the cost of looking after the poor as it stopped money going to poor people except in exceptional circumstances. Now if people wanted help they had to go into a workhouse to get it. 1. Which character represents the poor in A Christmas Carol? 2. Can he be considered idle and useless? 3. What is Dickens’ point of view?
Stave 1 Summary On a frigid, foggy Christmas Eve in London, a shrewd, mean-spirited cheapskate named Ebenezer Scrooge works meticulously in his counting-house. Outside the office creaks a little sign reading "Scrooge and Marley"--Jacob Marley, Scrooge's business partner, has died seven years previous. Inside the office, Scrooge watches over his clerk, a poor diminutive man named Bob Cratchit. The smouldering ashes in the fireplace provide little heat even for Bob's tiny room. Despite the harsh weather Scrooge refuses to pay for another lump of coal to warm the office. Suddenly, a ruddy-faced young man bursts into the office offering holiday greetings and an exclamatory, "Merry Christmas!" The young man is Scrooge's jovial nephew Fred who has stopped by to invite Scrooge to Christmas dinner. The grumpy Scrooge responds with a "Bah! Humbug!" refusing to share in Fred's Christmas cheer. After Fred departs, a pair of portly gentlemen enters the office to ask Scrooge for a charitable donation to help the poor. Scrooge angrily replies that prisons and workhouses are the only charities he is willing to and the gentlemen leave emptyhanded. Scrooge confronts Bob Cratchit, complaining about Bob's wish to take a day off for the holiday. "What good is Christmas," Scrooge snipes, "that it should shut down business?" He begrudgingly agrees to give Bob a day off but insists that he arrive at the office all the earlier the next day. Scrooge follows the same old routine, taking dinner in his usual tavern and returning home through the dismal, fogblanketed London streets. Just before entering his house, the door knocker on his front door, the same door he has ed through twice a d ay for his many years, catches his attention. A ghostly image in the curves of the knocker gives the old man a momentary shock: It is the peering face of Jacob Marley. When Scrooge takes a second re-focused look, he sees nothing but a door knocker. With a disgusted "Pooh-pooh," Scrooge opens the door and trudges into his bleak quarters. He makes little effort to brighten his home: "darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it." As he plods up the wide staircase, Scrooge, in utter disbelief, sees a locomotive hearse climbing the stairs beside him. After rushing to his room, Scrooge locks the door behind him and puts on his dressing gown. As he eats his gruel before the fire, the carvings on his mantelpiece suddenly transform into images of Jacob Marley's face. Scrooge, determined to dismiss the strange visions, blurts out "Humbug!" All the bells in the room fly up from the tables and begin to ring sharply. Scrooge hears footsteps thumping up the stairs. A ghostly figure floats through the closed door--Jacob Marley, transparent and bound in chains.
Scrooge shouts in disbelief, refusing to it that he sees Marley's ghost--a strange case of food poisoning, he claims. The ghost begins to murmur: He has spent seven years wandering the Earth in his heavy chains as punishment for his sins. Scrooge looks closely at the chains and realises that the links are forged of cashboxes, padlocks, ledgers, and steel purses. The wraith tells Scrooge that he has come from beyond the grave to save him from this very fate. He says that Scrooge will be visited by three spirits over the next three nights--the first two appearing at one o'clock in the morning and the final spirit arriving at the last stoke of midnight. He rises and backs toward the window, which opens almost magically, leaving a trembling Scrooge white with fear. The ghost gestures to Scrooge to look out the window, and Scrooge complies. He sees a throng of spirits, each bound in chains. They wail about their failure to lead honourable, caring lives and their inability to reach out to others in need as they and Marley disappear into the mist. Scrooge stumbles to his bed and falls instantly asleep.
SCROOGE Look carefully at this Victorian illustration: what can you infer and deduce from it about Scrooge?
First Impressions of Ebenezer Scrooge Dickens uses adjectives to describe Scrooge. What do we learn about him from the following quotations?
“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone. Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!”
Glossary: gait-way of walking frosty rime- white hair covetous-envious of other people’s possessions
Describing Scrooge Read Dickens’ description of Scrooge. Select words from the box below to describe his character. Use a dictionary to find the definitions of any words you don't know.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, 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) friendly b) miserly c) generous d) warm hearted e) happy f) miserable g) lonely
h) skinny
What are your first impressions of Ebenezer Scrooge? Write down 4 more adjectives that describe Scrooge then find an example of something that Scrooge says or does which reinforces that idea Use the extract on the previous page.
Adjective
Miserable
Evidence
Look at the following points and ing quotations. Use them and your own ideas from the previous activity to complete the following planning grids.
• • • • • • • • • • •
Envious- “a covetous old sinner” Miserly- “he was tight-fisted” Unkind/mean spirited- “hard and sharp as flint” Unsociable- “self- contained, and solitary as an oyster”, “sole” Selfish- “I” , “My” Unsympathetic- “warning all human sympathy to keep its distance” Obsessed with work- “old Scrooge sat busy in the counting house” Uncaring/indifferent- “the cold within him froze his features” Short-tempered- “Scrooge walked out with a growl” Cynical- “Bah! Humbug!” Disliked/menacing- “nobody ever stopped him in the street”
POINT Scrooge is…
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT Scrooge is…
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT Scrooge is…
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Look back at your planning grid and choose you favourite three quotations or the ones you think, will give you the most to write about Scrooge. , choose ideas you agree with and feel comfortable using - you will be able to write more. EXPLODING Quotations, is a great way to break down your evidence, and help your points.
Here’s an example. What do we learn about Scrooge from this simile?
‘flint’ Sharp and can cut grey/old
“hard and sharp as flint” ‘flint’ used for lighting fires and as weapons
‘flint’ is a type of quartz
feels hard/rough
Have a go at one yourself. What do we learn about Scrooge from this simile? What are the key words? What do they mean?
“solitary as an oyster”
“solitary as an oyster” Your Task: Write a paragraph that explores the above quotation. Structure your response as follows: • Point: one sentence; a clear idea about Scrooge’s personality. • Quotation: one sentence; embed the quotation. • Analysis: a detailed analysis that explores individual words (add layers of meaning). Top Tip: Go back to your planning grid, there are some easy to sentence starters that you could use.
P - POINT Q - QUOTATION A - ANALYSIS
Quotation One What do we learn about Scrooge from this quotation?
Quotation Two What do we learn about Scrooge from this quotation?
Quotation Three What do we learn about Scrooge from this quotation?
Exam Question: Read the description of Scrooge. How does Dickens present the character of Scrooge? What affect does this have on the reader? (20 Marks) Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, 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.
You should aim to write 4 paragraphs in response to the question.
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Textual Analysis: In Depth Questions “The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room…” 1. What do we learn about the relationship between Scrooge and his clerk (Bob Cratchit)?
2. What do we learn about their social positions?
3. Why make reference to fire? Can this be linked to the previous extract you explored?
Quick Task: Scrooge’s attitude to the poor Cold, economical language: the poor are numbers on a ledger to Scrooge.
As the poor don’t add wealth into society, they are of no use.
“decrease the surplus population”
Scrooge dehumanises the poor and separates them from the rich.
Using the above quotation, incidents in Stave One and your knowledge of the Victorian era, write a PQA chain that answers the following question: What is Scrooge’s attitude to the poor? TOP TIP: Use the notes at the beginning of your guide to help you as well as the sentence starts used in your planning grid.
Practice Question: Atmosphere Context How does Dickens create mood and atmosphere in the following extract? Tips for success: Look for 5-6 ideas Keep highlighted evidence short Analyse language closely (always look for layers of meaning) Ask yourself: how does this add to/change the atmosphere? Track through and find points across the entire extract
Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so, that people ran about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in carriages, and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slyly down at Scrooge out of a Gothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there. The cold became intense. In the main street at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered: warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture.
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Marley and his chains. Read pages 8-10
Practice Question: PQA Analysis Answer the following question: What does Marley attempt to teach Scrooge? Would it be useful to explode your quotations on a piece of paper to help you plan your answer?
The chain was made “of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.” (p. 8)
“I wear the chain I forged in life […] I made it link by link” (p. 10)
“Or would you know […] the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself?” (p. 10)
“In life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole” (p. 10)
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Exam Style Task: Using quotations left unused from the grid you completed earlier on answer the following question. How does Dickens present Scrooge’s character in Stave One?
The Ghost of Christmas Past
Stave 2 Summary Scrooge awakes at midnight, which leaves him baffled--it was well after two a.m. when he went to bed. Initially, he thinks he has slept through an entire day or that it's actually noon and the sun has merely gone under some sort of cover. He suddenly re the words of Marley's ghost. The first of the three spirits will arrive at one o'clock. Frightened, Scrooge decides to wait for his supernatural visitor. At one o'clock, the curtains of Scrooge's bed are blown aside by a strange, childlike figure emanating an aura of wisdom and a richness of experience. The spirit uses a cap to cover the light that glows from its head. The spectre softly informs Scrooge e that he is the Ghost of Christmas Past and orders the mesmerised man to rise and walk with him. The spirit touches Scrooge's heart, granting him the ability to fly. The pair exits through the window. The ghost transports Scrooge to the countryside where he was raised. He sees his old school, his childhood mates, and familiar landmarks of his youth. Touched by these memories, Scrooge begins to sob. The ghost takes the weeping man into the school where a solitary boy--a young Ebenezer Scrooge--es the Christmas holiday all alone. The ghost takes Scrooge on a depressing tour of more Christmases of the past--the boy in the schoolhouse grows older. At last, a little girl, Scrooge's sister Fan, runs into the room, and announces that she has come to take Ebenezer home. Their father is much kinder, she says. He has given his consent to Ebenezer's return. The young Scrooge, delighted to see his sister, embraces her joyfully. The aged Scrooge regretfully tells the ghost that Fan died many years ago and is the mother of his nephew Fred. The ghost escorts Scrooge to more Christmases of the past including a merry party thrown by Fezziwig, the merchant with whom Scrooge apprenticed as a young man. Scrooge later sees a slightly older yet still boyish version of himself in conversation with a lovely young woman named Belle. She is breaking off their engagement crying that greed has corrupted the love that used to imion Scrooge's heart. The spirit takes Scrooge to a more recent Christmas scene where a middle-aged Belle reminisces with her husband about her former fiancé, Scrooge. The husband says that Scrooge is now "quite alone in the world." The older Scrooge can no longer bear the gripping visions. He begs the Ghost of Christmas Past to take him back, back to his home. Tormented and full of despair, Scrooge seizes the ghost's hat and pulls it firmly over top of the mystical child's head, dimming the light. As the inextinguishable, luminous rays flood downward onto the ground, Scrooge finds himself zipped back in his b bedroom, where he stumbles to bed yet again and falls asleep immediately.
Read the extract from Mr Fezziwig’s and answer the questions on the next page. Clear away! There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away, or couldn't have cleared away, with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done in a minute. Every movable was packed off, as if it were dismissed from public life for evermore; the floor was swept and watered, the lamps were trimmed, fuel was heaped upon the fire; and the warehouse was as snug, and warm, and dry, and bright a ballroom, as you would desire to see upon a winter's night. In came a fiddler with a music-book, and went up to the lofty desk, and made an orchestra of it, and tuned like fifty stomach-aches. In came Mrs Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile. In came the three Miss Fezziwig's, beaming and lovable. In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke. In came all the young men and women employed in the business. In came the housemaid, with her cousin, the baker. In came the cook, with her brother's particular friend, the milkman. In came the boy from over the way, who was suspected of not having board enough from his master; trying to hide himself behind the girl from next door but one, who was proved to have had her ears pulled by her mistress. In they all came, one after another; some shyly, some boldly, some gracefully, some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling; in they all came, anyhow and every how. Away they all went, twenty couple at once; hands half round and back again the other way; down the middle and up again; round and round in various stages of affectionate grouping; old top couple always turning up in the wrong place; new top couple starting off again, as soon as they got there; all top couples at last, and not a bottom one to help them. When this result was brought about, old Fezziwig, clapping his hands to stop the dance, cried out, "Well done!" and the fiddler plunged his hot face into a pot of porter, especially provided for that purpose. But scorning rest, upon his reappearance, he instantly began again, though there were no dancers yet, as if the other fiddler had been carried home, exhausted, on a shutter, and he were a bran-new man resolved to beat him out of sight, or perish. There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening came after the Roast and Boiled, when the fiddler (an artful dog, mind! The sort of man who knew his business better than you or I could have told it him!) struck up "Sir Roger de Coverley." Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs Fezziwig. Top couple too; with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them; three or four and twenty pair of partners; people who were not to be trifled with; people who would dance, and had no notion of walking. But if they had been twice as many -- ah, four times -- old Fezziwig would have been a match for them, and so would Mrs Fezziwig. As to her, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of the term. If that's not high praise, tell me higher, and I'll use it. A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves. They shone in every part of the dance like moons. You couldn't have predicted, at any given time, what would have become of them next. And when old Fezziwig and Mrs Fezziwig had gone all through the dance; advance and retire, both hands to your partner, bow and curtsey, corkscrew, thread-the-needle, and back again to your place; Fezziwig cut -cut so deftly, that he appeared to wink with his legs, and came upon his feet again without a stagger. When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up. Mr and Mrs Fezziwig took their stations, one on either side of the door, and shaking hands with every person individually as he or she went out, wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When everybody had retired but the two apprentices, they did the same to them; and thus the cheerful voices died away, and the lads were left to their beds; which were under a counter in the back-shop.
Task: Fezziwig’s Party Questions 1.
How do Mr and Mrs Fezziwig treat their workers at the end of the party?
2. Where do the apprentices sleep? Why does Dickens add this detail?
3. How does Scrooge’s behaviour change throughout the party?
4. What is the ghost’s lesson for Scrooge to learn?
5. Where do the themes of the Christmas spirit and poverty appear in the party scene?
6. What do you think Scrooge would like to say to the clerks?
Belle and the Engagement
Read the following extract. Dickens presents us with Belle, Scrooge’s ex-fiancee: how does his presentation of her affect the audiences view of Scrooge? They were in another scene and place; a room, not very large or handsome, but full of comfort. Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful young girl, so like that last that Scrooge believed it was the same, until he saw her, now a comely matron, sitting opposite her daughter. The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more children there, than Scrooge in his agitated state of mind could count; and, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting itself like forty. The consequences were uproarious beyond belief; but no one seemed to care; on the contrary, the mother and daughter laughed heartily, and enjoyed it very much; and the latter, soon beginning to mingle in the sports, got pillaged by the young brigands most ruthlessly. What would I not have given to one of them. Though I never could have been so rude, no, no! I wouldn't for the wealth of all the world have crushed that braided hair, and torn it down; and for the precious little shoe, I wouldn't have plucked it off, God bless my soul! To save my life. As to measuring her waist in sport, as they did, bold young brood, I couldn't have done it; I should have expected my arm to have grown round it for a punishment, and never come straight again. And yet I should have dearly liked, I own, to have touched her lips; to have questioned her, that she might have opened them; to have looked upon the lashes of her downcast eyes, and never raised a blush; to have let loose waves of hair, an inch of which would be a keepsake beyond price: in short, I should have liked, I do confess, to have had the lightest licence of a child, and yet to have been man enough to know its value. But now a knocking at the door was heard, and such a rush immediately ensued that she with laughing face and plundered dress was borne towards it the centre of a flushed and boisterous group, just in time to greet the father, who came home attended by a man laden with Christmas toys and presents. Then the shouting and the struggling, and the onslaught that was made on the defenceless porter. The scaling him with chairs for ladders to dive into his pockets, despoil him of brown-paper parcels, hold on tight by his cravat, hug him round his neck, pommel his back, and kick his legs in irrepressible affection. The shouts of wonder and delight with which the development of every package was received. The terrible announcement that the baby had been taken in the act of putting a doll's frying-pan into his mouth, and was more than suspected of having swallowed a fictitious turkey, glued on a wooden platter. The immense relief of finding this a false alarm. The joy, and gratitude, and ecstasy. They are all indescribable alike. It is enough that by degrees the children and their emotions got out of the parlour, and by one stair at a time, up to the top of the house; where they went to bed, and so subsided. And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever, when the master of the house, having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside; and when he thought that such another creature, quite as graceful and as full of promise, might have called him father, and been a spring-time in the haggard winter of his life, his sight grew very dim indeed. "Belle," said the husband, turning to his wife with a smile, "I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon." "Who was it?" "Guess!" "How can I? Tut, don't I know," she added in the same breath, laughing as he laughed. "Mr. Scrooge." "Mr. Scrooge it was. I ed his office window; and as it was not shut up, and he had a candle inside, I could scarcely help seeing him. His partner lies upon the point of death, I hear; and there he sat alone. Quite alone in the world, I do believe."
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
The Ghost of Christmas Present
Stave 3 Summary The church clock strikes one, startling Scrooge, who awakes in mid-snore. Glad to be awake, he hopes to confront the second spirit just as it arrives. The echoes of the church bell fade, however, and no ghost appears. Somewhat disappointed, Scrooge waits for 15 minutes after which a bright light begins to stream down upon him. Curious and a bit befuddled, Scrooge pads into the other room where he finds the second spirit waiting for him.
The figure, a majestic giant clad in green robes, sits atop a throne made of a gourmet feast. In a booming voice, the spirit announces himself as the Ghost of Christmas Present. He tells Scrooge that he has more than 1800 brothers and his lifespan is a mere single day. The spirit orders Scrooge to touch his robe. Upon doing so, the feast and the room vanish instantly and Scrooge finds himself alongside the spirit in the midst of the bustling city on Christmas morning. Blissful ersby take pleasure in the wondrous sights and smells abounding through the shop doors. People merrily shovel snow, tote bags of presents, and greet one another with a cheery "Merry Christmas!" The spirit then takes Scrooge to the meagre home of Bob Cratchit, where Mrs. Cratchit and her children prepare a Christmas goose and savour the few Christmas treats they can afford. The oldest daughter, Martha, returns from her job at a milliner's. The oldest son, Peter, wears a stiff-collared shirt, a hand-me-down from his father. Bob comes in carrying the crippled young tyke, Tiny Tim, on his shoulders. The family is more than content despite its skimpy Christmas feast. Scrooge begs to know whether Tiny Tim will survive. The spirit replies that given the current conditions in the Cratchit house, there will inevitably be an empty chair at next year's Christmas dinner.
The spirit takes Scrooge to a number of other Christmas gatherings, including the festivities of an isolated community of miners and a party aboard a ship. He also takes Scrooge to Fred's Christmas party, where Scrooge looses himself in the numerous party games and has a wildly entertaining time, though none of the party guests can actually see him. As the night unfolds, the ghost grows older. At last, Scrooge and the ghost come to a vast and desolate expanse. Here, the ghost shows Scrooge a pair of starving children who travel with him beneath his robes--their names are Ignorance and Want. Scrooge inquires if nothing can be done to help them. Mockingly, the ghost quotes Scrooge's earlier retort, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses ?" The spirit disappears as the clock strikes midnight and Scrooge eyes a hooded phantom coming toward him.
Historical Context: A Victorian Christmas Before Victoria's reign started in 1837, nobody in Britain had heard of Santa Claus or Christmas Crackers. No, Christmas cards were sent and most people did not have holidays from work. The wealth and technologies generated by the industrial revolution of the Victorian era changed the face of Christmas forever. Sentimental do-gooders like Charles Dickens wrote books like "Christmas Carol", published in 1843, which actually encouraged rich Victorians to redistribute their wealth by giving money and gifts to the poor - Humbug! These radical middle class ideals eventually spread to the not-quite-sopoor as well.
How is this information important to understanding A Christmas Carol?
Historical Context: Santa Claus Father Christmas or Santa Claus: The two are in fact two entirely separate stories. Father Christmas was originally part of an old English midwinter festival, normally dressed in green, a sign of the returning spring. The stories of St. Nicholas (Sinter Klaas in Holland) came via Dutch settlers to America in the 17th Century. From the 1870s Sinter Klass became known in Britain as Santa Claus and with him came his unique gift and toy distribution system — reindeer and sleigh.
How is this information important to understanding A Christmas Carol?
The Cratchit Family Christmas Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
Then up rose Mrs Cratchit, Cratchit's wife, dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence; and she laid the cloth, assisted by Belinda Cratchit, second of her daughters, also brave in ribbons; while Master Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of potatoes, and getting the corners of his monstrous shirt collar (Bob's private property, conferred upon his son and heir in honour of the day) into his mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to show his linen in the fashionable Parks. And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl, came tearing in, screaming that outside the baker's they had smelt the goose, and known it for their own; and basking in luxurious thoughts of sage and onion, these young Cratchits danced about the table, and exalted Master Peter Cratchit to the skies, while he (not proud, although his collars nearly choked him) blew the fire, until the slow potatoes bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled. "What has ever got your precious father then?" said Mrs Cratchit. "And your brother, Tiny Tim; And Martha warn't as late last Christmas Day by half-an-hour." "Here's Martha, mother," said a girl, appearing as she spoke. "Here's Martha, mother!" cried the two young Cratchits. "Hurrah! There's such a goose, Martha!" "Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are!" said Mrs Cratchit, kissing her a dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonnet for her with officious zeal. "We'd a deal of work to finish up last night," replied the girl, "and had to clear away this morning, mother." "Well,. Never mind so long as you are come," said Mrs Cratchit. "Sit ye down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm, Lord bless ye." "No, no. There's father coming," cried the two young Cratchits, who were everywhere at once. "Hide, Martha, hide!" So Martha hid herself, and in came little Bob, the father, with at least three feet of comforter exclusive of the fringe, hanging down before him; and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable; and Tiny Tim upon his shoulder. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs ed by an iron frame. "Why, where's our Martha?" cried Bob Cratchit, looking round. "Not coming," said Mrs Cratchit. "Not coming!" said Bob, with a sudden declension in his high spirits; for he had been Tim's blood horse all the way from church, and had come home rampant. "Not coming upon Christmas Day?" Martha didn't like to see him disappointed, if it were only in joke; so she came out prematurely from behind the closet door, and ran into his arms, while the two young Cratchits hustled Tiny Tim, and bore him off into the wash-house, that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper. "And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content. "As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see." Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them this, and trembled more when he said that Tiny Tim was growing strong and hearty. His active little crutch was heard upon the floor, and back came Tiny Tim before another word was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister to his stool before the fire; and while Bob, turning up his cuffs -- as if, poor fellow, they were capable of being made more shabby -- compounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it round and round and put it on the hob to simmer; Master Peter, and the two ubiquitous young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned in high procession. Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon, to which a black swan was a matter of course -- and in truth it was something very like it in that house. Mrs Cratchit made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigour; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce; Martha dusted the hot plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny corner at the table; the two young Cratchits set chairs for everybody, not forgetting themselves, and mounting guard upon their posts, crammed spoons into their mouths, lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be helped. At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but when she did, and when the long expected gush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all round the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah!
There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn't believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal iration. Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadn't ate it all at last. Yet every one had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular, were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows. But now, the plates being changed by Miss Belinda, Mrs Cratchit left the room alone -- too nervous to bear witnesses -- to take the pudding up and bring it in. Suppose it should not be done enough? Suppose it should break in turning out? Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it, while they were merry with the goose -- a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid? All sorts of horrors were supposed. Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day. That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastry cook's next door to each other, with a laundress's next door to that. That was the pudding. In half a minute Mrs Cratchit entered -- flushed, but smiling proudly -- with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs Cratchit since their marriage. Mrs Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat heresy to do so. Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing. At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted, and considered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table, and a shovel-full of chestnuts on the fire. Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a one; and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family display of glass. Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle. These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked noisily. Then Bob proposed: "A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us." Which all the family re-echoed. "God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all. He sat very close to his father's side upon his little stool. Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him. "Spirit," said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before,"tell me if Tiny Tim will live." "I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die." "No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no, kind Spirit. Say he will be spared." "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief. "Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! To hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust." Scrooge bent before the Ghost's rebuke, and trembling cast his eyes upon the ground. But he raised them speedily, on hearing his own name. "Mr Scrooge!" said Bob; "I'll give you Mr Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!" "The Founder of the Feast indeed!" cried Mrs Cratchit, reddening. "I wish I had him here. I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope he'd have a good appetite for it." "My dear," said Bob, "the children. Christmas Day." "It should be Christmas Day, I am sure," said she, "on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Scrooge. You know he is, Robert. Nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow." "My dear," was Bob's mild answer, "Christmas Day." "I'll drink his health for your sake and the Day's," said Mrs Cratchit, "not for his. Long life to him. A merry Christmas and a happy new year! -- he'll be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt!" The children drank the toast after her. It was the first of their proceedings which had no heartiness. Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he didn't care twopence for it. Scrooge was the Ogre of the family. The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not dispelled for full five minutes.
Task: Comprehension Questions 1. Why might Dickens include a scene in which the Cratchit family cook their Christmas meal? 2. Why does Mrs Cratchit invite her daughter to sit down “before the fire”? 3. Why might Dickens include the image of Bob carrying his son? 4. How are the references to church important? 5. Why might Bob say that his son is “good as gold”? 6. How do the Cratchit family feel about their meal? 7. How does Scrooge react to watching this scene? 8. Why might Dickens include Bob toasting Scrooge as the “founder of the feast”? 9. Overall, what is the atmosphere in this scene?
The Lighthouse & Fred’s Christmas Party
Starter Activity: Textual Analysis ‘Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask," said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit's robe, "but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?" "It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it," was the Spirit's sorrowful reply. "Look here." From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.’
1. What could have Scrooge spotted?
2. What might their significance be?
3. What does the list of adjectives remind you of?
How does Dickens present the theme of the Christmas spirit in Stave Three?
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Stave 4 Summary The phantom, a menacing figure clad in a black hooded robe, approaches Scrooge. Scrooge involuntarily kneels before him and asks if he is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The phantom does not answer, and Scrooge squirms in terror. Still reeling from the revelatory experiences with the last two spirits, Scrooge pleads with the ghost to share his lesson, hopeful that he may avoid the fate of his deceased partner. The ghost takes Scrooge to a series of strange places: the London Stock Exchange, where a group of businessmen discuss the death of a rich man; a dingy pawn shop in a London slum, where a group of vagabonds and shady characters sell some personal effects stolen from a dead man; the dinner table of a poor family, where a husband and wife express relief at the death of an unforgiving man to whom they owed money; and the Cratchit household, where the family struggles to cope with the death of Tiny Tim. Scrooge begs to know the identity of the dead man, exasperated in his attempts to understand the lesson of the silent ghost. Suddenly, he finds himself in a churchyard where the spirit points him toward a freshly dug grave. Scrooge approaches the grave and reads the inscription on the headstone: EBENEZER SCROOGE. Appalled, Scrooge clutches at the spirit and begs him to undo the events of his nightmarish vision. He promises to honour Christmas from deep within his heart and to live by the moralising lessons of Past, Present, and Future. The spirit's hand begins to tremble, and, as Scrooge continues to cry out for mercy, the phantom's robe shrinks and collapses. Scrooge, again, finds himself returned to the relative safety of his own bed.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come
Task: Ignorance & Want In Stave Three, Scrooge meets Ignorance and Want. In Stave Four, Scrooge meets them again in human form. Who do you think the characters are and why do they represent Ignorance and want? Why might Dickens have chosen to structure the novella like this?
Context Question How does Dickens create mood and atmosphere in the following extract?
Tips for success: Look for 5-6 ideas Keep highlighted evidence short Analyse language closely (always look for layers of meaning) Ask yourself: how does this add to/change the atmosphere? Track through and find points across the entire extract
They left the busy scene, and went into an obscure part of the town, where Scrooge had never penetrated before, although he recognised its situation, and its bad repute. The ways were foul and narrow; the shops and houses wretched; the people half-naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly. Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offences of smell, and dirt, and life, upon the straggling streets; and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery. Far in this den of infamous resort, there was a lowbrowed, beetling shop, below a pent-house roof, where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and greasy offal, were bought. Upon the floor within, were piled up heaps of rusty keys, nails, chains, hinges, files, scales, weights, and refuse iron of all kinds. Secrets that few would like to scrutinise were bred and hidden in mountains of unseemly rags, masses of corrupted fat, and sepulchres of bones. Sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a charcoal stove, made of old bricks, was a grey-haired rascal, nearly seventy years of age; who had screened himself from the cold air without, by a frowsy curtaining of miscellaneous tatters, hung upon a line; and smoked his pipe in all the luxury of calm retirement.
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
In-Depth Question The Ghosts
In your opinion, which ghost has had the biggest influence on Scrooge? Explain your thoughts and with evidence from the text.
Scrooge faces the truth
Stave 5 Summary Scrooge, grateful for a second chance at his life, sings the praises of the spirits and of Jacob Marley. Upon realising he has been returned to Christmas morning, Scrooge begins shouting "Merry Christmas!" at the top of his lungs. Genuinely over joyed and bubbling with excitement, Scrooge barely takes time to dress and dances while he shaves. In a blur, Scrooge runs into the street and offers to pay the first boy he meets a huge sum to deliver a great Christmas turkey to Bob Cratchit's. He meets one of the portly gentlemen who earlier sought charity for the poor and apologises for his previous rudeness, promising to donate huge sums of money to the poor. He attends Fred's Christmas party and radiates such heartfelt bliss that the other guests can hardly manage to swallow their shock at his surprising behaviour. The following morning, Scrooge arrives at the office early and assumes a very stern expression when Bob Cratchit enters eighteen and a half minutes late. Scrooge, feigning disgust, begins to scold Bob, before suddenly announcing his plans to give Cratchit t a large raise and assist his troubled family. Bob is stunned, but Scrooge promises to stay true to his word. As time es, Scrooge is as good as his word: He helps the Cratchits and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim who does not die as predicted in the ghost's ominous vision. Many people in London are puzzled by Scrooge's behaviour, but Scrooge merely laughs off their suspicions and doubts. Scrooge brings a little of the Christmas spirit into every day, respecting the lessons of Christmas more than any man alive. The narrator concludes the story by saying that Scrooge's words and thoughts should be shared by of all of us ... "and so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, Every one!"
Scrooge’s Redemption
Exploring the Similes: Scrooge’s change “solitary as an oyster”
“merry as a schoolboy”
“hard and sharp as flint”
“light as a feather”
Exam Question: How do these similes contrast each other and demonstrate the nature of Scrooge’s change?
Task: Stave Structure Flowchart Stave One
Stave Five
Scrooge is miserable to others
Scrooge is positive to others
Scrooge complains to Fred
Scrooge visits Fred for dinner
Scrooge refuses the charity men
Scrooge gives to charity
Scrooge goes home, alone
Scrooge goes to church
Scrooge complains about wages
Scrooge raises Bob’s wages
Scrooge’s fire is nearly dead Scrooge orders the fires lit
1. What events in Stave Five parallel events in Stave One? 2. Why might Dickens have chosen this structure?
Practice Questions •
How is the holiday of Christmas portrayed in the story? (Think of the moral, social, aesthetic, and religious aspects of the holiday.) In what way does A Christmas Carol help to define the modern idea of Christmas?
•
Compare and contrast the three spirits who visit Scrooge. What are their main similarities? What are their main differences? Do their differences have any thematic significance? (Why, for instance, do they look and dress so differently?)
•
What role does social criticism play in A Christmas Carol? To what extent is the story a social commentary?
•
How does Dickens teach us that emotional is more important than money?
•
Although called ‘A Christmas Carol’, the story isn’t finally about Christmas; it’s about our responsibility to others all year round. Discuss
•
Some people have described ‘A Christmas Carol’ as a fairy-tale. For others it is a realistic portrayal of the sufferings of the Victorian poor. Which ‘reading’ of the book do you most agree with?
•
How far can ‘A Christmas Carol’ be regarded as a blueprint for the perfect Christmas?
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Context: Charles Dickens We are going to watch a short video about the life of Charles Dickens. This will help to develop your understanding of the novella and you will need to include this information in all future essays. Make notes below. How does this information influence your thoughts about A Christmas Carol?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AB9poWDeDs
Charles Dickens
Historical Context Information • Although initially wealthy, John Dickens fell into debt and was sent to Marshal sea Prison • The Dickens family then moved to a poor area of London • He worked labelling blacking-bottles to help his family • He trained as a law clerk and then a journalist • His novels have social messages and attempt to reform society • Early in 1843, as a response to a government report on the abuse of child labourers in mines and factories, Dickens vowed he would strike a "sledge-hammer blow ... on behalf of the Poor Man's Child."
How can we relate each of these bullet points to the novella?
What is meant by ‘Victorian Society’? • The Victorian era was from 1837 – 1901 and it marks the reign of Queen Victoria. • Victoria was the longest reigning British monarch (until the current Queen) and the figurehead of a vast empire. • She oversaw huge changes in British society and gave her name to an age.
The Prisons and The Treill Victorians were worried about the rising crime rate: offences went up from about 5,000 per year in 1800 to about 20,000 per year in 1840. They were firm believers in punishment for criminals, but faced a problem: what should the punishment be? The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built and old ones extended. The Victorians also had clear ideas about what these prisons should be like. They should be unpleasant places, to deter people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners were made to do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.
Ebenezer Scrooge
The Poor Law & The Workhouses The Poor Law was the way that the poor were helped in 1815. The law said that each parish had to look after its own poor. If you were unable to work then you were given some money to help you survive. However, the cost of the Poor Law was increasing every year. By 1830 it cost about £7 million and criticism of the law was mounting.
What problems in society do you think occurred because of this?
In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act was ed by Parliament. This was designed to reduce the cost of looking after the poor as it stopped money going to poor people except in exceptional circumstances. Now if people wanted help they had to go into a workhouse to get it. 1. Which character represents the poor in A Christmas Carol? 2. Can he be considered idle and useless? 3. What is Dickens’ point of view?
Stave 1 Summary On a frigid, foggy Christmas Eve in London, a shrewd, mean-spirited cheapskate named Ebenezer Scrooge works meticulously in his counting-house. Outside the office creaks a little sign reading "Scrooge and Marley"--Jacob Marley, Scrooge's business partner, has died seven years previous. Inside the office, Scrooge watches over his clerk, a poor diminutive man named Bob Cratchit. The smouldering ashes in the fireplace provide little heat even for Bob's tiny room. Despite the harsh weather Scrooge refuses to pay for another lump of coal to warm the office. Suddenly, a ruddy-faced young man bursts into the office offering holiday greetings and an exclamatory, "Merry Christmas!" The young man is Scrooge's jovial nephew Fred who has stopped by to invite Scrooge to Christmas dinner. The grumpy Scrooge responds with a "Bah! Humbug!" refusing to share in Fred's Christmas cheer. After Fred departs, a pair of portly gentlemen enters the office to ask Scrooge for a charitable donation to help the poor. Scrooge angrily replies that prisons and workhouses are the only charities he is willing to and the gentlemen leave emptyhanded. Scrooge confronts Bob Cratchit, complaining about Bob's wish to take a day off for the holiday. "What good is Christmas," Scrooge snipes, "that it should shut down business?" He begrudgingly agrees to give Bob a day off but insists that he arrive at the office all the earlier the next day. Scrooge follows the same old routine, taking dinner in his usual tavern and returning home through the dismal, fogblanketed London streets. Just before entering his house, the door knocker on his front door, the same door he has ed through twice a d ay for his many years, catches his attention. A ghostly image in the curves of the knocker gives the old man a momentary shock: It is the peering face of Jacob Marley. When Scrooge takes a second re-focused look, he sees nothing but a door knocker. With a disgusted "Pooh-pooh," Scrooge opens the door and trudges into his bleak quarters. He makes little effort to brighten his home: "darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it." As he plods up the wide staircase, Scrooge, in utter disbelief, sees a locomotive hearse climbing the stairs beside him. After rushing to his room, Scrooge locks the door behind him and puts on his dressing gown. As he eats his gruel before the fire, the carvings on his mantelpiece suddenly transform into images of Jacob Marley's face. Scrooge, determined to dismiss the strange visions, blurts out "Humbug!" All the bells in the room fly up from the tables and begin to ring sharply. Scrooge hears footsteps thumping up the stairs. A ghostly figure floats through the closed door--Jacob Marley, transparent and bound in chains.
Scrooge shouts in disbelief, refusing to it that he sees Marley's ghost--a strange case of food poisoning, he claims. The ghost begins to murmur: He has spent seven years wandering the Earth in his heavy chains as punishment for his sins. Scrooge looks closely at the chains and realises that the links are forged of cashboxes, padlocks, ledgers, and steel purses. The wraith tells Scrooge that he has come from beyond the grave to save him from this very fate. He says that Scrooge will be visited by three spirits over the next three nights--the first two appearing at one o'clock in the morning and the final spirit arriving at the last stoke of midnight. He rises and backs toward the window, which opens almost magically, leaving a trembling Scrooge white with fear. The ghost gestures to Scrooge to look out the window, and Scrooge complies. He sees a throng of spirits, each bound in chains. They wail about their failure to lead honourable, caring lives and their inability to reach out to others in need as they and Marley disappear into the mist. Scrooge stumbles to his bed and falls instantly asleep.
SCROOGE Look carefully at this Victorian illustration: what can you infer and deduce from it about Scrooge?
First Impressions of Ebenezer Scrooge Dickens uses adjectives to describe Scrooge. What do we learn about him from the following quotations?
“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone. Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!”
Glossary: gait-way of walking frosty rime- white hair covetous-envious of other people’s possessions
Describing Scrooge Read Dickens’ description of Scrooge. Select words from the box below to describe his character. Use a dictionary to find the definitions of any words you don't know.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, 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) friendly b) miserly c) generous d) warm hearted e) happy f) miserable g) lonely
h) skinny
What are your first impressions of Ebenezer Scrooge? Write down 4 more adjectives that describe Scrooge then find an example of something that Scrooge says or does which reinforces that idea Use the extract on the previous page.
Adjective
Miserable
Evidence
Look at the following points and ing quotations. Use them and your own ideas from the previous activity to complete the following planning grids.
• • • • • • • • • • •
Envious- “a covetous old sinner” Miserly- “he was tight-fisted” Unkind/mean spirited- “hard and sharp as flint” Unsociable- “self- contained, and solitary as an oyster”, “sole” Selfish- “I” , “My” Unsympathetic- “warning all human sympathy to keep its distance” Obsessed with work- “old Scrooge sat busy in the counting house” Uncaring/indifferent- “the cold within him froze his features” Short-tempered- “Scrooge walked out with a growl” Cynical- “Bah! Humbug!” Disliked/menacing- “nobody ever stopped him in the street”
POINT Scrooge is…
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT Scrooge is…
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT Scrooge is…
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Look back at your planning grid and choose you favourite three quotations or the ones you think, will give you the most to write about Scrooge. , choose ideas you agree with and feel comfortable using - you will be able to write more. EXPLODING Quotations, is a great way to break down your evidence, and help your points.
Here’s an example. What do we learn about Scrooge from this simile?
‘flint’ Sharp and can cut grey/old
“hard and sharp as flint” ‘flint’ used for lighting fires and as weapons
‘flint’ is a type of quartz
feels hard/rough
Have a go at one yourself. What do we learn about Scrooge from this simile? What are the key words? What do they mean?
“solitary as an oyster”
“solitary as an oyster” Your Task: Write a paragraph that explores the above quotation. Structure your response as follows: • Point: one sentence; a clear idea about Scrooge’s personality. • Quotation: one sentence; embed the quotation. • Analysis: a detailed analysis that explores individual words (add layers of meaning). Top Tip: Go back to your planning grid, there are some easy to sentence starters that you could use.
P - POINT Q - QUOTATION A - ANALYSIS
Quotation One What do we learn about Scrooge from this quotation?
Quotation Two What do we learn about Scrooge from this quotation?
Quotation Three What do we learn about Scrooge from this quotation?
Exam Question: Read the description of Scrooge. How does Dickens present the character of Scrooge? What affect does this have on the reader? (20 Marks) Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, 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.
You should aim to write 4 paragraphs in response to the question.
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Textual Analysis: In Depth Questions “The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room…” 1. What do we learn about the relationship between Scrooge and his clerk (Bob Cratchit)?
2. What do we learn about their social positions?
3. Why make reference to fire? Can this be linked to the previous extract you explored?
Quick Task: Scrooge’s attitude to the poor Cold, economical language: the poor are numbers on a ledger to Scrooge.
As the poor don’t add wealth into society, they are of no use.
“decrease the surplus population”
Scrooge dehumanises the poor and separates them from the rich.
Using the above quotation, incidents in Stave One and your knowledge of the Victorian era, write a PQA chain that answers the following question: What is Scrooge’s attitude to the poor? TOP TIP: Use the notes at the beginning of your guide to help you as well as the sentence starts used in your planning grid.
Practice Question: Atmosphere Context How does Dickens create mood and atmosphere in the following extract? Tips for success: Look for 5-6 ideas Keep highlighted evidence short Analyse language closely (always look for layers of meaning) Ask yourself: how does this add to/change the atmosphere? Track through and find points across the entire extract
Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so, that people ran about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in carriages, and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slyly down at Scrooge out of a Gothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there. The cold became intense. In the main street at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered: warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture.
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QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
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QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Marley and his chains. Read pages 8-10
Practice Question: PQA Analysis Answer the following question: What does Marley attempt to teach Scrooge? Would it be useful to explode your quotations on a piece of paper to help you plan your answer?
The chain was made “of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.” (p. 8)
“I wear the chain I forged in life […] I made it link by link” (p. 10)
“Or would you know […] the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself?” (p. 10)
“In life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole” (p. 10)
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QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Exam Style Task: Using quotations left unused from the grid you completed earlier on answer the following question. How does Dickens present Scrooge’s character in Stave One?
The Ghost of Christmas Past
Stave 2 Summary Scrooge awakes at midnight, which leaves him baffled--it was well after two a.m. when he went to bed. Initially, he thinks he has slept through an entire day or that it's actually noon and the sun has merely gone under some sort of cover. He suddenly re the words of Marley's ghost. The first of the three spirits will arrive at one o'clock. Frightened, Scrooge decides to wait for his supernatural visitor. At one o'clock, the curtains of Scrooge's bed are blown aside by a strange, childlike figure emanating an aura of wisdom and a richness of experience. The spirit uses a cap to cover the light that glows from its head. The spectre softly informs Scrooge e that he is the Ghost of Christmas Past and orders the mesmerised man to rise and walk with him. The spirit touches Scrooge's heart, granting him the ability to fly. The pair exits through the window. The ghost transports Scrooge to the countryside where he was raised. He sees his old school, his childhood mates, and familiar landmarks of his youth. Touched by these memories, Scrooge begins to sob. The ghost takes the weeping man into the school where a solitary boy--a young Ebenezer Scrooge--es the Christmas holiday all alone. The ghost takes Scrooge on a depressing tour of more Christmases of the past--the boy in the schoolhouse grows older. At last, a little girl, Scrooge's sister Fan, runs into the room, and announces that she has come to take Ebenezer home. Their father is much kinder, she says. He has given his consent to Ebenezer's return. The young Scrooge, delighted to see his sister, embraces her joyfully. The aged Scrooge regretfully tells the ghost that Fan died many years ago and is the mother of his nephew Fred. The ghost escorts Scrooge to more Christmases of the past including a merry party thrown by Fezziwig, the merchant with whom Scrooge apprenticed as a young man. Scrooge later sees a slightly older yet still boyish version of himself in conversation with a lovely young woman named Belle. She is breaking off their engagement crying that greed has corrupted the love that used to imion Scrooge's heart. The spirit takes Scrooge to a more recent Christmas scene where a middle-aged Belle reminisces with her husband about her former fiancé, Scrooge. The husband says that Scrooge is now "quite alone in the world." The older Scrooge can no longer bear the gripping visions. He begs the Ghost of Christmas Past to take him back, back to his home. Tormented and full of despair, Scrooge seizes the ghost's hat and pulls it firmly over top of the mystical child's head, dimming the light. As the inextinguishable, luminous rays flood downward onto the ground, Scrooge finds himself zipped back in his b bedroom, where he stumbles to bed yet again and falls asleep immediately.
Read the extract from Mr Fezziwig’s and answer the questions on the next page. Clear away! There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away, or couldn't have cleared away, with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done in a minute. Every movable was packed off, as if it were dismissed from public life for evermore; the floor was swept and watered, the lamps were trimmed, fuel was heaped upon the fire; and the warehouse was as snug, and warm, and dry, and bright a ballroom, as you would desire to see upon a winter's night. In came a fiddler with a music-book, and went up to the lofty desk, and made an orchestra of it, and tuned like fifty stomach-aches. In came Mrs Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile. In came the three Miss Fezziwig's, beaming and lovable. In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke. In came all the young men and women employed in the business. In came the housemaid, with her cousin, the baker. In came the cook, with her brother's particular friend, the milkman. In came the boy from over the way, who was suspected of not having board enough from his master; trying to hide himself behind the girl from next door but one, who was proved to have had her ears pulled by her mistress. In they all came, one after another; some shyly, some boldly, some gracefully, some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling; in they all came, anyhow and every how. Away they all went, twenty couple at once; hands half round and back again the other way; down the middle and up again; round and round in various stages of affectionate grouping; old top couple always turning up in the wrong place; new top couple starting off again, as soon as they got there; all top couples at last, and not a bottom one to help them. When this result was brought about, old Fezziwig, clapping his hands to stop the dance, cried out, "Well done!" and the fiddler plunged his hot face into a pot of porter, especially provided for that purpose. But scorning rest, upon his reappearance, he instantly began again, though there were no dancers yet, as if the other fiddler had been carried home, exhausted, on a shutter, and he were a bran-new man resolved to beat him out of sight, or perish. There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening came after the Roast and Boiled, when the fiddler (an artful dog, mind! The sort of man who knew his business better than you or I could have told it him!) struck up "Sir Roger de Coverley." Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs Fezziwig. Top couple too; with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them; three or four and twenty pair of partners; people who were not to be trifled with; people who would dance, and had no notion of walking. But if they had been twice as many -- ah, four times -- old Fezziwig would have been a match for them, and so would Mrs Fezziwig. As to her, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of the term. If that's not high praise, tell me higher, and I'll use it. A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves. They shone in every part of the dance like moons. You couldn't have predicted, at any given time, what would have become of them next. And when old Fezziwig and Mrs Fezziwig had gone all through the dance; advance and retire, both hands to your partner, bow and curtsey, corkscrew, thread-the-needle, and back again to your place; Fezziwig cut -cut so deftly, that he appeared to wink with his legs, and came upon his feet again without a stagger. When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up. Mr and Mrs Fezziwig took their stations, one on either side of the door, and shaking hands with every person individually as he or she went out, wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When everybody had retired but the two apprentices, they did the same to them; and thus the cheerful voices died away, and the lads were left to their beds; which were under a counter in the back-shop.
Task: Fezziwig’s Party Questions 1.
How do Mr and Mrs Fezziwig treat their workers at the end of the party?
2. Where do the apprentices sleep? Why does Dickens add this detail?
3. How does Scrooge’s behaviour change throughout the party?
4. What is the ghost’s lesson for Scrooge to learn?
5. Where do the themes of the Christmas spirit and poverty appear in the party scene?
6. What do you think Scrooge would like to say to the clerks?
Belle and the Engagement
Read the following extract. Dickens presents us with Belle, Scrooge’s ex-fiancee: how does his presentation of her affect the audiences view of Scrooge? They were in another scene and place; a room, not very large or handsome, but full of comfort. Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful young girl, so like that last that Scrooge believed it was the same, until he saw her, now a comely matron, sitting opposite her daughter. The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more children there, than Scrooge in his agitated state of mind could count; and, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting itself like forty. The consequences were uproarious beyond belief; but no one seemed to care; on the contrary, the mother and daughter laughed heartily, and enjoyed it very much; and the latter, soon beginning to mingle in the sports, got pillaged by the young brigands most ruthlessly. What would I not have given to one of them. Though I never could have been so rude, no, no! I wouldn't for the wealth of all the world have crushed that braided hair, and torn it down; and for the precious little shoe, I wouldn't have plucked it off, God bless my soul! To save my life. As to measuring her waist in sport, as they did, bold young brood, I couldn't have done it; I should have expected my arm to have grown round it for a punishment, and never come straight again. And yet I should have dearly liked, I own, to have touched her lips; to have questioned her, that she might have opened them; to have looked upon the lashes of her downcast eyes, and never raised a blush; to have let loose waves of hair, an inch of which would be a keepsake beyond price: in short, I should have liked, I do confess, to have had the lightest licence of a child, and yet to have been man enough to know its value. But now a knocking at the door was heard, and such a rush immediately ensued that she with laughing face and plundered dress was borne towards it the centre of a flushed and boisterous group, just in time to greet the father, who came home attended by a man laden with Christmas toys and presents. Then the shouting and the struggling, and the onslaught that was made on the defenceless porter. The scaling him with chairs for ladders to dive into his pockets, despoil him of brown-paper parcels, hold on tight by his cravat, hug him round his neck, pommel his back, and kick his legs in irrepressible affection. The shouts of wonder and delight with which the development of every package was received. The terrible announcement that the baby had been taken in the act of putting a doll's frying-pan into his mouth, and was more than suspected of having swallowed a fictitious turkey, glued on a wooden platter. The immense relief of finding this a false alarm. The joy, and gratitude, and ecstasy. They are all indescribable alike. It is enough that by degrees the children and their emotions got out of the parlour, and by one stair at a time, up to the top of the house; where they went to bed, and so subsided. And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever, when the master of the house, having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside; and when he thought that such another creature, quite as graceful and as full of promise, might have called him father, and been a spring-time in the haggard winter of his life, his sight grew very dim indeed. "Belle," said the husband, turning to his wife with a smile, "I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon." "Who was it?" "Guess!" "How can I? Tut, don't I know," she added in the same breath, laughing as he laughed. "Mr. Scrooge." "Mr. Scrooge it was. I ed his office window; and as it was not shut up, and he had a candle inside, I could scarcely help seeing him. His partner lies upon the point of death, I hear; and there he sat alone. Quite alone in the world, I do believe."
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QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
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QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
The Ghost of Christmas Present
Stave 3 Summary The church clock strikes one, startling Scrooge, who awakes in mid-snore. Glad to be awake, he hopes to confront the second spirit just as it arrives. The echoes of the church bell fade, however, and no ghost appears. Somewhat disappointed, Scrooge waits for 15 minutes after which a bright light begins to stream down upon him. Curious and a bit befuddled, Scrooge pads into the other room where he finds the second spirit waiting for him.
The figure, a majestic giant clad in green robes, sits atop a throne made of a gourmet feast. In a booming voice, the spirit announces himself as the Ghost of Christmas Present. He tells Scrooge that he has more than 1800 brothers and his lifespan is a mere single day. The spirit orders Scrooge to touch his robe. Upon doing so, the feast and the room vanish instantly and Scrooge finds himself alongside the spirit in the midst of the bustling city on Christmas morning. Blissful ersby take pleasure in the wondrous sights and smells abounding through the shop doors. People merrily shovel snow, tote bags of presents, and greet one another with a cheery "Merry Christmas!" The spirit then takes Scrooge to the meagre home of Bob Cratchit, where Mrs. Cratchit and her children prepare a Christmas goose and savour the few Christmas treats they can afford. The oldest daughter, Martha, returns from her job at a milliner's. The oldest son, Peter, wears a stiff-collared shirt, a hand-me-down from his father. Bob comes in carrying the crippled young tyke, Tiny Tim, on his shoulders. The family is more than content despite its skimpy Christmas feast. Scrooge begs to know whether Tiny Tim will survive. The spirit replies that given the current conditions in the Cratchit house, there will inevitably be an empty chair at next year's Christmas dinner.
The spirit takes Scrooge to a number of other Christmas gatherings, including the festivities of an isolated community of miners and a party aboard a ship. He also takes Scrooge to Fred's Christmas party, where Scrooge looses himself in the numerous party games and has a wildly entertaining time, though none of the party guests can actually see him. As the night unfolds, the ghost grows older. At last, Scrooge and the ghost come to a vast and desolate expanse. Here, the ghost shows Scrooge a pair of starving children who travel with him beneath his robes--their names are Ignorance and Want. Scrooge inquires if nothing can be done to help them. Mockingly, the ghost quotes Scrooge's earlier retort, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses ?" The spirit disappears as the clock strikes midnight and Scrooge eyes a hooded phantom coming toward him.
Historical Context: A Victorian Christmas Before Victoria's reign started in 1837, nobody in Britain had heard of Santa Claus or Christmas Crackers. No, Christmas cards were sent and most people did not have holidays from work. The wealth and technologies generated by the industrial revolution of the Victorian era changed the face of Christmas forever. Sentimental do-gooders like Charles Dickens wrote books like "Christmas Carol", published in 1843, which actually encouraged rich Victorians to redistribute their wealth by giving money and gifts to the poor - Humbug! These radical middle class ideals eventually spread to the not-quite-sopoor as well.
How is this information important to understanding A Christmas Carol?
Historical Context: Santa Claus Father Christmas or Santa Claus: The two are in fact two entirely separate stories. Father Christmas was originally part of an old English midwinter festival, normally dressed in green, a sign of the returning spring. The stories of St. Nicholas (Sinter Klaas in Holland) came via Dutch settlers to America in the 17th Century. From the 1870s Sinter Klass became known in Britain as Santa Claus and with him came his unique gift and toy distribution system — reindeer and sleigh.
How is this information important to understanding A Christmas Carol?
The Cratchit Family Christmas Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
Then up rose Mrs Cratchit, Cratchit's wife, dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence; and she laid the cloth, assisted by Belinda Cratchit, second of her daughters, also brave in ribbons; while Master Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of potatoes, and getting the corners of his monstrous shirt collar (Bob's private property, conferred upon his son and heir in honour of the day) into his mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to show his linen in the fashionable Parks. And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl, came tearing in, screaming that outside the baker's they had smelt the goose, and known it for their own; and basking in luxurious thoughts of sage and onion, these young Cratchits danced about the table, and exalted Master Peter Cratchit to the skies, while he (not proud, although his collars nearly choked him) blew the fire, until the slow potatoes bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled. "What has ever got your precious father then?" said Mrs Cratchit. "And your brother, Tiny Tim; And Martha warn't as late last Christmas Day by half-an-hour." "Here's Martha, mother," said a girl, appearing as she spoke. "Here's Martha, mother!" cried the two young Cratchits. "Hurrah! There's such a goose, Martha!" "Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are!" said Mrs Cratchit, kissing her a dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonnet for her with officious zeal. "We'd a deal of work to finish up last night," replied the girl, "and had to clear away this morning, mother." "Well,. Never mind so long as you are come," said Mrs Cratchit. "Sit ye down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm, Lord bless ye." "No, no. There's father coming," cried the two young Cratchits, who were everywhere at once. "Hide, Martha, hide!" So Martha hid herself, and in came little Bob, the father, with at least three feet of comforter exclusive of the fringe, hanging down before him; and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable; and Tiny Tim upon his shoulder. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs ed by an iron frame. "Why, where's our Martha?" cried Bob Cratchit, looking round. "Not coming," said Mrs Cratchit. "Not coming!" said Bob, with a sudden declension in his high spirits; for he had been Tim's blood horse all the way from church, and had come home rampant. "Not coming upon Christmas Day?" Martha didn't like to see him disappointed, if it were only in joke; so she came out prematurely from behind the closet door, and ran into his arms, while the two young Cratchits hustled Tiny Tim, and bore him off into the wash-house, that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper. "And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content. "As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see." Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them this, and trembled more when he said that Tiny Tim was growing strong and hearty. His active little crutch was heard upon the floor, and back came Tiny Tim before another word was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister to his stool before the fire; and while Bob, turning up his cuffs -- as if, poor fellow, they were capable of being made more shabby -- compounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it round and round and put it on the hob to simmer; Master Peter, and the two ubiquitous young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned in high procession. Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon, to which a black swan was a matter of course -- and in truth it was something very like it in that house. Mrs Cratchit made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigour; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce; Martha dusted the hot plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny corner at the table; the two young Cratchits set chairs for everybody, not forgetting themselves, and mounting guard upon their posts, crammed spoons into their mouths, lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be helped. At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but when she did, and when the long expected gush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all round the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah!
There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn't believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal iration. Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadn't ate it all at last. Yet every one had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular, were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows. But now, the plates being changed by Miss Belinda, Mrs Cratchit left the room alone -- too nervous to bear witnesses -- to take the pudding up and bring it in. Suppose it should not be done enough? Suppose it should break in turning out? Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it, while they were merry with the goose -- a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid? All sorts of horrors were supposed. Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day. That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastry cook's next door to each other, with a laundress's next door to that. That was the pudding. In half a minute Mrs Cratchit entered -- flushed, but smiling proudly -- with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs Cratchit since their marriage. Mrs Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat heresy to do so. Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing. At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted, and considered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table, and a shovel-full of chestnuts on the fire. Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a one; and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family display of glass. Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle. These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked noisily. Then Bob proposed: "A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us." Which all the family re-echoed. "God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all. He sat very close to his father's side upon his little stool. Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him. "Spirit," said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before,"tell me if Tiny Tim will live." "I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die." "No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no, kind Spirit. Say he will be spared." "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief. "Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! To hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust." Scrooge bent before the Ghost's rebuke, and trembling cast his eyes upon the ground. But he raised them speedily, on hearing his own name. "Mr Scrooge!" said Bob; "I'll give you Mr Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!" "The Founder of the Feast indeed!" cried Mrs Cratchit, reddening. "I wish I had him here. I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope he'd have a good appetite for it." "My dear," said Bob, "the children. Christmas Day." "It should be Christmas Day, I am sure," said she, "on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Scrooge. You know he is, Robert. Nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow." "My dear," was Bob's mild answer, "Christmas Day." "I'll drink his health for your sake and the Day's," said Mrs Cratchit, "not for his. Long life to him. A merry Christmas and a happy new year! -- he'll be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt!" The children drank the toast after her. It was the first of their proceedings which had no heartiness. Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he didn't care twopence for it. Scrooge was the Ogre of the family. The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not dispelled for full five minutes.
Task: Comprehension Questions 1. Why might Dickens include a scene in which the Cratchit family cook their Christmas meal? 2. Why does Mrs Cratchit invite her daughter to sit down “before the fire”? 3. Why might Dickens include the image of Bob carrying his son? 4. How are the references to church important? 5. Why might Bob say that his son is “good as gold”? 6. How do the Cratchit family feel about their meal? 7. How does Scrooge react to watching this scene? 8. Why might Dickens include Bob toasting Scrooge as the “founder of the feast”? 9. Overall, what is the atmosphere in this scene?
The Lighthouse & Fred’s Christmas Party
Starter Activity: Textual Analysis ‘Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask," said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit's robe, "but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?" "It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it," was the Spirit's sorrowful reply. "Look here." From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.’
1. What could have Scrooge spotted?
2. What might their significance be?
3. What does the list of adjectives remind you of?
How does Dickens present the theme of the Christmas spirit in Stave Three?
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
Stave 4 Summary The phantom, a menacing figure clad in a black hooded robe, approaches Scrooge. Scrooge involuntarily kneels before him and asks if he is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The phantom does not answer, and Scrooge squirms in terror. Still reeling from the revelatory experiences with the last two spirits, Scrooge pleads with the ghost to share his lesson, hopeful that he may avoid the fate of his deceased partner. The ghost takes Scrooge to a series of strange places: the London Stock Exchange, where a group of businessmen discuss the death of a rich man; a dingy pawn shop in a London slum, where a group of vagabonds and shady characters sell some personal effects stolen from a dead man; the dinner table of a poor family, where a husband and wife express relief at the death of an unforgiving man to whom they owed money; and the Cratchit household, where the family struggles to cope with the death of Tiny Tim. Scrooge begs to know the identity of the dead man, exasperated in his attempts to understand the lesson of the silent ghost. Suddenly, he finds himself in a churchyard where the spirit points him toward a freshly dug grave. Scrooge approaches the grave and reads the inscription on the headstone: EBENEZER SCROOGE. Appalled, Scrooge clutches at the spirit and begs him to undo the events of his nightmarish vision. He promises to honour Christmas from deep within his heart and to live by the moralising lessons of Past, Present, and Future. The spirit's hand begins to tremble, and, as Scrooge continues to cry out for mercy, the phantom's robe shrinks and collapses. Scrooge, again, finds himself returned to the relative safety of his own bed.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come
Task: Ignorance & Want In Stave Three, Scrooge meets Ignorance and Want. In Stave Four, Scrooge meets them again in human form. Who do you think the characters are and why do they represent Ignorance and want? Why might Dickens have chosen to structure the novella like this?
Context Question How does Dickens create mood and atmosphere in the following extract?
Tips for success: Look for 5-6 ideas Keep highlighted evidence short Analyse language closely (always look for layers of meaning) Ask yourself: how does this add to/change the atmosphere? Track through and find points across the entire extract
They left the busy scene, and went into an obscure part of the town, where Scrooge had never penetrated before, although he recognised its situation, and its bad repute. The ways were foul and narrow; the shops and houses wretched; the people half-naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly. Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offences of smell, and dirt, and life, upon the straggling streets; and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery. Far in this den of infamous resort, there was a lowbrowed, beetling shop, below a pent-house roof, where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and greasy offal, were bought. Upon the floor within, were piled up heaps of rusty keys, nails, chains, hinges, files, scales, weights, and refuse iron of all kinds. Secrets that few would like to scrutinise were bred and hidden in mountains of unseemly rags, masses of corrupted fat, and sepulchres of bones. Sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a charcoal stove, made of old bricks, was a grey-haired rascal, nearly seventy years of age; who had screened himself from the cold air without, by a frowsy curtaining of miscellaneous tatters, hung upon a line; and smoked his pipe in all the luxury of calm retirement.
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
In-Depth Question The Ghosts
In your opinion, which ghost has had the biggest influence on Scrooge? Explain your thoughts and with evidence from the text.
Scrooge faces the truth
Stave 5 Summary Scrooge, grateful for a second chance at his life, sings the praises of the spirits and of Jacob Marley. Upon realising he has been returned to Christmas morning, Scrooge begins shouting "Merry Christmas!" at the top of his lungs. Genuinely over joyed and bubbling with excitement, Scrooge barely takes time to dress and dances while he shaves. In a blur, Scrooge runs into the street and offers to pay the first boy he meets a huge sum to deliver a great Christmas turkey to Bob Cratchit's. He meets one of the portly gentlemen who earlier sought charity for the poor and apologises for his previous rudeness, promising to donate huge sums of money to the poor. He attends Fred's Christmas party and radiates such heartfelt bliss that the other guests can hardly manage to swallow their shock at his surprising behaviour. The following morning, Scrooge arrives at the office early and assumes a very stern expression when Bob Cratchit enters eighteen and a half minutes late. Scrooge, feigning disgust, begins to scold Bob, before suddenly announcing his plans to give Cratchit t a large raise and assist his troubled family. Bob is stunned, but Scrooge promises to stay true to his word. As time es, Scrooge is as good as his word: He helps the Cratchits and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim who does not die as predicted in the ghost's ominous vision. Many people in London are puzzled by Scrooge's behaviour, but Scrooge merely laughs off their suspicions and doubts. Scrooge brings a little of the Christmas spirit into every day, respecting the lessons of Christmas more than any man alive. The narrator concludes the story by saying that Scrooge's words and thoughts should be shared by of all of us ... "and so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, Every one!"
Scrooge’s Redemption
Exploring the Similes: Scrooge’s change “solitary as an oyster”
“merry as a schoolboy”
“hard and sharp as flint”
“light as a feather”
Exam Question: How do these similes contrast each other and demonstrate the nature of Scrooge’s change?
Task: Stave Structure Flowchart Stave One
Stave Five
Scrooge is miserable to others
Scrooge is positive to others
Scrooge complains to Fred
Scrooge visits Fred for dinner
Scrooge refuses the charity men
Scrooge gives to charity
Scrooge goes home, alone
Scrooge goes to church
Scrooge complains about wages
Scrooge raises Bob’s wages
Scrooge’s fire is nearly dead Scrooge orders the fires lit
1. What events in Stave Five parallel events in Stave One? 2. Why might Dickens have chosen this structure?
Practice Questions •
How is the holiday of Christmas portrayed in the story? (Think of the moral, social, aesthetic, and religious aspects of the holiday.) In what way does A Christmas Carol help to define the modern idea of Christmas?
•
Compare and contrast the three spirits who visit Scrooge. What are their main similarities? What are their main differences? Do their differences have any thematic significance? (Why, for instance, do they look and dress so differently?)
•
What role does social criticism play in A Christmas Carol? To what extent is the story a social commentary?
•
How does Dickens teach us that emotional is more important than money?
•
Although called ‘A Christmas Carol’, the story isn’t finally about Christmas; it’s about our responsibility to others all year round. Discuss
•
Some people have described ‘A Christmas Carol’ as a fairy-tale. For others it is a realistic portrayal of the sufferings of the Victorian poor. Which ‘reading’ of the book do you most agree with?
•
How far can ‘A Christmas Carol’ be regarded as a blueprint for the perfect Christmas?
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
POINT
QUOTATION ANALYSIS I know this because it The word (?) makes says… me think…
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