A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

A Christmas Carol is the text that you’re studying for section Literature Paper 1, section B (19th- century novel). The Paper: You will be given an extract from A Christmas Carol and you will be required to write in detail about the extract from the novel and then the novel as a whole.

How you’re assessed.

T O R A I I C V N What’s the hidden word?

What’s the hidden word? T O R A I I C V N
CLUE: It’s the era that the novel was written.

V I C T O R I A N The novel was written in the Victorian Era.
What do you know about this time period?

What was life like in Victorian England?
The BIG Question: What was life like in Victorian England? Keywords: Context, Social, Historical, Malthusian.

Why does it matter what life was like?
In your essay you have to talk about either the setting of, or the characters in, the book. You will need to understand what life in London and England was like at the time Charles Dickens wrote the book. You will also need to know about how well the book uses techniques from Gothic writing.

Charles Dickens Born in 1812. His father was imprisoned for debt.
Dickens was very passionate about the poor. He was a lower middle class boy, he worked in a factory when his family needed extra money.

Life in Victorian England
At this time the gap between poor and rich was much, much bigger than it is today. The contrast between those who were rich and poor was shocking.

Those who were poor lived in squalor, deprivation, dirt and misery.
They barely had enough money or food to survive. Child mortality was very high. There was no healthcare. If you got ill, and could not work, your whole family was at risk of death. The workhouse was the only option for many families, where at least they would be fed and housed. However, at the workhouse, families were split up, and often conditions were no better.

Those who were rich lived in the exact opposite way.
They had enormous houses, luxury clothes and servants. The rich people in Victorian England (most of them, anyway) took little interest in helping the poor. They felt that poverty was their fault, or a punishment, or something that could be avoided.

Working Class Life in Victorian London
In the nineteenth century there were developments in technology that meant many people stopped working on the land and instead moved to towns and cities to work in factories. This meant cities were overcrowded and the working classes may have had up to thirty people living in one room. Children as young as three worked in factories. Those who could not cope were forced to join workhouses. Three out of every 20 babies die before their first birthday. Life expectancy is about 40 years.

Workhouses Workhouses were the only places where people who were too poor to survive could get help. Conditions in the Workhouse were made deliberately harsh in order to discourage people from having to go there.

Workhouses Workhouses varied in size. The smallest housed only 50 people, while the largest housed several thousand. They were self contained communities. Apart from the basic rooms such as a dining-hall for eating, day-rooms for the elderly, and dormitories for sleeping, workhouses often had their own bakery, laundry, tailors and shoe-maker's, vegetable gardens and orchards, and even a piggery for rearing pigs.

Entering the Workhouse
Entry to the workhouses was voluntary, but it was certainly the last choice for people. People ended-up in the workhouse for a variety of reasons. Usually, it was because they were too poor, old or ill to support themselves. This may have resulted from such things as a lack of work during periods of high unemployment, or someone having no family willing or able to provide care for them when they became elderly or sick. Unmarried pregnant women were often disowned by their families and the workhouse was the only place they could go during and after the birth of their child. Prior to the establishment of public mental asylums in the mid-nineteenth century (and in some cases even after that), the mentally ill and mentally handicapped poor were often consigned to the workhouse.

The Women’s Yard

The Dining Hall

The Daily Routine The daily routine for workhouse inmates prescribed by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1835 was as follows: Hour of Rising. Interval for Breakfast. Time for setting to Work. Interval for Dinner. Time for leaving off Work Interval for Supper. Time for going to Bed. 25 March to 29 Sept 6 o'clock. From ½ past 6 to 7. 7 o'clock. From 12 to 1. 6 to 7. 8. 29 Sept to 25 March From ½ past 7 to 8. 8 o'clock. Workhouse inmates — at least those who were capable of it — were given a variety of work to perform, much of which was involved in running the workhouse. The women mostly did domestic jobs such as cleaning, or helping in the kitchen or laundry. Some workhouses had workshops for sewing, spinning and weaving or other local trades. Others had their own vegetable gardens where the inmates worked to provide food for the workhouse.

The weekly menu at Hertford in 1729 comprised:
Workhouse Food More often than not, meals followed a weekly rota, with meat featuring on only a limited number of "meat days". The weekly menu at Hertford in 1729 comprised: Breakfast Dinner Supper Sunday Bread & Cheese Meat Broth Monday Pease-Porridge Bread and Cheese Tuesday Hasty-Pudding Wednesday Thursday Frumety Friday Ox-Head Saturday N. B.. None are Stinted as to Quantity, but all eat till they are satisfy'd.

Pease-Porridge Hasty-Pudding Frumety Broth Gruel
A baked vegetable product, which mainly consists of split yellow or Carlin peas, water, salt, and spices, often cooked with a bacon or ham joint. Hasty-Pudding A pudding or porridge of grains cooked in milk or water. Frumety A dish consisting of wheat, milk, sugar, and spices. Broth Meat liquor, 1 pint; barley, 2 oz; leeks or onions, 1 oz; parsley and seasoning. Gruel Oatmeal, 2 oz; treacle, ½ oz; salt and sometimes allspice; water.

Thomas Malthus In his book, The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus (13 February 1766 – 23 December 1834) observed that an increase in a nation's food production improved the well-being of the nation’s people, but the improvement was temporary because it led to population growth. In the past, populations grew until the lower classes suffered hardship and want. At this point, they became vulnerable to famine and disease – and often died. Malthus thought we would never have a truly perfect (or utopian) society, because every time we came close to providing a great standard of life for everyone, the population grew and the process had to start again. This idea became known as the Malthusian controversy. For our purposes, it’s important to see the big influence it had on Charles Dickens.

How does the story link to money?
Think about what Dickens might have been trying to say about social injustice.

To summarise… Dickens felt very strongly about the gap between rich and poor. He wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ to try and highlight the difference, and make people think differently about their actions. Why do you think he chose to set his book at Christmas time? What does Christmas mean in our society?

What kind of story is A Christmas Carol?
The BIG Question: What kind of story is A Christmas Carol? Keywords: Genre, Gothic, Staves . Why is the novella divided into staves rather than chapters? In pairs, discuss why Charles Dickens chose this title? Stave – the set of five lines on which musical notation is written

How is the story structured?
Dickens’s five staves provide the structure of his novella, like five verses of a song (carol) or five stanzas of a poem. A Christmas Carol follows a three-act structure, consisting of: The inciting incident – the visit of Marley’s Ghost The climax – Scrooge’s sight of his own grave The resolution – Scrooge’s reformation

Gothic Techniques Gothic fiction combines features of horror and romance. The key features are: Extreme emotion Fear Awe and fear of religion and/or the supernatural Very strong atmosphere General features to look for… Mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses, castles, darkness, death, madness, secrets. General characters to look for… Tyrants, villains, maniacs, heroes, persecuted women, magicians, demons, angels, ghosts.

Victorian Gothic Before Victorian times the setting for Gothic novels was generally a castle, or somewhere in the countryside that was dark, creepy and lonely. In the Victorian times it became popular to place Gothic novels in an urban setting, particularly in London. ….and one to bear in mind when reading ‘A Christmas Carol’, is the idea of sins having the power to curse and affect you or your family in the future.

What Charles Dickens did…
Compared and contrasted the big difference between rich and poor. Showed wealthy society as being pleasant, ordered and extravagant. Contrasted this by presenting poor society as disordered, barbaric and unhappy.

What do we associate with Christmas?
The BIG Question: Can I analyse the opening of A Christmas Carol? Keywords: Colon, repeat, repetition. What do we associate with Christmas?

What do you already know about this text?
Characters & the way they’re presented Plot

So what’s up with this opening line?
arley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

What is the effect of the colon in the opening sentence?
What is suggested by ‘emphatically’ repeating something?

What is the effect of the use of repetition here?

Read Stave 1

Fred How does Dickens develop and use this character? Is he rounded or two dimensional? You may wish to consider: his description; what he says/ his views of life; how and why Dickens uses mirroring language between the Scrooge and Fred. 2. Where do Dickens’s sympathies lie? How do you know? Christian value of love – attitude towards the poor – a foil for Scrooge – links to the Portly Gentlemen

Jacob Marley Why was it important to establish that Marley was dead at the start of the novel? How does Dickens use Marley to tell us about the inequalities of Victorian England? 3. How does Marley change the tone of the novel to one of horror? 4. How do Marley’s vocabulary choices add weight to his message? Need for a convincing setting to make supernatural seem real – partly established by emphasising his death at start – to Portly Gentlemen etc.

Dickens’ Style Find evidence of and explain why Dickens employs the following: Humour. Direct address to the reader/ switches to 1st person narrative. The link between appearance and personality. The creation of atmosphere through the creation of imagery, adjective choice, pathetic fallacy and the use of sound. Use of contrast. The use of lists.

The Poor and Surplus Population
How are the working conditions of Bob Cratchitt described? Why does Dickens include the Portly Gentlemen? What do the Portly Gentlemen and their conversation with Scrooge tell us about Victorian society? How is the image of Victorian society reinforced at the end of the stave? In 1833 Earl Grey, the Prime Minister, set up a Poor Law Commission to examine the working of the poor Law system in Britain. In their report published in 1834, the Commission made several recommendations to Parliament. As a result, the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed. The act stated that: (a) no able-bodied person was to receive money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except in a workhouse; (b) conditions in workhouses were to be made very harsh to discourage people from wanting to receive help; (c) workhouses were to be built in every parish or, if parishes were too small, in unions of parishes; (d) ratepayers in each parish or union had to elect a Board of Guardians to supervise the workhouse, to collect the Poor Rate and to send reports to the Central Poor Law Commission; (e) the three man Central Poor Law Commission would be appointed by the government and would be responsible for supervising the Amendment Act throughout the country. TES Powerpoint

Can I form an opinion of Scrooge?
The BIG Question: Can I form an opinion of Scrooge? Keywords: Emotion, Feeling, Personality, Sympathy, Redemption What do we already think about Scrooge? Emotional words Feeling (physical words) Personality words Temperature words Is it possible to feel any sympathy for Scrooge at the end of the first stave? Does he have any redeeming features?

No falling snow was more intent
Tight fisted Squeezing Wrenching Grasping Hard and sharp as flint No generous fire Cold within him No warmth could warmth He iced his office Blue lips No falling snow was more intent No pelting rain Scrooge Action and doing words Emotional words Temperature Weather

What impression do you have of Scrooge from Stave 1?
EVIDENCE COMMENT / EFFECT Disliked “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” The use of list here infers that Scrooge has many negative qualities. The verb “squeezing” implies that …

Can I analyse an extract?
The BIG Question: Can I analyse an extract? Keywords: Palpable, ruddy, morose.

TASK: Explore how Dickens presents the setting in the extract.
There are two sections to the question that you will be asked to answer on the text. The extract. The whole text. EXAMPLE EXTRACT QUESTION: Explore how Dickens presents the setting in the extract. TASK: 5 MINUTES – you and your partner need to annotate (highlight and comment) your extract looking at the presentation of the setting.

Before we feedback, explore some of these questions to see if you can develop your annotations further. It starts ‘once upon a time’ – what do you feel is the effect of this? Does the mood change throughout the extract? ‘cold, bleak, biting weather’ - what does the use of triplet suggest here? It’s 3 in the afternoon & dark – what image do you think this is trying to evoke? ‘The fog came pouring in’ – what word do you feel is significant? What do you think it is trying to suggest? How is the fire described? How is Scrooge’s nephew greeted?

Explore how Dickens presents the setting in the extract.
Your annotations might end up looking something like this – key words and phrases highlighted and then some comments in your own words. Using your annotations you are to answer the following question: Explore how Dickens presents the setting in the extract. “One major problem with ‘A Christmas Carol’ is that Scrooge relents too quickly: even after seeing Marley’s ghost the transformation has begun…” – Do you agree?

We’re going to look at some of your work under the visualiser.
You need to decide (and explain) which level you think this work is in.

Assess your Partner’s Work
Skill Achieved Convincing statement that answers the question (AO1) Relevant quotation that links to the question (AO1) Confident and perceptive explanation of what the quotation shows (AO2) Uses the correct terminology for specific methods (AO2) Analyses more than one meaning/connotation of words/clauses/methods (AO2) Explores the effect on reader Evaluates how the word(s) impact on how the reader sees the character (AO2) Challenge: Makes an appropriate link between the character and the social/cultural context (AO3) A – Acknowledge a strength in the paragraph ____________________________________________________ I – Set an improvement task R – Respond to your partner’s improvement task in your book in green pen. Assess your Partner’s Work

Can I explore characterisation through an extract?
The BIG Question: Can I explore characterisation through an extract? Keywords: Destitute, workhouses.

How do you think it was different for someone who was homeless in the Victorian era?

How does Dickens present the character of Scrooge here?
“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.” “Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge. “Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again. “And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?” “They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.” “The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge. “Both very busy, sir.” “Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.” “Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,” returned the gentleman, “a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?” “Nothing!” Scrooge replied. “You wish to be anonymous?” “I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned – they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.” “Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.” “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides – excuse me – I don’t know that.” While you’re annotating your extract you may wish to think about the following: What is Scrooge’s attitude towards the poor? How does Scrooge treat the man who is collecting for the poor? What evidence would you select to show Scrooge’s heartless nature?

How does Dickens present the character of Scrooge here?
“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.” “Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge. “Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again. “And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?” “They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.” “The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge. “Both very busy, sir.” “Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.” “Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,” returned the gentleman, “a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?” “Nothing!” Scrooge replied. “You wish to be anonymous?” “I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned – they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.” “Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.” “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides – excuse me – I don’t know that.” While you’re annotating your extract you may wish to think about the following: What is Scrooge’s attitude towards the poor? How does Scrooge treat the man who is collecting for the poor? What evidence would you select to show Scrooge’s heartless nature? Using your annotations you are to answer this question. Think about everything we discussed when we looked at examples under the visualiser and how to improve our responses further.

What words and phrases do you think help build tension?
This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. The bells ceased as they had begun, together. They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine merchant’s cellar. Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains. The cellar-door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door. “It’s humbug still!” said Scrooge. “I won’t believe it.” His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. Upon its coming in, the dying flame leaped up, as though it cried, “I know him; Marley’s Ghost!” and fell again. The same face: the very same. Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. His body was transparent, so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind. What words and phrases do you think help build tension? How is punctuation used to help generate tension? Is sentence structure a tool that has been used to generate tension?

STRUCTURE: Point  you’re going to tell me clearly how the character is initially presented in this chapter. If required, you are going to give additional information about the chapter so it makes sense, but you are definitely not retelling the story. Evidence  direct from the chapter and must be exact. Terminology. Explain  this needs to be clear, succinct yet developed. Show me your full understanding. Link you’re going to make a clear link to historical context and how the character reflects the time the text was written. Link  you’re now linking to somewhere else in the text. Link  select evidence that shows this. Link  terminology Link  explain. Just like your previous explanation it needs to be clear, succinct yet developed.

Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about
that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Mind! Thinking about the whole of stave 1, how do you think Scrooge has altered? Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had entered. It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. He tried to say “Humbug!” but stopped at the first syllable. And being, from the emotion he had undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the Invisible World, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the hour, much in need of repose; went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell asleep upon the instant.

Stave One Select three words that you are unsure of and write a definition. Use a dictionary to help you. What is the simile in the second paragraph? What does it make you imagine? Why does the narrator make such a point of Marley’s being dead? What do Marley’s chains represent? Why doesn’t the weather affect Scrooge- how does he make his ‘own cold temperature’? Select a quotation that describes Scrooge- why did you choose that one? Write your first impression of Scrooge in twenty words or less. Include whether you like him or not and why. How is Scrooge’s nephew so different from Scrooge? What do the “portly gentlemen” who come in after Scrooge’s nephew leave want? How does the door knocker change? Why does Scrooge like the darkness? (just after the incident with the knocker) What has Marley’s ghost been doing since his death? What does Marley’s chain represent? What is the warning that Marley gives Scrooge? Why are the phantoms (three paragraphs from the end of the stave) upset?

What are the key steps/methods?
The BIG Question: Can I analyse and respond to an unseen extract? What are the key steps/methods?

What could you have commented on?

How is Scrooge presented in the opening of Stave 2?
The BIG Question: How is Scrooge presented in the opening of Stave 2? Keywords: Characterisation, dialogue, action. Who is Jacob Marley? Scrooge’s office clerk Scrooge’s current business partner Scrooge’s former business partner Scrooge’s nephew Who is Bob Cratchit? Scrooge is a solitary as an… A shrew An oyster A crab A hermit Who are the charitable gentlemen collecting for? Ignorance and Want Orphans and Children Poor and Destitute Workhouses and Prisons What does Scrooge want to decrease? The surplus population Joy in Christmas The amount given to charity Bob Cratchit’s wages A Reminder of Stave One!

“solitary as an oyster”
The use of simile, “solitary as an oyster” suggests that Scrooge is … What do we learn about Scrooge from this simile?

Scrooge is presented as a “covetous”, “tight-fisted” and isolated character.
On the surface, the simile “solitary as an oyster” suggests that he leads an isolated life and closes himself off to others. Yet on a deeper level, we can infer that his hard outer shell is something he has built to protect himself and his money from others – becoming “solitary” and putting up barriers on purpose. Dickens employs the word “oyster” to imply that deep inside Scrooge there is a pearl – something valuable which he is holding on to and protecting in the way that an oyster buries its value deep inside where nobody can get it. Perhaps Dickens is foreshadowing the end of the story, when Scrooge finally gives up what he’s been holding onto, opening himself up to the world and letting them in, as well as sharing the wealth he’s been hoarding for so long.

Read Stave 2 – 29-46

How would this have had an impact on Scrooge’s life?
Childhood and School He sees boys he remembers playing happily, but is then shown himself as a solitary and neglected child: ‘Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be’. How would this have had an impact on Scrooge’s life?

Scrooge as a boy How are pathetic fallacy and personification used to create the atmosphere at the start of the scene? Collect evidence that Scrooge’s harsh exterior is cracking. How is sympathy created for the young Scrooge? Does this make the reader more sympathetic to Scrooge the man? 4. Find evidence of Dickens’ humour. 5. Who else is said to change in this section of the stave? Why is this significant?

Scrooge as an Apprentice
How do the descriptions of Fezziwig and his family add to a sense of joy and fun? NB. Fezziwig’s movements. How can his character be linked to Fred? What do we learn about working conditions in this scene? Find evidence that Scrooge’s character is changing. How does Dickens use Fezziwig to address other employers? Include the contrast of Fezziwig’s premises and those of Scrooge at the start of the novel.

Scrooge as a Young Man What do we learn about the changes in Scrooge from his description at the start of this section? How & why does Dickens use the language of business in Belle’s breaking of the engagement? Why include the second vision of Belle? How does Scrooge react to these events and what does his reaction suggest?

Fezziwig’s Party TO CONSIDER:
How do Mr and Mrs Fezziwig treat their workers at the end of the party? Where do the prentices sleep? Why does Dickens add this detail? How does Scrooge’s behaviour change throughout the party? What is the ghost’s lesson for Scrooge to learn? Where do the themes of the Christmas spirit and poverty appear in the party scene? What do you think Scrooge would like to say to the clerks? TO CONSIDER:

Fezziwig’s Party How do Mr and Mrs Fezziwig treat their workers at the end of the party? Regardless of class, they “shake hands with every person individually”. Where do the prentices sleep? Why does Dickens add this detail? The prentices sleep “under a counter” to show their lives are ruled by money. How does Scrooge’s behaviour change throughout the party? Scrooge begins to remember and reconnect with his former happy self. What is the ghost’s lesson for Scrooge to learn? Scrooge learns that a little money can make a big difference to poor people. Where do the themes of the Christmas spirit and poverty appear in the party scene? The poor, despite their circumstances, are full of the Christmas spirit. Wealth and happiness are not connected. What do you think Scrooge would like to say to the clerks? Scrooge is self-reflecting and would like to make amends with his clerk, Bob.

How would you continue this response?
How do Mr and Mrs Fezziwig treat their workers at the end of the party? Regardless of class, they “shake hands with every person individually”. How would you continue this response? Mr and Mrs Fezziwig contrast with Scrooge due to their warmth and kindness. At the party they find time to “shake hands with every person individually”, the use of the determiner “every” suggests … CHALLENGE: can you find an analyse a quotation from stave 2 that shows knowledge of characterisation?

What are the key steps/methods?
The BIG Question: Can I analyse and respond to an unseen extract? What are the key steps/methods?

What could you have commented on?

What effect have each of the Christmas past episodes had on Scrooge?
The BIG Question: How does Dickens use language to show the change in Scrooge? Keywords: Viewpoint. What effect have each of the Christmas past episodes had on Scrooge?

What impression do you gain of Scrooge here?
During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits. His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. He corroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation. What impression do you gain of Scrooge here? Think about: What are you zooming in on? Are you commenting on method and terminology?

Can I analyse and respond to an unseen extract?
Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present the impacts of greed in the novel? Write about: How Dickens presents the greed in this extract. How Dickens presents the impacts of greed in the rest of the novel.

How is Scrooge changing here?
Read Stave 2 – page47 How is Scrooge changing here?

How is Scrooge being presented differently in stave 2 in comparison to stave 1?
STAVE ONE STAVE TWO IMPRESSION OF SCROOGE QUOTATION

How is Scrooge being presented differently in stave 2 in comparison to stave 1?
STAVE ONE STAVE TWO IMPRESSION OF SCROOGE QUOTATION Can you discuss with your partner how you would analyse your quotation? Remember to incorporate language analysis in your discussion.

Can I explore an extract and link it to Scrooge elsewhere?
The BIG Question: Can I explore an extract and link it to Scrooge elsewhere? Keywords: Love, regret, remorse.

What impressions do you have of Scrooge so far in the novel?
What examples would you use to support?

How does Dickens present Scrooge as an outsider here?
`Spirit.’ said Scrooge,’ show me no more. Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me.’ `One shadow more.’ exclaimed the Ghost. `No more.’ cried Scrooge. `No more, I don’t wish to see it. Show me no more.’ But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to observe what happened next. 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 passed 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.’ `Spirit.’ said Scrooge in a broken voice,’ remove me from this place.’ `I told you these were shadows of the things that have been,’ said the Ghost. `That they are what they are, do not blame me.’ `Remove me.’ Scrooge exclaimed,’ I cannot bear it.’

Don’t launch into annotating straight away.
Decide in your own words what points you would make. Jot these down. Next start annotating based on these points you’ve made.

Stave Two 1. Select three words that you are unsure of and write a definition. Use a dictionary to help you. 1b. What was the strangest thing about the way the spirit looked? (– sentence beginning “but the strangest thing…) 2. What is Scrooge’s initial attitude toward the spirit? 3. What is different about Scrooge when he says “Remember it? I could walk it with a blindfold?” 4. Who is Scrooge talking about when he says “Poor boy!” 5. What does it tell us about Scrooge when Dickens observes “a rapidity of transition very foreign to his usual character.”? 6. When Fan comes to pick Scrooge up, we learn a reason why Scrooge may have turned out the way he did. What is this reason? 7. What kind of people are the Fezziwigs? How do you know this? 8. Who is Belle and why was she important to Scrooge? 9. Why does Scrooge say “Remove me.” 10. How does Scrooge try to "extinguish the light"? Does he succeed? What is the light a symbol of?

How is Scrooge changing in stave 3?
The BIG Question: How is Scrooge changing in stave 3? Keywords: Regret, remorse, humble, mock. What does Scrooge come to understand after viewing the Fezziwig scene? How lonely he was as a young man That everyone knew how to have fun except him The benefits of kindness The time it takes to develop strong relationships What is the first place the ghost takes Scrooge to visit? His grandmother’s kitchen His first office His boyhood schoolhouse His college dorm room His first pace of work How is Scrooge able to fly out the window with the ghost? By holding his ankle By climbing on his back By grasping his robe Who or what is Fezziwig? The local wig shop The name of Scrooge’s favourite drink Scrooge’s crazy uncle Scrooge’s boss when he was younger What bad news does Belle give Scrooge? His mother has died She is calling off their engagement She is moving away He has lost his job A Reminder of Stave Two!

How is this information important to understanding A Christmas Carol?
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-so-poor as well. How is this information important to understanding A Christmas Carol?

Context: Father Christmas
Close your eyes and think of Father Christmas. What do you see? A jolly, fat man, with rosy red cheeks, a fluffy white beard and a red suit? Well close your eyes again and try and imagine him with a green suit rather than red... Difficult maybe, but that is how the British Father Christmas should be dressed. In the 1930s a certain American soft drinks company decided Santa should be dressed in red as part of a marketing campaign and that has stuck. There are many stories and legends about pagan winter festivals which include a 'Father Christmas' type figure, all of which have become part of the modern version. It's likely he represented the coming of spring and wore a long green hooded cloak and a wreath of holly, ivy or mistletoe and had the ability to make people happier during the long winter months. Often, he would sit near the fire and be given something to eat and drink. By being kind to him, people thought they would receive something good in return such as a mild winter.

How is this information important to understanding A Christmas Carol?
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 1870's 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?

What does this tell us about the Cratchit family?
“Then up rose Mrs Cratchit dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence” page 67

From what we’ve ready so far, what is your opinion of the Cratchit family?
IMPRESSION EVIDENCE (PG NO) LANGUAGE TECHNIQUE EFFECT

Can I analyse and respond to an unseen extract?
Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present the Cratchit family in the novel? Write about • How Dickens presents the Cratchitt family in this extract. • How Dickens presents the Cratchitt family in the rest of the novel.

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?

Why might Dickens include a scene in which the Cratchit family cook their Christmas meal?
Dickens wants to show the middle classes that the poor co-operate and show love through mutual support. 2. Why does Mrs Cratchit invite her daughter to sit down “before the fire”? The fire represents the Cratchits’ Christmas spirit, which is strong throughout Stave Three. 3. Why might Dickens include the image of Bob carrying his son? Bob carries the family financially, despite the heavy burden. 4. How are the references to church important? The Cratchit family are Christians who value love & family over money. 5. Why might Bob say that his son is “good as gold”? Bob values people according to their character, not their wealth. 6. How do the Cratchit family feel about their meal? Dickens exaggerates the Cratchit family’s reaction to emphasise how grateful they are. Ironically, the reader can clearly see the meal is not a “feast” and this causes sympathy. 7. How does Scrooge react to watching this scene? Scrooge continues to grow as a person, realising that value should not be attached to money. He asks if Tiny Tim will be “spared”, showing he is now invested in other people.

Read Stave 3 – 74-75 What impression is given of Scrooge here?
Think about: His actions What others say about him

How does Dickens present Scrooge in this extract?
"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. How does Dickens present Scrooge in this extract?

Initially Scrooge appears to be remorseful for his actions, the Ghost repeats a phrase that Scrooge used earlier within the text and now that Scrooge is beginning to change he seems embarrassed by his previous lack of empathy. Scrooge was “overcome” with emotion; this verb is suggesting that his “grief” was overwhelming to him. A01 A02 A03 TASK: You are to write 2 more paragraphs answering the question: How does Dickens present Scrooge in this extract? You need to ensure that you are extracting evidence and commenting on the effect.

How are the families being presented differently?
Read Stave 3 – 76-88 How are the families being presented differently?

What do you think these children are symbolising?
Do you think the Ghost of Christmas Present is supposed to represent Father Christmas? Find as many links as you can…

The two children are allegories of two social problems: Ignorance and Want.
Ignorance: People like Scrooge, who ignore the problems of the poor, create enormous social problems. They create children like this. Want: because the population has ‘boomed’ in Victorian times, many people ‘want for’ (go without) the basic necessities such as food and shelter. Combined with the ignorance of the rich, this creates massive social problems. It creates children like this. These children will grow into adults who live a life of crime, causing bigger problems and creating a cycle.

IGNORANCE AND WANT SHEET

The change in Scrooge How does Dickens show Scrooge beginning to regret his behaviour and to change his attitude in: His reaction to his own words quoted by the Ghost His attitude to the Cratchit family His behaviour at Fred’s house His reaction to the two children under the Ghost’s cloak?

Stave Three Select three words that you are unsure of and write a definition. Use a dictionary to help you. How is what Scrooge is thinking as he lies in bed waiting to see if the spirit appears different from the previous chapter? What does the spirit look like? What is this ghost’s personality like? How has Scrooge’s attitude toward his being escorted by a ghost changed? What is the point of the long description beginning The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker and continuing on for several pages through paragraph which begins, “But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and chapel, and away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and with their gayest faces.” What are three significant things we learn about the Cratchits? How is Scrooge affected by seeing the family? What does the Spirit mean when he says But they Know me. See!” about the miners? What is the point of going to the lighthouse ? to the ship What is the great surprise to Scrooge in the next paragraph? What would Fred think would be a positive outcome of his Christmas invitation to Scrooge? What happens to Scrooge’s mood as the party goes on? Why do you think this happens? Describe the game called “Yes and No” Scrooge witnesses at his nephews Christmas party. What does it mean to say the boy and the girl (Ignorance and Want – the last paragraphs of the stave) are “Man’s children?

Question: What themes have been presented so far in the novel? Themes,
The BIG Question: What themes have been presented so far in the novel? Keywords: Themes,

What themes do you think are being presented in A Christmas Carol?
POVERTY CHRISTMAS ISOLATION What themes do you think are being presented in A Christmas Carol? SOCIETY GREED/MONEY THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY RESPONSIBILITY THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS FIVE MINUTES: on your tables, what examples / evidence can you find to support?

Let’s explore them in detail
Quotation Theme Explanation “secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster” (page 1) Isolation Dickens’ initial description of Scrooge sets him out as solitary. He is cold and hard and this characterisation is created by the simile. Scrooge is empty of love, family and a sense of community. He must come out of his “oyster” shell and learn to engage others by embracing the Christmas spirit. “What Idol has displaced you?” “A golden one.” (page 22) “A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” (page 2)

Quotation Theme Explanation “secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster” (page 1) Isolation Dickens’ initial description of Scrooge sets him out as solitary. He is cold and hard and this characterisation is created by the simile. Scrooge is empty of love, family and a sense of community. He must come out of his “oyster” shell and learn to engage others by embracing the Christmas spirit. “What Idol has displaced you?” “A golden one.” (page 22) “A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” (page 2) …but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle… What right have you got to be merry?

Quotation Theme Explanation “secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster” (page 1) Isolation Dickens’ initial description of Scrooge sets him out as solitary. He is cold and hard and this characterisation is created by the simile. Scrooge is empty of love, family and a sense of community. He must come out of his “oyster” shell and learn to engage others by embracing the Christmas spirit. “What Idol has displaced you?” “A golden one.” (page 22) “A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” (page 2) He poked the fire, and extinguished the last frail spark forever. ‘Let me hear another sound from you… and you’ll keep Christmas by losing your situation!’ I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?

Poverty Dickens was deeply concerned by the plight of the poor and so used Scrooge to exemplify the callous attitude of the more affluent to the poor. USEFUL EXAMPLES: How he speaks to the charity collectors. Bob Cratchit symbolises the typically exploited worker at the mercy of his tyrannical employer. He does not complain about their situation as this would seem ungrateful. Infant morality rate among poor Victorians was high and so Tiny Tim represents the potential fate of many sick children living in poverty. Scrooge realises his thoughtless words about the poor when he watches the Cratchits. Ignorance and Want. TASK: Find quotations that link to the theme of poverty and would help to support a discussion regarding one of these areas of poverty. CHALLENGE: Can you start to pick apart these quotations?

A Reminder Of Stave Three
The BIG Question: How is Scrooge presented in Stave 4? Keywords: Regret, remorse, hopeful. How is the Ghost of Christmas Present represented? A jolly giant A silent phantom A small glowing man An invisible spirit Who are the children under the Ghost of Christmas Present’s coat? Poor and Destitute Hope and Charity Ignorance and Want Goodness and Light Which line does the Ghost of Christmas Present repeat to Scrooge? “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” “Christmas? Bah humbug!” “Decrease the surplus population.” “You may be a bit of undigested beef.” A Reminder Of Stave Three

How is the Ghost presented in the opening of stave 4?
Does this differ from the other ghosts we have met?

Find 4/5 quotations that link with each of these ghosts.
Ghost of Christmas Past Ghost of Christmas Present Ghost of Christmas Future Find 4/5 quotations that link with each of these ghosts. What do you notice about the difference in the way they’re described? Why do you think Dickens presented the final ghost in such an intimidating way?

Read Stave 4

His lonely death, unloved and unmourned, is a moral message that he can expect nothing, since he gave nothing. What do you consider are Dickens’s reasons for showing the death of Tiny Tim as part of the future?

Scrooge is hearing what others think about his death
Scrooge is hearing what others think about his death. Make notes on the viewpoints we are shown from: Scrooge’s associates in the city Scrooge’s debtors, who owe him money The people who are supposed to look after the body.

Does the way others react to Scrooge’s death have a bigger message?
The BIG Question: Does the way others react to Scrooge’s death have a bigger message? Keywords: Greed, selfish, egotistic.

Could you link this to elsewhere in the text?
How is society presented here? TO THINK ABOUT: What class are these men? Is this significant? How are the men physically described? Why did Dickens decide to do this? How do they come across as heartless? Do you think there might be a message? The Spirit stopped beside one little knot of business men. Observing that the hand was pointed to them, Scrooge advanced to listen to their talk. "No," said a great fat man with a monstrous chin," I don't know much about it, either way. I only know he's dead." "When did he die?" inquired another. "Last night, I believe." "Why, what was the matter with him?" asked a third, taking a vast quantity of snuff out of a very large snuff-box. "I thought he'd never die." "God knows," said the first, with a yawn. "What has he done with his money?" asked a red-faced gentleman with a pendulous excrescence on the end of his nose, that shook like the gills of a turkey-cock. "I haven't heard," said the man with the large chin, yawning again. "Left it to his company, perhaps. He hasn't left it to me. That's all I know." This pleasantry was received with a general laugh. "It's likely to be a very cheap funeral," said the same speaker; "for upon my life I don't know of anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up a party and volunteer?" "I don't mind going if a lunch is provided," observed the gentleman with the excrescence on his nose. "But I must be fed, if I make one." Another laugh. "Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all," said the first speaker," for I never wear black gloves, and I never eat lunch. But I'll offer to go, if anybody else will. When I come to think of it, I'm not at all sure that I wasn't his most particular friend; for we used to stop and speak whenever we met. Bye, bye." Speakers and listeners strolled away, and mixed with other groups. Scrooge knew the men, and looked towards the Spirit for an explanation. Could you link this to elsewhere in the text?

Stave Four 1. Select three words that you are unsure of and write a definition. Use a dictionary to help you. 1b. What does the spirit of Christmas future look like? 2. What is this spirit’s personality like? 3. How does Scrooge feel about this spirit? 4. What is the point of the long discussion between Joe and Mrs. Dilber? Hint: they relate to Scrooge’s property. 5. What are some of the words Dickens uses to create the mood of the paragraphs that follow? What is this mood? 6. When Scrooge asks the phantom to let him "see some tenderness connected with a death,” What does the ghost show him? 7. What is the lesson Scrooge learns in this stave that he had not learned before? 8. Why is this stave needed when Scrooge’s attitude had already changed so much?

How is mood and atmosphere created?
The BIG Question: How is mood and atmosphere created? Keywords: Contrast, depressing, bleak.

How does Dickens create mood and atmosphere in the following extract?
Annotate your copy  what can you select that shows ‘thought’? What would you refer to from the whole text to further support your view? What would you include that focuses on: AO1? AO2? AO3? What level would these be comments be at? What are you aiming for? 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 offenses 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 low-browed, 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.

What is the message of the novel?
The BIG Question: What is the message of the novel? Keywords: Hope, hopeful, regret. Build a vocabulary/definition list: Aristocracy Gentry Industrial Revolution Factory Acts Workhouse Baby Farms Humanitarianism Inequality Gentry - people of good social position, specifically the class of people next below the nobility in position and birth. Factory Act to improve conditions for children working in factories. Young children were working very long hours in workplaces where conditions were often terrible. The basic act was as follows: no child workers under nine years of age. Baby farms - the practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment in late-Victorian Era Britain 22

What is the message of the novel?
The BIG Question: What is the message of the novel? Keywords: Hope, hopeful, regret. Build a vocabulary/definition list: Aristocracy Gentry Industrial Revolution Factory Acts Workhouse Baby Farms Humanitarianism Inequality Humanitarianism - the promotion of human welfare. Workhouse - a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment. The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. 22

Dickens writes about childhood in many of his novels
Dickens writes about childhood in many of his novels. Make notes on how children are presented in the following scenes: Stave 1 – the child outside Scrooge’s office Stave 2 – Scrooge as a child Stave 3 – the Cratchit children Stave 4 – the children of the young couple that owed money to the dying Scrooge Stave 5 – the child Scrooge sends to buy the turkey.

Humanitarianism: a viewpoint or philosophy that extends compassion and the relief of suffering to all people regardless of nationality, age, gender or religion. Malthus: a respected academic who argued that the growth of the world’s population would outstrip its ability to provide food for everyone, leading to enforced population control through starvation and disease. What evidence is there in the novel to prove Dickens was concerned about this?

How does Dickens present he effects of social inequality in A Christmas Carol.?
You should include points such as: How men like Scrooge and Marley became wealthy through shares and loans The lack of protection for workers, especially children, and the long hours and poor pay (Cratchit) The fear of debt and unable to pay, as this would mean prison (Caroline and her husband) The lack of education and protection for children in poverty (Ignorance and Want) The effects of poverty on families (Tiny Tim, their clothes, their dinner, etc.) The living conditions of the poor. You could finish on the difference Scrooge was able to make when he cared.

Read Stave 5

Divide your page. In the first column find a quotation from early in Stave 1, and in the second find a quotation from that shows the difference in Scrooge in Stave 5.

How does Dickens present Scrooge’s transformation throughout the novella?

Stave Five Preface of the novel
I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it. Their faithful Friend and Servant, C.D. December, 1843. After reading the preface, why do you think Dickens wrote the novel? Justify your answer with a quotation. P why does Scrooge state he is ‘quite a baby’? P.118- how does this description of the weather compare with the description at the start of the novel (p.4)? Why would a Victorian reader be so shocked by Bob’s payrise? What would you say the novel teaches us about? Think of three key ideas. Choose a selection of words that Dickens uses to describe Scrooge’s behavior in this stave that show a clear change in his character.

Can I analyse an unseen extract?
Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present Scrooge’s relationship with the wider society of London? Write about How Dickens presents Scrooge’s attitudes to the two men and the rest of society in this extract. How Dickens presents Scrooge’s attitude to the wider society of London in the rest of the novel.

What was Christmas Carol really about?
The BIG Question: What was Christmas Carol really about? Keywords: Moral, Parable, Allegory. Scrooge’s miserly refusal to give His refusal of human contact Even his colleagues barely know him He hates himself as much as he hates everything else Evil is shown through…

How is A Christmas Carol allegorical?
Students discuss and annotate with their interpretations – can include not just the characters, but what they say - Scrooge and use of business language - & what they carry eg – cash boxes show Marley was entirely focussed on his business etc.

What images or ideas do these symbols create for you?
A Christmas Carol is a story that works on several levels of meaning. It is a parable because it has a moral lesson. It is an allegory because it uses figures that represent abstract ideas. Allegory: a story with a second meaning behind the obvious one, using ideas as personified characters Parable: a story related to people’s own experiences that illustrate a moral lesson, often through metaphor Pathetic fallacy: the idea that nature reflects human feelings The story is a parable of redemption. A moral lesson for the selfish…with an entertaining tale of ghosts and Christmas. Consider the following: Jacob Marley’s chain The ghosts – past/present/future Ignorance and Want ‘Once upon a time…’ Three spirits (clue: three bears, three wise men, three wishes, etc.) What images or ideas do these symbols create for you?

Title Plot summary Main quotations Stave 1 Marley’s Ghost Stave 2 The First of the Three Spirits Stave 3 The Second of the Three Spirits Stave 4 The Last of the Spirits Stave 5 The End of It.

STAVE 1 – MARLEY’S GHOST STAVE 2 – THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST STAVE 3 – THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT STAVE 4 – THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS YET TO COME STAVE 5 – THE END OF IT Scrooge in his office. A “meagre” fire. The clerk is shivering. Fred enters. Two “portly gentlemen” enter. Cratchit is sent home. Scrooge goes home. The door knocker … He is eating his supper when… Marley has a chain with … At the end Marley leaves … First spirit – strange, childlike figure with an air of wisdom. It uses a cap to cover its head. SCHOOL 1 – lonely Scrooge. Has imaginary friends. Scrooge regrets … SCHOOL 2 – Fan arrives to take Scrooge home. Scrooge regrets … FEZZIWIGS – Christmas party. Scrooge remembers that … He regrets … BELLE -1 – break up. She says … BELLE 2 – as a mother. Scrooge sees her daughter and her husband. “he is quite alone in this world” Scrooge forces the cap down on the spirit, extinguishing the past. Second spirit – jolly, larger than life, only alive for that one day. Has a horn of blessings which he scatters on those most in need. Scrooge sees Christmas day. The shops, the people, the bakers, church etc. CRATCHIT’s HOUSE. Bob toasts Scrooge. Scrooge asks about Tiny Tim. CHRISTMAS IN ISOLATED PLACES – miners, lighthouse, a ship. Song is heard everywhere. FRED’s HOUSE. Fred toasts Scrooge. They play games. Scrooge wants to join in. TWO children – metaphors – are under his cloak. “Ignorance and Want” Ignorance = lack of education for children, but also ignorance about society Want = poverty, need. “are there no prisons?...” 1834 – POOR LAWS 1843 – A Christmas Carol Third spirit – “phantom” – silent, threatening, terrifying. CITY A PAWN SHOP IN BACK STREETS A BODY ON A BED A COUPLE IN A HOUSE CRATCHIT’s HOUSE. A GRAVEYARD. “Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life." "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!" "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody!” TURKEY – sent to the Cratchits. Walks the streets. Goes to church. “portly gentlemen” Works up the courage to visit Fred. “Will you let me in, Fred?” BOXING DAY Cratchit arrives for work. Scrooge tricks him. He gives him a raise, and takes him to the pub. “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.”

Key quotations for each character

Ebenezer Scrooge Stave 1
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. No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. Stave 1 To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call nuts to Scrooge. But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?'' The truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a means of distracting his own attention, and keeping down his terror; for the spectre's voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones. Up Scrooge went, not caring a button for that: darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.

``Or would you know,'' pursued the Ghost, ``the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!'' ``I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer.'' Ebenezer Scrooge Stave 1 ``But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,'' faultered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever. ``You will be haunted,'' resumed the Ghost, ``by Three Spirits.''

`Àre you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me?'' asked Scrooge. Why was he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry Christmas, as they parted at cross-roads and bye-ways, for their several homes! What was merry Christmas to Scrooge? Out upon merry Christmas! What good had it ever done to him? `Ì am the Ghost of Christmas Past.'' ``Was it a dream or not?'' `Ì was bred in this place. I was a boy here!'' Ebenezer Scrooge ``Ding, dong!'' Stave 2 ``These are but shadows of the things that have been,'' said the Ghost. ``They have no consciousness of us.'' Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be. ``Nothing,'' said Scrooge. ``Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: that's all.'' `À solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.''

His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later years; but it had begun to wear the signs of care and avarice. There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye, which showed the passion that had taken root, and where the shadow of the growing tree would fall. Clear away! There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away, or couldn't have cleared away, with old Fezziwig looking on ``No. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now! That's all. Ebenezer Scrooge ``No more!'' cried Scrooge. ``No more. I don't wish to see it. Show me no more!'' During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits. His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. Stave 2 He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.'' `Home, for good and all. Home, for ever and ever. Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home's like Heaven!

For he wished to challenge the Spirit on the moment of its appearance, and did not wish to be taken by surprise, and made nervous. I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is working now. To-night, if you have aught to teach me, let me profit by it.'' ``Spirit,'' said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, ``tell me if Tiny Tim will live.'' Ebenezer Scrooge And perhaps it was the pleasure the good Spirit had in showing off this power of his, or else it was his own kind, generous, hearty nature, and his sympathy with all poor men, that led him straight to Scrooge's clerk's Stave 3 ``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. 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. ``He has given us plenty of merriment, I am sure,'' said Fred, `ànd it would be ungrateful not to drink his health. Here is a glass of mulled wine ready to our hand at the moment; and I say, `Ùncle Scrooge!'''' Scrooge had his eye upon them, and especially on Tiny Tim, until the last. Ebenezer Scrooge Stave 3 `Ì was only going to say,'' said Scrooge's nephew, ``that the consequence of his taking a dislike to us, and not making merry with us, is, as I think, that he loses some pleasant moments, which could do him no harm. I am sure he loses pleasanter companions than he can find in his own thoughts, either in his mouldy old office, or his dusty chambers. There might have been twenty people there, young and old, but they all played, and so did Scrooge; for, wholly forgetting in the interest he had in what was going on, that his voice made no sound in their ears

Although well used to ghostly company by this time, Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it. `Ì am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?'' said Scrooge ``You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us,'' Scrooge pursued. `Ìs that so, Spirit?'' I only know he's dead Ebenezer Scrooge ``What has he done with his money? ``Ghost of the Future!'' he exclaimed, `Ì fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?'' Stave 4 It's likely to be a very cheap funeral,'' said the same speaker; ``for upon my life I don't know of anybody to go to it he resolved to treasure up every word he heard, and everything he saw

Every person has a right to take care of themselves. He always did He frightened every one away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead! The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way, now. he had been revolving in his mind a change of life Ebenezer Scrooge Stave 4 Somebody was fool enough to do it, but I took it off again. why wasn't he natural in his lifetime? If he had been, he'd have had somebody to look after him when he was struck with Death, instead of lying gasping out his last there, alone by himself. plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, uncared for, was the body of this man. there lay a something covered up, which, though it was dumb, announced itself in awful language.

if this man could be raised up now, what would be his foremost thoughts? Avarice, hard-dealing, griping cares? They have brought him to a rich end, truly! ``Spirit!'' he said, ``this is a fearful place. In leaving it, I shall not leave its lesson, trust me. Let us go Ebenezer Scrooge Tell me what man that was whom we saw lying dead? Stave 4 ``Spirit!'' he cried, tight clutching at its robe, ``hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope?'' ``Am I that man who lay upon the bed?''

``I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!'' He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears. Not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it, I assure you. ``I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!'' Ebenezer Scrooge Stave 5 Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile. He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good-humoured fellows said, ``Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you!'' Come back with the man, and I'll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes, and I'll give you half-a-crown! Bob trembled, and got a little nearer to the ruler. He had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge down with it; holding him, and calling to the people in the court for help and a strait-waistcoat.

`Ìt's I. Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred?'' Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity, won-der-ful happiness! Oh, he was early there. If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming late! That was the thing he had set his heart upon. I am about to raise your salary! Ebenezer Scrooge `Ìt's only once a year, sir,'' pleaded Bob, appearing from the Tank. `Ìt shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.'' Stave 5 Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.

Ebenezer Scrooge On poverty `Àre there no prisons?'' asked Scrooge.
`Ànd the Union workhouses?'' demanded Scrooge. `Àre they still in operation?'' I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.'' `Ìf they would rather die,'' said Scrooge, ``they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population Ebenezer Scrooge On poverty `Ìt's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly.

Ebenezer Scrooge On Christmas
If I could work my will,'' said Scrooge indignantly, ``every idiot who goes about with ``Merry Christmas'' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!'' The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge's keyhole to regale him with a Christmas carol: but at the first sound of God bless you, merry gentleman! May nothing you dismay! Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost. Ebenezer Scrooge On Christmas ``Bah!'' said Scrooge, ``Humbug!'' ``Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? what reason have you to be merry? What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you?

``There's another fellow,'' muttered Scrooge; who overheard him: ``my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I'll retire to Bedlam.'' 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 Bob Cratchit the Clerk Bob, turning up his cuffs -- as if, poor fellow, they were capable of being made more shabby “My little, little child!'' cried Bob. ``My little child!'' ``Mr Scrooge!'' said Bob; ``I'll give you Mr Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!''

Fred ``Ha, ha!'' laughed Scrooge's nephew. ``Ha, ha, ha!''
But being thoroughly good-natured, and not much caring what they laughed at, so that they laughed at any rate, he encouraged them in their merriment, and passed the bottle joyously. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humour to the last. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!'' Fred ``I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?'' But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time… as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'' ``A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!'' cried a cheerful voice. ``Nephew!'' returned the uncle, sternly, ``keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.''

``What of that, my dear. '' said Scrooge's nephew
``What of that, my dear!'' said Scrooge's nephew. ``His wealth is of no use to him. He don't do any good with it. He don't make himself comfortable with it. He hasn't the satisfaction of thinking -- ha, ha, ha! -- that he is ever going to benefit Us with it.'' He's a comical old fellow,'' said Scrooge's nephew, ``that's the truth: and not so pleasant as he might be. However, his offences carry their own punishment, and I have nothing to say against him.'' Bob told them of the extraordinary kindness of Mr Scrooge's nephew, whom he had scarcely seen but once Fred I mean to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him. He may rail at Christmas till he dies, but he can't help thinking better of it -- I defy him -- if he finds me going there, in good temper, year after year, and saying Uncle Scrooge, how are you? If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, that's something; and I think I shook him yesterday.'' ``I am sorry for him; I couldn't be angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his ill whims? Himself, always. Here, he takes it into his head to dislike us, and he won't come and dine with us. What's the consequence? He don't lose much of a dinner.''

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 ``The Founder of the Feast indeed!'' cried Mrs Cratchit, reddening. `Ì 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.'' Mrs Cratchit `Ìt should be Christmas Day, I am sure,'' said she, `òn 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!'' `Ìt makes them weak by candle-light; and I wouldn't show weak eyes to your father when he comes home, for the world. It must be near his time.''

``Why, it's old Fezziwig. Bless his heart; it's Fezziwig alive again
Old Fezziwig laid down his pen, and looked up at the clock, which pointed to the hour of seven. He rubbed his hands; adjusted his capacious waistcoat; laughed all over himself, from his shows to his organ of benevolence; and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice: `No more work to-night. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer! Old Fezziwig Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. Top couple, too; with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them ``Why! Is it not? He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?'' 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. A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves. They shone in every part of the dance like moons.

`Às good as gold,'' said Bob, `ànd better
`Às good as gold,'' said Bob, `ànd 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 remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.'' they had a song, about a lost child travelling in the snow, from Tiny Tim; who had a plaintive little voice, and sang it very well indeed Tiny Tim ``God bless us every one!'' said Tiny Tim, the last of all. I am sure we shall none of us forget poor Tiny Tim -- shall we -- or this first parting that there was among us? he was very light to carry,'' she resumed, intent upon her work, `ànd his father loved him so, that it was no trouble: no trouble

It opened; and a little girl, much younger than the boy, came darting in, and putting her arms about his neck, and often kissing him, addressed him as her ``Dear, dear brother.'' ``She died a woman,'' said the Ghost, `ànd had, as I think, children.'' `Òne child,'' Scrooge returned. ``True,'' said the Ghost. ``Your nephew!'' Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind; and answered briefly, ``Yes.'' Little Fan ``You are quite a woman, little Fan!'' exclaimed the boy. `Àlways a delicate creature, whom a breath might have withered,'' said the Ghost. ``But she had a large heart!''

`Ìt matters little,'' she said, softly. ``To you, very little
`Ìt matters little,'' she said, softly. ``To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve.'' `Àll your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?'' ``What Idol has displaced you?'' he rejoined. `À golden one.'' Belle for the love of him you once were.'' ``Belle,'' said the husband, turning to his wife with a smile, `Ì saw an old friend of yours this afternoon.'' `Òur contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, until, in good season, we could improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry. You are changed. When it was made, you were another man.''

Jacob Marley Marley was dead: to begin with.
Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine-merchant's cellar. Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains. Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without its undergoing any intermediate process of change: not a knocker, but Marley's face. Jacob Marley ``In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley.'' Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. ``Mr Marley has been dead these seven years,'' Scrooge replied. ``He died seven years ago, this very night.''

``Mankind was my business
``Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!'' ``You don't believe in me,'' observed the Ghost. `Òld Jacob Marley, tell me more. Speak comfort to me, Jacob.'' Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!'' Jacob Marley ``No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse.'' `Ìt is required of every man,'' the Ghost returned, ``that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! -- and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!'' `Ì wear the chain I forged in life,'' replied the Ghost. `Ì made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?''

Ghost of Christmas Past
It was a strange figure -- like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm. The grasp, though gentle as a woman's hand, was not to be resisted. ``A small matter,'' said the Ghost, ``to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.'' Ghost of Christmas Past ``Spirit!'' said Scrooge, ``show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me?''

Ghost of Christmas Present
In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see: who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove; from every part of which, bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there Ghost of Christmas Present ``Come in!'' exclaimed the Ghost. ``Come in. and know me better, man!'' ``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? The Ghost was greatly pleased to find him in this mood, and looked upon him with such favour, that he begged like a boy to be allowed to stay until the guests departed. But this the Spirit said could not be done. Its dark brown curls were long and free: free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air.

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. ``Have they no refuge or resource?'' cried Scrooge. `Àre there no prisons?'' said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. `Àre there no workhouses?'' This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Want and Ignorance They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread. Is it a foot or a claw! `Ìt might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it”

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded. Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come the Spirit neither spoke nor moved

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

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