A Christmas Carol

Text Guide

Name:
Teacher:

1
Context: Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, and spent the first nine years of his
life living in the coastal regions of Kent, a county in southeast England. Dickens'
father, John, was a kind and likable man, but he was financially irresponsible, piling
up tremendous debts throughout his life. When Dickens was nine, his family moved
to London. At twelve, his father was arrested and sent to debtors' prison. Dickens'
mother moved seven of their children into prison with their father but arranged for
Charles to live alone outside the prison, working with other child labourers at a
hellish job pasting labels on bottles in a blacking warehouse.
The three months Charles spent apart from his family were severely traumatic. He
viewed his job as a miserable trap - he considered himself too good for it, stirring
the contempt of his worker-companions. After his father was released from prison,
Dickens returned to school, eventually becoming a law clerk. He went on to serve as
a court reporter before taking his place as one of the most popular English novelists
of his time. At age 25, Dickens completed his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, which met with great
success. This started his career as an English literary celebrity, during which he produced such
masterpieces as Great Expectations, David Copperfield, and Oliver Twist.
Dickens' beloved novella A Christmas Carol was written in 1843, with the intention of drawing readers'
attention to the plight of England's poor. In the tale, Dickens combines description of hardships faced by
the poor with a heart-rending, sentimental celebration of the Christmas season. The calloused character of
the penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge, who opens his heart after being confronted by three spirits, remains
one of Dickens' most widely recognized and popular creations.

Read the first paragraph again. List four things you learn about Charles Dickens. You must use
the word Dickens in every answer…

1.

2.

3.

4.

In the space below, create a timelines of Charles Dickens’ life…

2
Meaning: The Simplified Story
A mean-spirited, miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his counting-house on a cold Christmas
Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in the anteroom because Scrooge refuses to spend money on heating
coals for a fire. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party.
Two portly gentlemen also drop by and ask Scrooge for a contribution to their charity. Scrooge reacts to
the holiday visitors with bitterness and venom, spitting out an angry "Bah! Humbug!" in response to his
nephew's "Merry Christmas!"
Later that evening, after returning to his dark, cold apartment, Scrooge receives a chilling visit from the
ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, looking haggard and pale, tells his unfortunate story. As
punishment for his greedy and self-serving life, his spirit has been condemned to wander the Earth
weighted down with heavy chains. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. Marley
informs Scrooge that three spirits will visit him during each of the next three nights. After the ghost
disappears, Scrooge collapses into a deep sleep.
He wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike phantom with a
brightly glowing head. The spirit escorts Scrooge on a journey into the past to previous Christmases from
his earlier years. Invisible to those he watches, Scrooge revisits his childhood school days, his
apprenticeship with a jolly merchant named Fezziwig, and his engagement to Belle, a woman who leaves
Scrooge because his lust for money overshadows his ability to love another. Scrooge, deeply moved, sheds
tears of regret before the phantom returns him to his bed.
The Ghost of Christmas Present, a majestic giant dressed in a green fur robe, takes Scrooge through
London to unveil Christmas as it will happen that year. Scrooge watches the large, bustling Cratchit family
prepare a miniature feast in its meagre home. He discovers Bob Cratchit's crippled son, Tiny Tim, a
courageous boy whose kindness and humility warms Scrooge's heart. The ghost then zips Scrooge to his
nephew's to witness the Christmas party. Scrooge finds the jovial gathering delightful and pleads with the
spirit to stay until the very end of the festivities. As the day passes, the spirit ages, becoming noticeably
older. Toward the end of the day, he shows Scrooge two starved children, Ignorance and Want, living
under his coat. He vanishes instantly as Scrooge notices a dark, hooded figure coming toward him.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge through a sequence of mysterious scenes relating to an
unnamed man's recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing the dead man's riches, some
vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash, and a poor couple expressing relief at the death of their
unforgiving creditor. Scrooge, anxious to learn the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the
dead man. After pleading with the ghost, Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a
grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name. He desperately implores the
spirit to alter his fate, promising to change his insensitive, greedy ways and to honour Christmas with all his
heart. Whoosh! He suddenly finds himself safely tucked in his bed.
Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been returned to
Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit. He sends
a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house and attends Fred's party, to the surprise of the other guests.
As the years go by, he holds true to his promise and honours Christmas with all his heart: he treats Tiny
Tim as if he were his own child, provides lavish gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human beings with
kindness, generosity, and warmth.

On lined paper, produce a list of ten bullet-points which tell the story of A Christmas
Carol…

3
Context: Dickens and Poverty
Dickens experienced prison and poverty in his own childhood. In 1824, London, John Dickens was locked in
Marshalsea debtor’s prison for failing to pay his debts. His son, Charles, aged 11, was sent away to a blacking
factory, covering and labelling pots of shoe polish in appalling conditions as well as loneliness and despair. He
lived separated from his family, as his younger sister and mother were put in prison with his father. Later, he
wrote in a letter with horror: ‘No words can describe the secret agony of my soul as I sank into this
companionship…. The sense I had of being utterly neglected and hopeless, fired with grief and humiliation, my
lonely vulnerability, my hungry misery, and the knowledge they had willingly put me in this situation. I could
not bear to think of myself beyond reach of any honourable success.’ After three years he was returned to
school, but the experience was never forgotten. Dickens lived just nine doors down from the workhouse until
1831, when he was 19 years old.

What did Dickens think of the law – and the poor – in England?
When Dickens wrote in 1830s London, English law was based on the idea of justice and a fair trial. However,
Dickens found the law did not always practice what it preached. His father had been imprisoned in a debtor’s
jail and Dickens separated from his family and sent to work in miserable conditions and lonely isolation when
he was 11. Injustice, more often, was what Dickens experienced from the law for those in poverty.
Dickens became a lifelong supporter of the poor. For example, in January 1837, a trial was held at London
Marylebone workhouse, and Dickens was on the jury. The case was a servant girl accused of killing her
newborn baby, with the threat of the death penalty if she was found guilty. Eliza Burgess, weak, ill and
frightened, was herself an orphan. Her story was that her baby appeared to be dead, so she hid it under the
dresser but confessed to her employer. The jury was ready to find her guilty. That night, Dickens could not
sleep: the dead baby, the thought of the terrified, unhappy, ignorant young woman in poverty and in prison.
Dickens resolved to take on those who were ready to find her guilty. He argued so firmly and forcefully that he
won the argument. The verdict was returned: not guilty. He then went out of his way to help victims of the law,
even though he was under huge pressure himself to write and earn a living, to avoid debt and the debtor’s
prison.

How did Dickens’ sister‐in law Mary die aged 17 in 1837?

Dickens’ beloved sister‐in‐law, Mary Hogarth, lived with the writer and his wife. Aged just seventeen, she
became very ill with fever. Without warning, she died suddenly from it. Her death was a shock and Dickens
carried the memory of Mary with him for the rest of his life. Dickens has his characters suffer from illness, but
in his books, he can ensure they survive. Mary’s death never allowed Dickens to forget how fragile life is.

How and why did Dickens write his books?

Dickens’ books were originally published in monthly parts, and Dickens created each episode just in time to be
published, so he could not go back and change anything, but had to plot it all out in his mind. He wrote
professionally and raised himself and his family out of poverty through the popularity of his writing. Dickens
wrote his books to challenge injustice and expose the impact of poverty in 19th century London.

Comprehension Questions
Answer in full sentences that make sense on their own.
1. What happened in Dickens’ childhood in 1824?
2. Who did Dickens help in 1837 and how did he help them?
3. What happened to Dickens’ 17-year old sister-in-law in 1837?
4. Where did Dickens live in 1831?
5. Why did Charles Dickens write his books?
Inequality
What happened to Dickens as a child? True or False:
1. His father was elected Prime Minister and he went to Westminster
2. His father was hung for murder and he went to prison

4
 3. His father was jailed for debt and he went to work in a factory
4. His father was jailed for street robbery and he became a chimney sweep
5. His father was jailed for house burglary and he went to a workhouse

What was Victorian London like in the 19th century?

Dickens lived his life in 19th century London. He explored its underworld, walking the streets up to twenty miles at a time, and his
descriptions of 19th century London allow readers to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of the old city. Victorian London was the
largest, most spectacular city in the world. While Britain was experiencing the Industrial Revolution, London was both benefitting and
suffering the consequences. In 1800, the population of London was around 1 million. That number exploded to 5 million by 1900. This
population explosion caused untold poverty, squalor and filth. In early 19th century London, rich and poor alike were thrown together
in the crowded city streets. Crime, especially street robbery and pickpocketing, was common in the dark and in the crowds. Thousands
of chimney pots belched coal smoke, and black soot settled everywhere. Raw sewage flowed into the River Thames. Street sellers,
pickpockets, gangs, drunks and beggars roamed the streets. Many drank water from the very same parts of the Thames that the open
sewers flowed into.

How much did the London population grow between 1800 and 1900?
1. 2 million to 8 million
2. 3 million to 12 million
3. 1 million to 4 million
4. 4 million to 16 million
5. 5 million to 20 million

What were the Poor Laws in 19th century Victorian London?

The Poor Laws were passed in 1834 against poverty. Relief for the poor would only be available in workhouses. The conditions of
workhouses should be worse than that of the poorest worker outside the workhouse.
Workhouses were to be so bad that anyone capable of coping outside them would choose not to be in one. No one was to receive
money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except in a workhouse.
Conditions were to be made harsh to discourage poverty. Child labour was normal in the 19th century, with children as young as 4 years
old working as chimney sweeps or factory workers. The Poor Laws punished the most defenseless and helpless people in society. The
idea of workhouses was that poverty was the result of laziness and that the dreadful conditions in the workhouse would inspire the
poor to improve themselves. In reality, the workhouse was little more than a prison for the poor.

What were the poor laws?

1. Laws to create workhouses with terrible conditions to discourage poverty
2. Laws to create a police service
3. Laws to give welfare to poor people
4. Laws to prevent murder with the death penalty
5. Laws to prevent thievery with jail sentences

In your own words, explain how bad life could be for children in Victorian
London…
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
The journalist Henry Mayhew wrote a series of articles about the lives of the poor in Victorian England. In this
article, published in ‘London Labour and the London Poor’ in 1851, he interviews a young girl who sells bundles

5
 of watercress on the street to make money for her family.

The poor child, although the weather was severe, was dressed in a thin cotton gown, with a threadbare shawl
wrapped around her shoulders. She wore no covering to her head, and the long rusty hair stood out in all directions.
When she walked she shuffled along, for fear that the large carpet slippers that served her for shoes should slip off
her feet.

“I go about the streets with water-creases, crying, ‘four bunches a penny, water-creases.’ I am just eight years old –
that’s all, and I’ve a big sister, and a brother and a sister younger than I am. On and off, I’ve been near a
twelvemonth in the streets. My mother learned me to needle-work and to knit when I was about five. I used to go to
school, too; but I wasn’t there long. I’ve forgot all about it now, it’s such a long time ago; and mother took me away
because the master whacked me. I didn’t like him at all. What do you think? He hit me three times, ever so hard,
across the face with his cane, and made me go dancing down stairs.

The creases is so bad now, that I haven’t been out with ‘em for three days. They’re so cold, people won’t buy ‘em;
for when I goes up to them, they say, ‘they’ll freeze our bellies.’ In summer there’s lots, and ‘most as cheap as dirt;
but I have to be down at Farringdon market between four and five, or else I can’t get any creases, because everyone
is selling them and they’re picked up so quick. Some of the saleswomen – we never calls ‘em ladies – is very kind to
us children, and some of them altogether spiteful. I used to go down to market along with another girl, as must be
about fourteen, ‘cos she does her back hair up. When we’ve bought a lot, we sits down on a doorstep, and ties up
the bunches. We never goes home to breakfast till we’ve sold out; but if it’s very late, then I buys a penn’orth of
pudden, which is very nice with gravy.

It’s very cold before winter comes on reg’lar – specially getting up of a morning. I gets up in the dark by the light of
the lamp in the court. When the snow is on the ground, there’s no creases. I bears the cold – you must; so I puts my
hands under my shawl, though it hurts ‘em to take hold of the creases, especially when we takes ‘em to the pump to
wash’em. No, I never see any children crying – it’s no use.

Sometimes I make a great deal of money. One day I tool one shilling and six pence, and the creases cost six pence;
but it isn’t often I get such luck as that. I oftener makes three or four pence than one shilling; and then I’m at work,
crying ‘Creases, four bunches a penny, creases!’ from six in the morning to about ten.

I always give mother my money, she so very good to me. She don’t often beat me, but when she do, she don’t play
with me. She’s very poor and goes out cleaning rooms sometimes, now she don’t work at the fur. When I gets home,
after selling creases, I stops at home. I puts the room to rights: mother don’t make me do it, I does it myself. I cleans
the chairs, though there’s only two to clean. I takes a tub and scrubbing brush and flannel and scrubs the floor –
that’s what I have to do three or four times a week.”

Who is the article about? Look at lines 1-8. Tick the statements which are correct.
The child was poor.
The child is dressed suitably for the weather.
When does it take place? The girl’s footwear was not appropriate for the weather.
The girl had smooth, blonde hair.
The girl had long, rusty hair that stuck out.
Where does it take place?
The girl’s threadbare shawl was wrapped around her head.
The girl was anxious as she shuffled along.

What happens?
6
Wednesday 14th April 1844

Dear Diary,

When I woke up this morning Betsy had already lit a fire for us in our room and had gotten my new blue dress ready
for me and Emily’s new pink dress. Mother had told us last night that she wanted us to be dressed very quickly today
as we had to meet our new governess; she also warned us that any poor behaviour would be punished very firmly.

As soon as I was washed and dressed, Betsy took me down to the dining room for breakfast. Father had already left
for work but Mother, James and Andrew were waiting for me. Cook had made my favourite breakfast, toast,
marmalade and porridge. The porridge smelt delicious. Emily was late for breakfast, as usual, so she only had dry
toast. Mother scolded her for being lazy and said laziness was a sin.

After breakfast Mother introduced us to our new governess, Miss Appleby. She was a very tall lady with her dark
brown hair pinned back in a tidy bun. She asked some questions about our lessons with our old governess and
seemed pleased with what we knew.

Mother said that today would be a holiday and that she would take us to the park so Miss Appleby would have time
to get ready. I was very excited to be going to the park as they had a new display of exotic birds. I wanted to take my
new doll with me but Mother told me she would get dirty.

The park was extremely busy and Mother stopped to talk to lots of people. James, Andrew and Emily ran off to play
hide and seek but Mother said I was getting too old to play games so I had to stay with her. It was very boring
listening to Mother talk to her friends about new carpets and lazy servants but I did my best to be polite and stay
quiet.

When we returned home Nanny took us up to the nursery so Mother could have her tea in peace. Cook sent up some
jam and bread as a treat and then Nanny let us play for an hour. James and Andrew played with their tin soldiers but
Nanny put them away when the game grew too noisy. Emily and I played with our doll house.

When Father came home from work Mrs Appleby took us into the drawing room to sit with him and Mother. He
spent some time with James and Andrew teaching them Latin. Mother asked me to play on the pianoforte and
seemed very impressed with my playing.

Then Father told us that Nanny would be leaving us soon as we were too old for a Nanny and now we had a
governess that we would not need her. I was heartbroken as I love Nanny very much but did not complain. I hope
that Mrs Appleby will be as kind to us as Nanny has been.

Who is the article about?

When does it take place?

Where does it take place?

7
What happens?

Assessment Practice: Who is Ebeneezer Scrooge?

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.
Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how
many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and
sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on
the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain. The mention of Marley's funeral brings me back to the
point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can
come of the story I am going to relate.
Scrooge never painted out Old Marley's name. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley.
The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes
Marley, but he answered to both names. It was all the same to him.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- stone, 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 frosty rime was on his head,
and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the
dogdays; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.
External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew
was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather
didn't know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only
one respect. They often `came down' handsomely, and Scrooge never did.
Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, `My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see
me?' 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. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him; and when they
saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said,
`No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!'
But what did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. 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.

As solitary as an oyster

How does the writer Why is it effective? Context

à Link to the actual words used à Can you link Scrooge to life in Victorian
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? England?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

How is Scrooge presented at the beginning of A Christmas Carol?

 Choose two micro-quotations from the text to describe Scrooge.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your two micro-quotations in it.
 On the surface the simile ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
8
  Here, Dickens employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, Dickens was hinting that…
Useful vocabulary: simile, foreshadowing, isolated
Example One
Scrooge is presented as an unsociable, mean, money-grabbing character.
On the surface, the quote “solitary as an oyster” means that he lives an isolated life.
Yet on a deeper level, we can infer that he has a hard outer shell and it’s hard to get to know him.
Dickens employs the word “oyster” to imply that deep inside Scrooge has value like the pearl inside an oyster.
Perhaps Dickens is hinting at the change which happens at the end when the goodness in Scrooge finally comes out.
How good is this answer? Why?

Example Two

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 from others.
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.
Perhaps Dickens is foreshadowing the end of the story, when the goodness in Scrooge finally comes out and he
reveals his value to the world.
Why is this answer better than Example One?

Example Three

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.
9
Why is this the best of all?

Summary of Stave One: Marley’s Ghost

On a foggy __________________ in London, a shrewd, mean-spirited cheapskate named Ebenezer Scrooge works
meticulously in his counting-house. Outside the office creaks a little sign reading "__________________". Jacob
Marley, Scrooge's business partner, has died seven years previous. Inside the office, Scrooge watches over his clerk,
a poor man named Bob Cratchit. The smoldering ashes in the fireplace provide little heat even for Bob's
__________________ room. Despite the harsh weather Scrooge refuses to pay for another lump of
__________________ to __________________ the office.

Suddenly, a ruddy-faced young man bursts into the office offering holiday greetings: "Merry Christmas!". The young
man is Scrooge's jolly __________________ 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 __________________. After
Fred departs, a pair of portly gentlemen enters the office to ask Scrooge for a charitable __________________ to
help the poor. Scrooge angrily replies that prisons and __________________ are the only charities he is willing to
support and the gentlemen leave empty-handed. Scrooge confronts Bob Cratchit, __________________ about Bob's
wish to take a day off for the holiday. 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 __________________ and returning home through
the dismal, fog-blanketed __________________ streets. Just before entering his house, the __________________
on his front door, catches his attention. A ghostly image in the curves of the knocker gives the old man a momentary
__________________: it is the peering face of Jacob Marley! When Scrooge takes a second look, he sees nothing but
a doorknocker. With a disgusted "Pooh-pooh," Scrooge opens the door and trudges into his bleak quarters. He
makes little effort to brighten his home: “__________________” 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 __________________, Scrooge locks the door behind him and puts on his dressing gown. As he
eats his __________________ before the fire, the carvings on his __________________ 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 __________________ 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, __________________ to admit that he sees __________________ ghost--a strange case
of food poisoning, he claims. The ghost begins to murmur: he has spent __________________ years wandering the
Earth in his heavy __________________ as punishment for his sins. The ghost tells Scrooge that he has come from
beyond the grave to save him from this very fate. He says that Scrooge will be __________________ by
__________________ spirits over the next three nights - the first __________________ appearing at one o'clock in
the morning and the final spirit arriving at the last stroke of midnight. He rises and backs toward the window, which

10
opens almost magically, leaving a trembling Scrooge __________________ with fear. The ghost
__________________ to Scrooge to look out the window, and Scrooge complies. He sees a throng of spirits, each
bound in chains. They __________________ about their failure to lead honourable, caring lives and their
__________________ to reach out to others in need as they and Marley disappear into the mist. Scrooge stumbles
to his bed and falls instantly asleep.

seven three doorknocker ring white

coal two Marley's tiny wail

darkness gruel inability room London

workhouses visited tavern warm nephew

chains complaining cheer Christmas Eve donation

shock mantelpiece gestures Scrooge & refusing

Marley

11
Who is Jacob Marley? How much did the London population expand between
a) Scrooge’s office clerk 1800 and 1900?
b) Scrooge’s current business partner a) 1 million to 5 million
c) Scrooge’s former business partner b) 2 million to 8 million
d) Scrooge’s nephew c) 3 million to 12 million
d) 4 million to 16 million
Who is Bob Cratchit? e) 5 million to 20 million
a) Scrooge’s office clerk
b) Scrooge’s current business partner Which words best describe 19th century Victorian London?
c) Scrooge’s former business partner a) Violent, murderous, insane
d) Scrooge’s nephew b) Clean, healthy and safe
c) Happy, wealthy and wise
Scrooge is a solitary as an… d) Calm, peaceful but lonely
a) A shrew e) Dangerous, crowded, filthy
b) An oyster
c) A crab Who died of a fever in 1837?
d) A hermit a) Dickens’ sister Mary Dickens
b) Dickens’ brother Mark Dickens
Who are the charitable gentlemen collecting for? c) Dickens’ sister-in-law Mary Hogarth
a) Ignorance and Want d) Dickens’ brother-in-law Mark Hogarth
b) Orphans and Children e) Dickens’ wife Mrs Dickens
c) Poor and Destitute
d) Workhouses and Prisons What were the poor laws?
a) Laws to create a police service
What does Scrooge want to decrease? b) Laws to create workhouses with terrible conditions to
a) The surplus population discourage poverty
b) Joy in Christmas c) Laws to give welfare to poor people
c) The amount given to charity d) Laws to prevent murder with the death penalty
d) Bob Cratchit’s wages e) Laws to prevent thievery with jail sentences

What is Marley weighed down by? What happened to Dickens as a child?

a) Heavy sandbags a) His father was elected Prime Minister and he went to
b) Chains made of padlocks and cashboxes Westminster
c) His guilty conscience b) His father was hung for murder and he went to prison
d) Iron weights c) His father was jailed for street robbery and he became a
chimney sweep
What does Marley say was his ‘business’? d) His father was jailed for debt and he went to work in a
a) Making profit factory
b) Charitable acts e) His father was jailed for house burglary and he went to a
c) Mankind workhouse
d) Helping Scrooge
Extension: Which teachers would you choose to play the roles of Scrooge, Fred and Marley in a school
production of the novel? Provide a brief reason for your choices!

12
Assessment Practice: What is Scrooge’s attitude towards Christmas?
`A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!' cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so
quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
`Bah!' said Scrooge, `Humbug!'
He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow; his face was
ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again. `Christmas a humbug, uncle!' said Scrooge's nephew. `You
don't mean that, I am sure?'
`I do,' said Scrooge. `Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You're poor
enough.'
`Come, then,' returned the nephew gaily. `What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You're rich
enough.'
Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said `Bah!' again; and followed it up with `Humbug.'
`Don't be cross, uncle!' said the nephew.
`What else can I be,' returned the uncle, `when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry
Christmas! 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? 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!'
`Uncle!' pleaded the nephew.
`Nephew!' returned the uncle sternly, `keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.'
`Keep it!' repeated Scrooge's nephew. `But you don't keep it.'
`Let me leave it alone, then,' said Scrooge. `Much good may it do you! Much good it has ever done you!'
`There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew.
`Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the
veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- 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!'

What is Scrooge’s attitude towards Christmas?

 What happens in this extract?
 What quotations show this?
 What does this show us about the character?
 How does this link to Dickens’ life and times in Victorian England?
How does the writer achieve it? Why is it effective? Context
à Identify a technique/ use of language à Link to the actual words used à Can you link Scrooge to life in Victorian
à Use a quotation à What does it make you feel/do? England?
à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Does it have an emotional impact?

 Explain what happens in this scene.

 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Scrooge’s attitude to Christmas
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your micro-quotation in it.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Here, Dickens employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…

13
  Perhaps, Dickens was hinting that…

Context: Thomas Malthus

In his book An Essay on the Principle of Population, 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, which in turn restored the original per capita
production level.
In other words, when mankind is doing well and producing lots
of food and goods it does not use them to improve their own
quality of life. Instead, the use that abundance of goods to have
more children and increase the population. This meant there
was no longer an abundance, but there was often a shortage
instead.
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 and it was influential across
economic, political, social and scientific thought. For our purposes, it’s important to see the
big influence it had on Charles Dickens.
How does the cartoon on the left illustrate
Malthus’ ideas about population?

14
 "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."

Scrooge thinks similarly to Malthus.

Can you explain how, using the quote above.
Dickens was extremely critical of Malthus.
Can you explain how?

Assessment Practice: What is Scrooge’s attitude towards the poor?

`Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?'
`Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years,' Scrooge replied. `He died seven years ago, this very night.'
`We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner,' said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.
It certainly was; for they had been two kindred spirits. At the ominous word `liberality,' Scrooge frowned, and shook his head,
and handed the credentials back.
`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.’

What is Scrooge’s attitude towards the poor?

 What happens in this episode?
 What quotations show this?
 What does this show us about the character?
 How does this link to Dickens’ life and times in Victorian England?
How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link Scrooge to Malthus?
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

15
  Explain what happens in this scene.
 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Scrooge’s attitude to the poor.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your micro-quotation in it.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Here, Dickens employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, Dickens was hinting that…
Language Analysis: Pathetic Fallacy
Write down as many ‘emotion’ words as you can to describe the two images.

Positive weather…

Negative weather…

Now, use one of these semantic fields to write a short piece of writing about how someone feels. You
must also talk about the weather in your chosen image…
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

What you’ve (hopefully) just done, is to use pathetic fallacy.

Pathetic fallacy is where nature and setting are given human emotions and qualities. It is a kind of personification
that is found in writing when, for example, clouds seem sullen, when leaves dance, or when rocks seem indifferent.
It’s the technique which almost guarantees that when a horrific murder is happening, it’ll be cold and dark and
stormy outside!
Scrooge is a solitary as an… Which words best describe 19th century Victorian London?
a) A shrew a) Dangerous, crowded, filthy
b) An oyster b) Violent, murderous, insane

16
 c) A crab c) Clean, healthy and safe
d) A hermit d) Happy, wealthy and wise

What does Scrooge want to decrease? Malthus believed…

a) The amount given to charity a) We can’t improve our lives if the population increases
b) Bob Cratchit’s wages b) We can’t improve our lives until the population increases
c) The surplus population c) We can’t improve our lives unless we earn more money
d) Joy in Christmas d) We can’t improve our lives unless we do more for charity

Assessment Practice: Setting/Pathetic Fallacy

Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; and having read all the newspapers and spent the rest of the
evening with his banker's book, went home to bed. He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner.
They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a building up a yard. The building was old enough now, and dreary enough; for nobody
lived in it but Scrooge, the other rooms being all let out as offices.
Now it is a fact, that there was nothing at all particular about the knocker on the door of this house, except that it was very
large; also, that Scrooge had seen it, night and morning, during his whole residence in that place; also, that Scrooge had as little
of what is called fancy about him as any man in the city of London. And yet Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw
in the knocker not a knocker, but Marley's face.
Marley's face, with a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar. It was not angry or ferocious, but it looked at
Scrooge as Marley used to look - with ghostly spectacles turned up upon its ghostly forehead. As Scrooge looked fixedly at this
phenomenon, it was a knocker again. He said, "Pooh, pooh!" and closed the door with a bang.
The sound resounded through the house like thunder. Every room above, and every cask in the wine-merchant's cellars below,
appeared to have a separate peal of echoes of its own. Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes. He fastened the
door, and walked across the hall, and up the stairs. Slowly too, trimming his candle as he went.
Up Scrooge went, not caring a button for its being very dark. Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it. But before he shut his
heavy door, he walked through his rooms to see that all was right. He had just enough recollection of the face to desire to do
that. Sitting-room, bedroom, lumber-room, all as they should be. Nobody under the table, nobody under the sofa; a small fire
in the grate; spoon and basin ready; and the little saucepan of gruel upon the hob. Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet;
nobody in his dressing-gown, which was hanging up in a suspicious attitude against the wall. Lumber-room as usual. Old fire-
guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, washing-stand on three legs, and a poker.
Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in; double-locked himself in, which was not his custom. Thus secured
against surprise, he took off his cravat, put on his dressing-gown and slippers and his nightcap, and sat down before the very low
fire to take his gruel.
As he threw his head back in the chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell, that hung in the room, and
communicated, for some purpose now forgotten, with a chamber in the highest story of the building. It was with great
astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that, as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. Soon it rang out loudly,
and so did every bell in the house.
This was 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.
Then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door.

How does Dickens use pathetic fallacy in this extract?

 What happens in this episode?
 What quotations show this?
 How does the environment link to the action and character?

How does the writer achieve it? Why is it effective?

à Identify a technique/ use of language à Link to the actual words used
à Use a quotation à What does it make you feel/do?
à What are the connotations?

17
 à Does it have an emotional impact?
Lit AO1: Use textual references, including quotations, to Lit AO1: Read, understand and respond to texts, maintain a
support and illustrate interpretations. critical style and develop an informed personal response.

Lit AO2: Analyse the language, form and structure used to

create meanings and effects, using relevant subject
terminology where appropriate.

Assessment Practice: Who is Jacob Marley?

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.
Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold
eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before; he was
still incredulous, and fought against his senses.
`How now!' said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. `What do you want with me?'
`Much!' -- Marley's voice, no doubt about it.
`Who are you?'
`In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley. You don't believe in me,' observed the Ghost.
`I don't.' said Scrooge.
`Why do you doubt your senses?'
`Because,' said Scrooge, `a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef,
a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!'
Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then. 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.
To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him. There was something very
awful, too, in the spectre's being provided with an infernal atmosphere of its own. Scrooge could not feel it himself, but this was clearly the
case; for though the Ghost sat perfectly motionless, its hair, and skirts, and tassels, were still agitated as by the hot vapour from an oven.
The spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook its chain with such a dismal and appalling noise, that Scrooge held on tight to his chair, to save
himself from falling in a swoon. But how much greater was his horror, when the phantom taking off the bandage round its head, as if it were
too warm to wear indoors, its lower jaw dropped down upon its breast! Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face.
`Mercy!' he said. `Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?'
`It is required of every man,' the Ghost returned, `that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, 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!' Again the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and
wrung its shadowy hands.
`You are fettered,' said Scrooge, trembling. `Tell me why?'
`I wear the chain I forged in life,' replied the Ghost. `I 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?'
Scrooge trembled more and more.
`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!'

Who is Jacob Marley?

 What happens in this episode? What quotations show this?
 What does this show us about the character?
 How does this link to Dickens’ life and times in Victorian England?
How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link Marley to life in Victorian England
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? or to Malthus?

18
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?
 Explain what happens in this scene.
 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Marley.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your micro-quotation in it.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Here, Dickens employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, Dickens was hinting that…

What were the poor laws? How much did the London population expand
1. Laws to give welfare to poor people between 1800 and 1900?
2. Laws to prevent murder with the death 1. 3 million to 12 million
penalty 2. 4 million to 16 million
3. Laws to prevent thievery with jail 3. 5 million to 20 million
sentences 4. 1 million to 4 million
4. Laws to create a police service 5. 2 million to 8 million
5. Laws to create workhouses with terrible
conditions to discourage poverty Which words best describe 19th century
Victorian London?
What happened to Dickens as a child? 1. Happy, wealthy and wise
1. His father was elected Prime Minister and 2. Calm, peaceful but lonely
he went to Westminster 3. Dangerous, crowded, filthy
2. His father was jailed for debt and he went 4. Violent, murderous, insane
to work in a factory 5. Clean, healthy and safe
3. His father was jailed for house burglary and
he went to a workhouse Who died of a fever in 1837?
4. His father was hung for murder and he 1. Dickens’ brother-in-law Mark Hogarth
went to prison 2. Dickens’ wife Mrs Dickens
5. His father was jailed for street robbery and 3. Dickens’ sister Mary Dickens
he became a chimney sweep 4. Dickens’ brother Mark Dickens
5. Dickens’ sister-in-law Mary Hogarth

What was the class system in 19th century Victorian London?

The class system was very strict in Victorian England. Victorian society can be split
up into three classes: upper, middle, and lower. The upper class was the rich
aristocracy – people like royalty. The middle class was rich, respectable families,
such as doctors. The working class were poor, who often had dangerous jobs that
they had to take because of the lack of education. Paupers were a class below the
working class. They lived in slums in extreme poverty, often because of old age,
unemployment, illness or lost parents.

Show your understanding: draw a diagram or a picture that represents the

Victorian class system and label it.

19
Summary of Stave Two: The First of the Three Spirits
______________ wakes and finds his room as dark as when he fell asleep at two o’clock. He listens for the
church bell but when it comes, it strikes ______________. He thinks he must have slept through a whole
day and half a night. He doesn’t believe it, but when he goes to the ______________, the ______________
is deserted and dark as night-time.

Scrooge goes back to bed and thinks, but the more he thinks that the episode with ______________ was
all in his head, the more the ______________ spring up in his mind and convince him otherwise. He
remembers that Marley’s ghost had said ______________ o’clock was the hour to expect the first spirit.
Scrooge listens for the chime of the quarters and is relieved when he hears the single note marking the
hour and sees no______________. But he rejoices too soon – the curtains at his window are drawn by the
hand of a strange new ghost.

This ghost appears as if through “some supernatural medium”, giving his aged features ______________
proportions. He carries an extinguisher cap like a candle-snuffer for putting out his own flame. The
ghost introduces itself, in a low, faraway voice, as the Ghost of ______________ . Scrooge’s past, in
particular. Scrooge gets an ______________ to shy away but the ghost says he has come to
______________ him. The ghost leads Scrooge to the window. Scrooge tries to______________, thinking
he will ______________ out, but the ghost tells him to merely touch his hand and he won’t fall. They fly
through the wall and are suddenly passing over the scenes of Scrooge’s______________.

The ghost transports Scrooge to the ______________ where he was raised. He sees his old
______________ , 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 – passes the Christmas holiday all ______________. The ghost takes Scrooge on a
_________________ 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 ______________ is much ______________, 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 ______________ of his nephew Fred.

20
The ghost escorts Scrooge to more Christmases of the ______________ including a merry ______________
thrown by ______________, 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
______________. She is breaking off their engagement crying that ______________ has corrupted the love
that used to impassion 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 fiance, Scrooge. The husband says that
Scrooge is now "quite alone in the world." The older Scrooge can no longer ______________ the gripping
visions. He ______________ the Ghost of Christmas Past to take him back, back to his home.
______________ and full of despair, Scrooge seizes the ghost's hat and pulls it firmly over the mystical
child's head, dimming the light. Scrooge finds himself back in his bedroom, where he stumbles to bed and
falls asleep immediately.

fall alone countryside Marley past

Fezziwig begs depressing bear tormented

help one twelve Christmas Past ghost

urge party kinder greed Scrooge

visions childhood mother child-like father

Belle street school resist Window

21
 A Reminder of Stave One! A Reminder of Stave Two!
Who is Jacob Marley? Who or what is Fezziwig?
a) Scrooge’s office clerk a) The local wig shop
b) Scrooge’s current business partner b) The name of Scrooge’s favourite drink
c) Scrooge’s former business partner c) Scrooge’s crazy uncle
d) Scrooge’s nephew d) Scrooge’s boss when he was younger

Who is Bob Cratchit? What bad news does Belle give Scrooge?
a) Scrooge’s office clerk a) His mother has died
b) Scrooge’s current business partner b) She is calling off their engagement
c) Scrooge’s former business partner c) She is moving away
d) Scrooge’s nephew d) He has lost his job

Scrooge is a solitary as an… What does Scrooge come to understand after viewing the
a) A shrew Fezziwig scene?
b) An oyster a) How lonely he was as a young man
c) A crab b) That everyone knew how to have fun except him
d) A hermit c) The benefits of kindness
d) The time it takes to develop strong relationships
Who are the charitable gentlemen collecting for?
a) Ignorance and Want What is the first place the ghost takes Scrooge to visit?
b) Orphans and Children a) His grandmother’s kitchen
c) Poor and Destitute b) His first office
d) Workhouses and Prisons c) His boyhood schoolhouse
d) His college dorm room
What does Scrooge want to decrease? e) His first pace of work
a) The surplus population
b) Joy in Christmas How is Scrooge able to fly out the window with the ghost?
c) The amount given to charity a) By holding his ankle
d) Bob Cratchit’s wages b) By climbing on his back
c) By grasping his robe
What is Marley weighed down by? d) By touching his hand
a) Heavy sandbags
b) Chains made of padlocks and cashboxes How does Belle seem to Scrooge when the ghost takes him
c) His guilty conscience to observe her several years later?
d) Iron weights a) Poor
b) Angry
What does Marley say was his ‘business’? c) Happy
a) Making profit d) Sad
b) Charitable acts
c) Mankind
d) Helping Scrooge

Extension Task à Compose 10 questions you would ask Scrooge in an interview - questions about his trip
down memory lane, his regrets etc.

22
Ghost stories: why the Victorians were so spookily good at them

Curl up by the fire and I'll tell you a ghost story. Don't be alarmed by the creak of the floorboards, the murmurs in
the basement, the shrill howling of a distant dog. Try not to be disturbed by the flickering candle, the fleeting
shadows, the horned, hairy hand that appears at your elbow. Something moved? There's a face in the brickwork? A
murderer, long ago, was buried in the cellar? Stay calm. Breathe deeply. The ghosts of Christmases past are
gathering.

It was the Victorian era, of course, when ghosts appeared most often in fiction – as well as on stage, in photographs
and in drawing room seances. What had raised all these apparitions from the dead? The most straightforward
explanation is the rise of the periodical press, says Ruth Robbins, professor of English literature at Leeds
Metropolitan University. Ghost stories had traditionally been told by mouth, but publishers suddenly needed a mass
of content, and ghost stories fitted the bill – short, cheap, generic, repetitive, able to be cut quite easily to length.

Quick to spot a commercial opportunity, she says, Charles Dickens produced his own highly successful ghost story, A
Christmas Carol, in serial form just before Christmas 1843. This was the same year the first commercially produced
Christmas card was sent, and Dickens's story both reflected and influenced a growing trend for marking Christmas
with non-religious celebrations. "People like Dickens wanted to revive an idea of community within the idea of
Christmas. What's interesting about his version of Christmas is that it's not particularly Christian. It's about the
family, helping the poor, a moment where you might pause and reflect on your life." It's about Ebenezer Scrooge
realising, through the advice of ghosts, that he must embrace his family, look after his good-natured clerk, and
become more generous.

The popularity of ghost stories was strongly related to economic changes. The industrial revolution had led people to
move from rural villages into towns and cities, and created a new middle class. They moved into houses that often
had servants – and new staff found themselves in a completely new house, seeing things everywhere, jumping at
every creak. Robbins says servants were "expected to be seen and not heard. If you go to a stately home like
Harewood House, you see the concealed doorways and servant's corridors. You would actually have people popping
in and out without you really knowing they were there, which could be quite a freaky or ghostly experience."

Lighting was often provided by gas lamps, which have also been implicated in the rise of the ghost story; the carbon
monoxide they emitted could provoke hallucinations. Lots of people attended séances, too. Here, they tried to
communicate with the dead. The growth of photography brought the advent of spirit photography – there were
people who charged enormous fees, and used various tricks, to picture sitters with ghostly images of dead loved
ones. There were ghosts in the house, under the bed, and more and more, in people's heads. With the ghost story
there's a sense that instead of being able to lock yourself away in your home, to leave the monster outside, the
monster lives with you! Merry Christmas – and sleep soundly.

Read the final two paragraphs again. List four reasons why ghost stories might have become more popular in
the Victorian era…

1.

2.

3.

4.

23
 On paper – how was Charles Dickens influenced when writing A Christmas Carol?

You should mention: Dickens’ beliefs in Christmas, changing beliefs about Christmas, the growing popularity of periodicals,
beliefs about ghosts in the Victorian era.

Assessment Practice: The Ghost of Christmas Past

The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face to face
with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow.
It was a strange figure -- like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which
gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung
about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was
on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and
feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white, and round its waist was
bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular
contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. 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.
Even this, though, when Scrooge looked at it with increasing steadiness, was not its strangest quality. For as its belt sparkled and
glittered now in one part and now in another, and what was light one instant, at another time was dark, so the figure itself
fluctuated in its distinctness: being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, now with twenty legs, now a pair of legs
without a head, now a head without a body: of which dissolving parts, no outline would be visible in the dense gloom wherein
they melted away. And in the very wonder of this, it would be itself again; distinct and clear as ever.
`Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me.' asked Scrooge.
`I am.' The voice was soft and gentle. Singularly low, as if instead of being so close beside him, it were at a distance.
`Who, and what are you.' Scrooge demanded.
`I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.'
Perhaps, Scrooge could not have told anybody why, if anybody could have asked him; but he had a special desire to see the
Spirit in his cap; and begged him to be covered.
`What.' exclaimed the Ghost, `would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give. Is it not enough that you are one
of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow.'
Scrooge reverently disclaimed all intention to offend or any knowledge of having wilfully bonneted the Spirit at any period of his
life. He then made bold to inquire what business brought him there.
`Your welfare.' said the Ghost.
Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking that a night of unbroken rest would have been more
conducive to that end. The Spirit must have heard him thinking, for it said immediately:
`Your reclamation, then. Take heed.' It put out its strong hand as it spoke, and clasped him gently by the arm. `Rise. and walk
with me.'

Who is The Ghost of Christmas Past?

 What happens in this episode? What quotations show this?
 What does this show us about the character?
 How does this link to Dickens’ life and times in Victorian England?
How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link the Ghost of Christmas Past to life
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? in Victorian England or supernatural beliefs?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

 Explain what happens in this scene.

 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe the Ghost of Christmas Past.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your micro-quotation in it.

24
  On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Here, Dickens employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, Dickens was hoping to…

Assessment Practice: Ebeneezer Alone

`The school is not quite deserted,' said the Ghost. `A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.'
Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed.
They left the high-road, by a well-remembered lane, and soon approached a mansion of dull red brick, with a little weathercock-
surmounted cupola, on the roof, and a bell hanging in it. It was a large house, but one of broken fortunes; for the spacious
offices were little used, their walls were damp and mossy, their windows broken, and their gates decayed. Fowls clucked and
strutted in the stables; and the coach-houses and sheds were over-run with grass. Nor was it more retentive of its ancient state,
within; for entering the dreary hall, and glancing through the open doors of many rooms, they found them poorly furnished,
cold, and vast. There was an earthy savour in the air, a chilly bareness in the place, which associated itself somehow with too
much getting up by candle-light, and not too much to eat.
They went, the Ghost and Scrooge, across the hall, to a door at the back of the house. It opened before them, and disclosed a
long, bare, melancholy room, made barer still by lines of plain deal forms and desks. At one of these a lonely boy was reading
near a feeble fire; and Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be.
Not a latent echo in the house, not a squeak and scuffle from the mice behind the panelling, not a drip from the half-thawed
water-spout in the dull yard behind, not a sigh among the leafless boughs of one despondent poplar, not the idle swinging of an
empty store-house door, no, not a clicking in the fire, but fell upon the heart of Scrooge with a softening influence, and gave a
freer passage to his tears.
The Spirit touched him on the arm, and pointed to his younger self, intent upon his reading. Suddenly a man, in foreign
garments: wonderfully real and distinct to look at: stood outside the window, with an axe stuck in his belt, and leading by the
bridle an ass laden with wood.
`Why, it's Ali Baba.' Scrooge exclaimed in ecstasy. `It's dear old honest Ali Baba. Yes, yes, I know. One Christmas time, when
yonder solitary child was left here all alone, he did come, for the first time, just like that. Poor boy. And Valentine,' said Scrooge,
'and his wild brother, Orson; there they go. And what's his name, who was put down in his drawers, asleep, at the Gate of
Damascus; don't you see him. And the Sultan's Groom turned upside down by the Genii; there he is upon his head. Serve him
right. I'm glad of it. What business had he to be married to the Princess.'
To hear Scrooge expending all the earnestness of his nature on such subjects, in a most extraordinary voice between laughing
and crying; and to see his heightened and excited face; would have been a surprise to his business friends in the city, indeed.
Then, with a rapidity of transition very foreign to his usual character, he said, in pity for his former self, `Poor boy.' and cried
again. `I wish,' Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket, and looking about him, after drying his eyes with his cuff: `but
it's too late now.'
`What is the matter.' asked the Spirit.
`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.'

Has Scrooge’s behaviour begun to change?

 What happens in this episode? What quotations show this?
 What does this show us about the character? Can you link it to earlier scenes?
 How does this link to Dickens’ life and times in Victorian England?
How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link this episode to life in Victorian
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? England or Dickens’ interests?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

 Explain what happens in this scene.

 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Scrooge’s behaviour.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your micro-quotation in it.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
25
  Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Choose an example of his behaviour from earlier which contrasts with this.
 Briefly explain your example and how Scrooge has changed since this.
 Perhaps, Dickens was hoping to…

Assessment Practice: Fezziwig

In came a fiddler with a music-book, and went up to the lofty desk. In came Mrs Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile. In came the three Miss
Fezziwigs, 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. 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 everyhow.
There were dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was a great piece of cold roast, and there was a
great piece of cold coiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening came when old Fezziwig stood out
to dance with Mrs Fezziwig. Top couple, too; 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. 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.
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. It was not until now that he
remembered the Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking full upon him, while the light upon its head burnt very clear.
`A small matter,' said the Ghost, `to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.'
`Small.' echoed Scrooge.
The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig: and when he had done so,
said, `He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise.'
`It isn't that,' said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self. `It isn't that, Spirit. 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 them up: what then. The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it
cost a fortune.' He felt the Spirit's glance, and stopped.
`What is the matter.' asked the Ghost.
'I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That's all.'

What is Fezziwig’s attitude to Christmas? (quotation from this extract)

How does this contrast with Scrooge’s attitude (quotation from earlier)?

How does seeing this scene affect Scrooge? (quotation from this extract)

How does the writer Why is it effective? Context

à Link to the actual words used à Can you link Old Major’s ideas to the real
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? world?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you relate Old Major to Lenin?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?
1. Explain what happens in this scene. 7. Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your micro-
2. Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe quotation in it.

26
 Fezziwig’s attitude to Christmas. 8. On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
3. Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your micro- 9. Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
quotation in it. 10. Explain how Scrooge feels now
4. On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means... 11. On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
5. Yet, on a deeper level we can infer… 12. Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
6. Choose a micro-quotation from earlier to describe 13. Perhaps, Dickens was hoping to…
Scrooge’s attitude to Christmas.

Quote Analysis: Belle

“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.'
`What idol has displaced you.' he rejoined.
`A golden one.'
What does the quote mean?

Why is it significant?

`Our 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.'
`I was a boy,' he said impatiently.
`Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are,' she returned. `I am. That which promised
happiness when we were one in heart, is fraught with misery now that we are two. How often and how
keenly I have thought of this, I will not say. It is enough that I have thought of it, and can release you.'
What does the quote mean?

Why is it significant?

“I release you. With a full heart, for the love of him you once were.'
He was about to speak; but with her head turned from him, she resumed.
`You may -- the memory of what is past half makes me hope you will -- have pain in this. A very, very
brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it
happened well that you awoke. May you be happy in the life you have chosen.'
She left him, and they parted.
What does the quote mean?

27
Why is it significant?

A Christmas Carol So Far….

Stave One Context
Who is Jacob Marley? How much did the London population expand between 1800 and
a) Scrooge’s office clerk 1900?
b) Scrooge’s current business partner a) 3 million to 12 million
c) Scrooge’s former business partner b) 4 million to 16 million
d) Scrooge’s nephew c) 5 million to 20 million
d) 1 million to 4 million
Scrooge is a solitary as an…
a) A shrew Which words best describe 19th century Victorian London?
b) An oyster a) Happy, wealthy and wise
c) A crab b) Dangerous, crowded, filthy
d) A hermit c) Violent, murderous, insane
d) Clean, healthy and safe
Who are the charitable gentlemen collecting for?
a) Ignorance and Want Who died of a fever in 1837?
b) Orphans and Children a) Dickens’ brother-in-law Mark Hogarth
c) Poor and Destitute b) Dickens’ sister Mary Dickens
d) Workhouses and Prisons c) Dickens’ brother Mark Dickens
d) Dickens’ sister-in-law Mary Hogarth
What does Scrooge want to decrease?
a) The surplus population What were the poor laws?
b) Joy in Christmas a) Laws to give welfare to poor people
c) The amount given to charity b) Laws to prevent murder with the death penalty
d) Bob Cratchit’s wages c) Laws to prevent thievery with jail sentences
d) Laws to create workhouses with terrible conditions to
What does Marley say was his ‘business’? discourage poverty
a) Making profit
b) Charitable acts What happened to Dickens as a child?
c) Mankind a) His father was elected Prime Minister and he went to
d) Helping Scrooge Westminster
b) His father was jailed for debt and he went to work in a factory
c) His father was hung for murder and he went to prison
Stave Two d) His father was jailed for street robbery and he became a
How is the Ghost of Christmas Past represented?
chimney sweep
a) A jolly giant
b) An invisible spirit
Which words best describe 19th century Victorian London?
c) A silent phantom
a) Dangerous, crowded, filthy
d) A small, glowing man
b) Violent, murderous, insane
c) Clean, healthy and safe
How does the Ghost of Christmas Past describe the young
d) Happy, wealthy and wise
Scrooge?
a) A solitary child, neglected by his friends
Malthus believed…
b) An evil child, neglected by his friends
a) We can’t improve our lives if the population increases
c) A solitary child with no friends
b) We can’t improve our lives until the population increases
d) A popular child with lots of friends
c) We can’t improve our lives unless we earn more money
d) We can’t improve our lives unless we do more for charity
What bad news does Belle give Scrooge?
a) His mother has died
b) She is calling off their engagement
c) She is moving away
d) He has lost his job

What is the first place the ghost takes Scrooge to visit?

a) His first office
28
 b) His boyhood schoolhouse
c) His college dorm room
d) His first pace of work

Summary of Stave Three: The Second of the Three Spirits

Scrooge wakes before 1am and ________________ waits for the next Ghost. The Ghost of Christmas
________________ appears in the next room, surrounded by Christmas ________________ and holding a
torch of fire. They visit scenes around the city where the weather is ________________, but people are full
of ________________. There is a sense of excess and celebrations in the ________________ part of the
city. People who can’t afford their own ________________ take their Christmas meals to be cooked at the
__________ and the Ghost sprinkles incense on these people and their food. ________________ questions
the reasons for closing everything on Sundays.

The ghost takes Scrooge to the ________________ home where they have made an ________________ to
make Christmas ________________. The family enjoy their meal even though it isn’t enough for them. The
family raise a ________________ to ________________ Scrooge as the employer whose
________________ has paid for their Christmas feast. ________________ finds this difficult and it’s clear
she doesn’t like or respect Scrooge.

The Ghost takes Scrooge to see a wide variety of people and places where ________________ is
celebrated. The tour ends at ________________ house: he and his family are having ________________ at
Christmas. They discuss Scrooge, and decide the only person he _____________ by being so
________________ is himself. Scrooge ________________ in with the ________________ they play
although they cannot see or hear him.

The Ghost shows ________________ two children called Ignorance and ________________. He claims
they have been created by the ________________ in which Scrooge lives. The Ghost says both are
________________, but ________________ is more dangerous than Want. At the end of the
________________ the Ghost ________________ and the next visitor appears.

Fred’s fun harms toast joy

games baker Scrooge mean stave

bad ovens wealthy Cratchits’ Mrs Cratchit

29
 food fearfully effort Christmas money

Scrooge want bad joins society

honour disappears ignorance Present special

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.

Do you think the Ghost of Christmas Present is supposed to represent Father

Christmas? Find as many links as you can…

30
 The cornucopia or horn of plenty is a symbol of
abundance and nourishment, commonly a large
horn-shaped container overflowing with food,
flowers or nuts. It is particularly associated with
the Thanksgiving holiday in North America.
Assessment Practice: The Ghost of Christmas Present
It was his own room. There was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. 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; and such a
mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that dull petrification of a hearth had never known in Scrooge's time, or Marley's,
or for many and many a winter season gone. Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game,
poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-
hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that
made the chamber dim with their delicious steam. 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.
`Come in.' exclaimed the Ghost. `Come in, and know me better, man.'
Scrooge entered timidly, and hung his head before this Spirit. He was not the dogged Scrooge he had been; and though the
Spirit's eyes were clear and kind, he did not like to meet them.
`I am the Ghost of Christmas Present,' said the Spirit. `Look upon me.'
Scrooge reverently did so. It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur. This garment hung so
loosely on the figure, that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. Its feet,
observable beneath the ample folds of the garment, were also bare; and on its head it wore no other covering than a holly
wreath, set here and there with shining icicles. 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. Girded round its middle was an antique
scabbard; but no sword was in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust.
`You have never seen the like of me before.' exclaimed the Spirit.
`Never,' Scrooge made answer to it.
`Have never walked forth with the younger members of my family; meaning (for I am very young) my elder brothers born in
these later years.' pursued the Phantom.
`I don't think I have,' said Scrooge. `I am afraid I have not. Have you had many brothers, Spirit.'
`More than eighteen hundred,' said the Ghost.
`A tremendous family to provide for.' muttered Scrooge.
The Ghost of Christmas Present rose.
`Spirit,' said Scrooge submissively,' conduct me where you will. 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.'
`Touch my robe.'
Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast.

Who is the Ghost of Christmas Present?

How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link this episode to life in Victorian
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? England or Dickens’ interests?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

31
  Explain what happens in this scene.
 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe the Ghost of Christmas Present.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your micro-quotation in it.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Perhaps, Dickens was referring to…

Creative Writing Practice: Language

For, the people who were shovelling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee; calling out to one another from the
parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball -- better-natured missile far than many a wordy jest -- laughing
heartily if it went right and not less heartily if it went wrong. The poulterers' shops were still half open, and the fruiterers' were
radiant in their glory. There were great, round, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old
gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, brown-faced,
broad-girthed Spanish Friars, and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced
demurely at the hung-up mistletoe. There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of
grapes, made, in the shopkeepers' benevolence to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that people's mouths might water gratis as
they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and
pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of
the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried
home in paper bags and eaten after dinner. The very gold and silver fish, set forth among these choice fruits in a bowl, though
members of a dull and stagnant-blooded race, appeared to know that there was something going on; and, to a fish, went
gasping round and round their little world in slow and passionless excitement.

Dickens is a master at writing lists. How can we emulate him?

What are the rules for introducing a list with a colon?

How do you separate complicated items in a list?

How can you add detail to the items in your list?

Here a list of words which you must turn into a list which is properly punctuated and
contains lots and lots of detail…

tree, baubles, candy canes, tinsel, lights, chocolates, angel, toy soldiers, bells, anything
else…

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

32
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
___________

Assessment Practice: The Cratchit Christmas

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.' 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.'
`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 supported by an iron frame.
`Why, where's our Martha.' cried Bob Cratchit, looking round.
`Not coming,' said Mrs Cratchit.
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 remember 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.

33
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, 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 admiration. 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 pastrycook'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.'
`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.

How does Scrooge feel about the Cratchit’s Christmas?

How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link this episode to life in Victorian

34
 à What does it make you feel/do? England or Dickens’ interests?
achieve it? à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à Does it have an emotional impact?
à Use a quotation
 Explain what happens in this scene.
 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe the Cratchit Christmas.
 Use a longer quotation to show the Cratchit Christmas in more detail, focusing on Tiny Tim.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Scrooge’s feelings.
 Use a longer quotation to show how Scrooge feels about the Cratchit Christmas.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Link this to a quote from earlier in the story and explain how Scrooge is changing.

Assessment Practice: Fred’s Christmas

It was a great surprise to Scrooge to hear a hearty laugh. It was a much greater surprise to Scrooge to recognise it as his own
nephew's and to find himself in a bright, dry, gleaming room, with the Spirit standing smiling by his side, and looking at that
same nephew with approving affability.
`Ha, ha.' laughed Scrooge's nephew. `Ha, ha, ha.'
If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooge's nephew, all I can say is, I
should like to know him too. Introduce him to me, and I'll cultivate his acquaintance.
It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the
world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour. When Scrooge's nephew laughed in this way: holding his sides,
rolling his head, and twisting his face into the most extravagant contortions: Scrooge's niece, by marriage, laughed as heartily as
he. And their assembled friends being not a bit behindhand, roared out lustily.
`Ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha.'
`He said Christmas was a humbug,' cried Scrooge's nephew. `He believed it too. He's a comical old fellow, 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.'
`I'm sure he is very rich, Fred,' hinted Scrooge's niece. `At least you always tell me so.'
`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.'
`I have no patience with him,' observed Scrooge's niece. Scrooge's niece's sisters, and all the other ladies, expressed the same
opinion.
`Oh, I have.' said Scrooge's nephew. `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.'
`Indeed, I think he loses a very good dinner,' interrupted Scrooge's niece. Everybody else said the same.
`I 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. 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.'
After tea. they had some music. For they were a musical family, and knew what they were about, when they sung a Glee or
Catch, I can assure you. Scrooge's niece played well upon the harp; and played among other tunes a simple little air (a mere
nothing: you might learn to whistle it in two minutes), which had been familiar to the child who fetched Scrooge from the
boarding-school, as he had been reminded by the Ghost of Christmas Past. When this strain of music sounded, all the things that
Ghost had shown him, came upon his mind; he softened more and more; and thought that if he could have listened to it often,
years ago, he might have cultivated the kindnesses of life for his own happiness with his own hands, without resorting to the
sexton's spade that buried Jacob Marley.

35
[…] Scrooge's niece was not one of the blind-man's buff party, but was made comfortable with a large chair and a footstool, in a
snug corner, where the Ghost and Scrooge were close behind her. But she joined in the forfeits, and loved her love to
admiration with all the letters of the alphabet. Likewise at the game of How, When, and Where, she was very great, and to the
secret joy of Scrooge's nephew, beat her sisters hollow: though they were sharp girls too, as could have told you. There might
have been twenty people there, young and old, but they all played, and so did Scrooge, for, wholly forgetting the interest he had
in what was going on, that his voice made no sound in their ears, he sometimes came out with his guess quite loud, and very
often guessed quite right, too; for the sharpest needle, best Whitechapel, warranted not to cut in the eye, was not sharper than
Scrooge; blunt as he took it in his head to be.
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.
`Here is a new game,' said Scrooge. `One half hour, Spirit, only one.'
It was a Game called Yes and No, where Scrooge's nephew had to think of something, and the rest must find out what; he only
answering to their questions yes or no, as the case was. The brisk fire of questioning to which he was exposed, elicited from him
that he was thinking of an animal, a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal, an animal that growled and
grunted sometimes, and talked sometimes, and lived in London, and walked about the streets, and wasn't made a show of, and
wasn't led by anybody, and didn't live in a menagerie, and was never killed in a market, and was not a horse, or an ass, or a cow,
or a bull, or a tiger, or a dog, or a pig, or a cat, or a bear. At every fresh question that was put to him, this nephew burst into a
fresh roar of laughter; and was so inexpressibly tickled, that he was obliged to get up off the sofa and stamp. At last the plump
sister, falling into a similar state, cried out:
`I have found it out. I know what it is, Fred. I know what it is.'
`What is it.' cried Fred.
`It's your Uncle Scrooge.'
Which it certainly was. Admiration was the universal sentiment, though some objected that the reply to `Is it a bear.' ought to
have been `Yes;' inasmuch as an answer in the negative was sufficient to have diverted their thoughts from Mr Scrooge,
supposing they had ever had any tendency that way.
`He has given us plenty of merriment, I am sure,' said Fred,' and 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, "Uncle Scrooge."'
`Well. Uncle Scrooge.' they cried.
`A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, whatever he is.' said Scrooge's nephew. `He wouldn't take it from me,
but may he have it, nevertheless. Uncle Scrooge.'
Uncle Scrooge had imperceptibly become so gay and light of heart, that he would have pledged the unconscious company in
return, and thanked them in an inaudible speech, if the Ghost had given him time. But the whole scene passed off in the breath
of the last word spoken by his nephew; and he and the Spirit were again upon their travels.

How does Scrooge feel about the Fred’s Christmas?

How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link this episode to life in Victorian
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? England or Dickens’ interests?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

 Explain what happens in this scene.

 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Fred’s Christmas.
 Use a longer quotation to show Fred’s Christmas in more detail.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Scrooge’s feelings.
 Use a longer quotation to show how Scrooge feels about Fred’s Christmas.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Link this to a quote from earlier in the story and explain how Scrooge is changing.

36
How is the Ghost of Christmas Present Which words best describe 19th century Victorian
represented? London?
a) A jolly giant a) Dangerous, crowded, filthy
b) A silent phantom b) Clean, healthy and safe
c) A small glowing man c) Happy, wealthy and wise
d) An invisible spirit d) Violent, murderous, insane

What is the Ghost of Christmas Present’s throne What were the poor laws?
made of? a) Laws to create workhouses
a) Piles of holly and ivy b) Laws to give welfare to poor people
b) Piles of padlocks and cash boxes c) Laws to prevent murder with the death penalty
c) Piles of Christmas gifts d) Laws to prevent thievery with jail sentences
d) Piles of delicious food

AO3 Context: The Workhouse and Want

An extract from Dickens’ account of life in the workhouse…

This was the only preparation for our entering ‘the Foul wards’. They were in an old building squeezed
away in a corner of a paved yard, detached from the more modern and spacious main body of the
workhouse. They were in a building most monstrously behind the time and only accessible by steep and
narrow staircases, infamously ill-adapted for the passage up-stairs of the sick or down-stairs of the dead.

In these miserable rooms, here on bedsteads, there on the floor, were women in every stage of distress
and disease. One figure a little coiled up and turned away, as though it had turned its back on this world
for ever; the uninterested face at once lead-coloured and yellow, looking passively upward from the
pillow; the haggard mouth a little dropped, the hand outside the coverlet, so dull and indifferent, so
light, and yet so heavy; these were on every pallet; but when I stopped beside a bed, and said ever so
slight a word to the figure lying there, the ghost of the old character came into the face, and made the
Foul ward as various as the fair world. No one appeared to care to live, but no one complained; all who
could speak, said that as much was done for them as could be done there, that the attendance was kind
and patient, that their suffering was very heavy, but they had nothing to ask for. The wretched rooms
were as clean and sweet as it is possible for such rooms to be; they would become a pest-house in a
single week, if they were ill-kept.

37
Now, I reasoned with myself, as I made my journey home again, concerning those Foul wards. They
ought not to exist; no person of common decency and humanity can see them and doubt it. But what is
this Union to do? The necessary alteration would cost several thousands of pounds; it has already to
support three workhouses; its inhabitants work hard for their bare lives.
How does Dickens use language to show his disgust at the conditions in the Foul
Wards?

An extract from Oliver Twist by Dickens…

The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a copper at one end: out of which the
master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled the gruel at
mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer, and no more--except on occasions of
great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides.

The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and
when they had performed this operation (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large
as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured
the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers
most assiduously, with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast
thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures
of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger, that one boy,
who was tall for his age, and hadn't been used to that sort of thing (for his father had kept a small cook-
shop), hinted darkly to his companions, that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid
he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of
tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye; and they implicitly believed him. A council was held; lots were
cast who should walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask for more; and it fell to Oliver
Twist.
How does Dickens use language to show the suffering of Oliver Twist??

Extension: how did Dickens’ real life experience affect his writing?

38
Assessment Practice: Ignorance and Want
Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick beds,
and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater
hope; by poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in misery's every refuge, where vain man in his little brief
authority had not made fast the door and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts.
It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the Christmas Holidays appeared to be
condensed into the space of time they passed together. It was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his
outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a
children's Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was
grey.
`Are spirits' lives so short.' asked Scrooge.
`My life upon this globe, is very brief,' replied the Ghost. `It ends to-night.'
The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment.
`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.
They were a boy and a 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.
Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words
choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude. `Spirit, are they yours?' Scrooge could say no
more.
`They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. `And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is
Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that
written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it.' cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. `Slander
those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.'
`Have they no refuge or resource.' cried Scrooge.
`Are there no prisons.' said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. `Are there no workhouses.' The bell
struck twelve.
Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it not.

39
 How does Dickens create the characters of Ignorance and
Want?
How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link this episode to life in Victorian
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? England or Dickens’ interests?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

 Explain what happens in this scene.

 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Fred’s Christmas.
 Use a longer quotation to show Fred’s Christmas in more detail.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Link this to a quote from earlier in the story and explain how Scrooge is changing.

Context: Dickens and Education

Charles Dickens took an intense interest in education and particularly in those charities and institutions
that catered for pauper children. For Dickens, education had the potential to rescue working-class children
from the ravages of industrialisation and from the dangers that lurked in the sprawling city. The alarming
growth of the city convinced people that urban life was having a damaging effect on both the poor’s
physical and moral health. This view was shared by Dickens who, after strolling through one poverty
stricken part of London, noted that the children:

“are the very dregs of the population of the largest city in the world – human waifs and strays; the
children of poverty, and misery and crime; in very many cases labouring under physical defects, such
as bad sight or hearing; almost always stunted in growth, and bearing the stamp of ugliness and
suffering on their features. Generally born in dark alleys and backcourts, their playground has been
the streets, where the wits of many have been prematurely sharpened at the expense of any moral
they might have. With minds and bodies destitute of proper nutriment, they are caught, as it were,
by the Parish officers, like half-wild creatures…”

Dickens formed his opinions on education through his frequent visits to working-class neighbourhoods,
visiting schools and exploring the forms of education provided for local paupers. These first hand
experiences made good material for his journal Household Words and produced interesting material for his
1854 novel Hard Times. For Dickens, a good education could be the saviour from ignorance, poverty and
crime. Unfortunately, not many children were given access to a good education unless their parents were
willing to pay for it.

How did Dickens’ views on education influence his portrayal of Ignorance and
Want?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
40
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________
…the cane was invariably used …Sometimes it was administered on the palm of the hand, but more generally upon
any part of the body right and left. At times for more serious offences there was a kind of military or naval
punishment used, not with the cat but with the birch. The boy was made to strip or at least lower his braces, let his
trousers down and received his dose in the lower part of the back, or as it was regularly termed his “backside” and
the Doctor was summoned to witness it. Great solemnity was observed on these occasions…Two boys held each
hand of the culprit, and he was pulled up tightly to one of those square wooden pillars, which support the Hall
overhead…The disgrace of having to expose one’s person was the principal thing in the punishment…People
believed in punishments in those days, and it was not an uncommon thing for a woman to ask a Master to punish
her boy for an offence committed at home.

A Christmas Carol So Far….

Stave One Stave Three

Scrooge is a solitary as an… How is the Ghost of Christmas Present represented?

e) A shrew a) A jolly giant
f) An oyster b) A silent phantom
g) A crab c) A small glowing man
h) A hermit d) An invisible spirit

What does Scrooge want to decrease? Who are the children under the Ghost of Christmas Present’s coat?
e) The surplus population a) Poor and Destitute
f) Joy in Christmas b) Hope and Charity
g) The amount given to charity c) Ignorance and Want
h) Bob Cratchit’s wages d) Goodness and Light

What does Marley say was his ‘business’? Which line does the Ghost of Christmas Present repeat to Scrooge?
e) Making profit a) “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”
f) Charitable acts b) “Christmas? Bah humbug!”
g) Mankind c) “Decrease the surplus population.”
Helping Scrooge d) “You may be a bit of undigested beef.”

Stave Two Context

How does the Ghost of Christmas Past describe the young Who might the Ghost of Christmas Present represent?
Scrooge? a) Father Christmas
e) A solitary child, neglected by his friends b) Scrooge’s father
f) An evil child, neglected by his friends c) God
g) A solitary child with no friends d) Jacob Marley
h) A popular child with lots of friends
Which words best describe 19th century Victorian London?
What bad news does Belle give Scrooge? a) Happy, wealthy and wise
e) His mother has died b) Dangerous, crowded, filthy
f) She is calling off their engagement c) Violent, murderous, insane
g) She is moving away d) Clean, healthy and safe
h) He has lost his job
Malthus believed…
What is the first place the ghost takes Scrooge to visit? a) We can’t improve our lives if the population increases
f) His grandmother’s kitchen b) We can’t improve our lives until the population increases
g) His first office c) We can’t improve our lives unless we earn more money
h) His boyhood schoolhouse d) We can’t improve our lives unless we do more for charity
41
 i) His college dorm room
j) His first pace of work

In the space below, create a timeline of the story so far…

Summary of Stave Four: The Last of the Spirits

The phantom, a ________________ figure covered in a ________________ hooded robe, approaches

Scrooge. Scrooge involuntarily ________________ before him and asks if he is the Ghost of Christmas Yet
to Come. The phantom does not ________________, and Scrooge ________________ in terror. Still
reeling from the striking experiences with the last two spirits, Scrooge pleads with the ghost to
________________ his ________________, hopeful that he may ________________ the
________________ of his deceased partner.

The ghost takes Scrooge to a series of strange places: the London Stock Exchange, where a group of
________________ discuss the death of a ________________ man; a dingy pawn shop in a London
________________, where a group of ________________ and shady characters sell some personal effects
________________ from a dead man; the dinner table of a poor family, where a husband and wife
________________ relief at the death of an ________________ man to whom they owed money; and the
________________ household, where the family struggles to cope with the ________________ of Tiny
Tim. Scrooge begs to know the identity of the dead man, frustrated in his attempts to understand the
lesson of the silent ghost. Suddenly, he finds himself in a ________________ where the spirit points him
toward a ________________ dug grave. Scrooge approaches the grave and reads the ________________
on the ________________: EBENEZER SCROOGE.

Appalled, Scrooge ________________ at the spirit and ________________ him to undo the events of his
________________ vision. He promises to ________________ Christmas from deep within his

42
________________ and to live by the moralizing lessons of Past, Present, and Future. The spirit's hand
begins to tremble, and, as ________________ continues to cry out for mercy, the ________________ robe
shrinks and collapses. Scrooge, again, finds himself returned to the relative ________________ of his own
bed.

answer safety unforgiving Cratchit fate

Scrooge menacing inscription express share

churchyard death clutches black stolen

beggars lesson phantom’s honour heart

begs businessmen slum nightmarish headstone

kneels avoid squirms rich freshly

Scrooge is a solitary as an… How is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come represented?
a) A shrew a) A jolly giant
b) An oyster b) A silent phantom
c) A crab c) A small glowing man
d) A hermit d) An invisible spirit

What does Scrooge want to decrease? What would encourage the business man to attend
a) The surplus population Scrooge’s funeral?
b) Joy in Christmas a) If he could spit on the grave
c) The amount given to charity b) A free bar
d) Bob Cratchit’s wages c) A free lunch
d) A share of the will
How does the Ghost of Christmas Past describe the young
Scrooge? Why is Bob Cratchit so upset?
a) A solitary child, neglected by his friends a) He can’t afford to but Christmas presents
b) An evil child, neglected by his friends b) He isn’t allowed Christmas day off work
c) A solitary child with no friends c) He’s been to visit Tiny Tim’s grave
d) A popular child with lots of friends d) He knows that Tiny Tim is dying

How is the Ghost of Christmas Present represented? Whose grave does the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
a) A jolly giant show Scrooge?
b) A silent phantom a) Ebeneneezer Scrooge’s
c) A small glowing man b) Jacob Marley’s
d) An invisible spirit c) Bob Cratchit’s
d) Fezziwig’s
Who are the children under the Ghost of Christmas
Present’s coat? Dickens believed education could…
a) Poor and Destitute a) Solve all the problems in London society
b) Hope and Charity b) Create problems in London society
c) Ignorance and Want c) Rescue working class children from poverty
d) Goodness and Light d) Keep working class children in poverty
43
 Which line does the Ghost of Christmas Present repeat to Dickens believed the awful conditions in workhouses…
Scrooge? a) “Ought not to exist”
a) “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” b) “Ought to be encouraged”
b) “Christmas? Bah humbug!” c) “Were totally inevitable”
c) “Decrease the surplus population.” d) “Were a necessary deterrent”
d) “You may be a bit of undigested beef.”
Malthus believed…
What does Marley say was his ‘business’? a) We can’t improve our lives if the population increases
a) Making profit b) We can’t improve our lives until the population increases
b) Charitable acts c) We can’t improve our lives unless we earn more money
c) Mankind d) We can’t improve our lives unless we do more for charity
d) Helping Scrooge

Mindmap this quotation…

“I wear the chains I forged in life.”

Assessment Practice: The 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.
He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with
a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.
`I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come.' said Scrooge.
The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.
`You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time
before us,' Scrooge pursued. `Is that so, Spirit.'
The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its
head. That was the only answer he received.
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. The Spirit
pauses a moment, as observing his condition, and giving him time to recover.
But Scrooge was all the worse for this. It thrilled him with a vague uncertain horror, to know that behind
the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own
to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black.
`Ghost of the Future.' he exclaimed,' I 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.'
It gave him no reply. The hand was pointed straight before them.

44
`Lead on.' said Scrooge. `Lead on. The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead on,
Spirit.'

How does Dickens create the character of The Ghost of

Christmas Yet To Come?
How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link this episode to life in Victorian
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? England or Dickens’ interests?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

 Explain what happens in this scene.

 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Fred’s Christmas.
 Use a longer quotation to show Fred’s Christmas in more detail.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Link this to a quote from earlier in the story and explain how Scrooge is changing.

Extension: how has Scrooge continued to change?

Assessment Practice: The Business Men
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.
`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.
Not another word. That was their meeting, their conversation, and their parting.
[…]
Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised that the Spirit should attach importance to conversations apparently so trivial; but
feeling assured that they must have some hidden purpose, he set himself to consider what it was likely to be. They could
45
scarcely be supposed to have any bearing on the death of Jacob, his old partner, for that was Past, and this Ghost's province was
the Future. Nor could he think of any one immediately connected with himself, to whom he could apply them. But nothing
doubting that to whomsoever they applied they had some latent moral for his own improvement, he resolved to treasure up
every word he heard, and everything he saw; and especially to observe the shadow of himself when it appeared. For he had an
expectation that the conduct of his future self would give him the clue he missed, and would render the solution of these riddles
easy.

What lesson does Scrooge learn in this extract?

How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link this episode to life in Victorian
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? England or Dickens’ interests?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

 Explain what happens in this scene.

 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Fred’s Christmas.
 Use a longer quotation to show Fred’s Christmas in more detail.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Link this to a quote from earlier in the story and explain how Scrooge is changing.

Assessment Practice: The Business Men

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.
`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.
Not another word. That was their meeting, their conversation, and their parting.
[…]
Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised that the Spirit should attach importance to conversations apparently so trivial; but
feeling assured that they must have some hidden purpose, he set himself to consider what it was likely to be. They could
46
scarcely be supposed to have any bearing on the death of Jacob, his old partner, for that was Past, and this Ghost's province was
the Future. Nor could he think of any one immediately connected with himself, to whom he could apply them. But nothing
doubting that to whomsoever they applied they had some latent moral for his own improvement, he resolved to treasure up
every word he heard, and everything he saw; and especially to observe the shadow of himself when it appeared. For he had an
expectation that the conduct of his future self would give him the clue he missed, and would render the solution of these riddles
easy.

What lesson does Scrooge learn in this extract?

How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link this episode to life in Victorian
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? England or Dickens’ interests?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you link the character to Dickens’ life?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

 Explain what happens in this scene.

 Choose a micro-quotation from the text to describe Fred’s Christmas.
 Use a longer quotation to show Fred’s Christmas in more detail.
 On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Link this to a quote from earlier in the story and explain how Scrooge is changing.

The Thieves
`What do you call this.' said Joe. `Bed-curtains.'
`Ah.' returned the woman, laughing and leaning forward on her crossed arms. `Bed-curtains.'
`You don't mean to say you took them down, rings and all, with him lying there.' said Joe.
`Yes I do,' replied the woman. `Why not.'
`You were born to make your fortune,' said Joe,' and you'll certainly do it.'
`I certainly shan't hold my hand, when I can get anything in it by reaching it out, for the sake of such a man as he
was, I promise you, Joe,' returned the woman coolly. `Don't drop that oil upon the blankets, now.'
`His blankets.' asked Joe.
`Whose else's do you think.' replied the woman. `He isn't likely to take cold without them, I dare say.'
`I hope he didn't die of any thing catching. Eh.' said old Joe, stopping in his work, and looking up.
`Don't you be afraid of that,' returned the woman. `I an't so fond of his company that I'd loiter about him for such
things, if he did. Ah. you may look through that shirt till your eyes ache; but you won't find a hole in it, nor a
threadbare place. It's the best he had, and a fine one too. They'd have wasted it, if it hadn't been for me.'
`What do you call wasting of it.' asked old Joe.
`Putting it on him to be buried in, to be sure,' replied the woman with a laugh. `Somebody was fool enough to do it,
but I took it off again. If calico an't good enough for such a purpose, it isn't good enough for anything. It's quite as
becoming to the body. He can't look uglier than he did in that one.'

How do the thieves feel about Scrooge?

47
Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror. As they sat grouped about their spoil, in the scanty light afforded by the
old man's lamp, he viewed them with a detestation and disgust, which could hardly have been greater, though the
demons, marketing the corpse itself.
`Ha, ha.' laughed the same woman, when old Joe, producing a flannel bag with money in it, told out their several
gains upon the ground. `This is the end of it, you see. He frightened every one away from him when he was alive, to
profit us when he was dead. Ha, ha, ha.'
`Spirit.' said Scrooge, shuddering from head to foot. `I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My
life tends that way, now. Merciful Heaven, what is this.'

How does Scrooge feel about the thieves?

Bob Cratchit
Little Bob in his comforter -- he had need of it, poor fellow -- came in. His tea was ready for him on the hob, and they all tried
who should help him to it most. Then the two young Cratchits got upon his knees and laid, each child a little cheek, against his
face, as if they said,' Don't mind it, father. Don't be grieved.'
Bob was very cheerful with them, and spoke pleasantly to all the family. He looked at the work upon the table, and praised the
industry and speed of Mrs Cratchit and the girls. They would be done long before Sunday, he said.
`Sunday. You went to-day, then, Robert.' said his wife.
`Yes, my dear,' returned Bob. `I wish you could have gone. It would have done you good to see how green a place it is. But you'll
see it often. I promised him that I would walk there on a Sunday. My little, little child.' cried Bob. `My little child.'
He broke down all at once. He couldn't help it.

Where do you think Bob has been? Why do you think he’s so upset?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

The Churchyard
A churchyard. Here, then, the wretched man whose name he had now to learn, lay underneath the ground. It was a worthy
place. Walled in by houses; overrun by grass and weeds, the growth of vegetation's death, not life; choked up with too much
burying; fat with repleted appetite. A worthy place.
The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to one. He advanced towards it trembling. The Phantom was exactly as it
had been, but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape.

48
`Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,' said Scrooge, `answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the
things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only.'
Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.
`Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,' said Scrooge. `But if the courses be
departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me.'
The Spirit was immovable as ever. Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went; and following the finger, read upon the stone
of the neglected grave his own name, Ebenezer Scrooge.
`Am I that man who lay upon the bed.' he cried, upon his knees.
The finger pointed from the grave to him, and back again.
`No, Spirit. Oh no, no.'
The finger still was there.
`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.'
For the first time the hand appeared to shake.
`Good Spirit,' he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it:' Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me
that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life.'
The kind hand trembled.
`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.'

Summary of Stave Five: The End of It

Scrooge wakes to find himself back in bed, in his room, his face ______________ with ______________ He
is so grateful to see everything, and to know that he has time ahead of him to make things right. He
______________ out of bed and puts on his clothes and declares that he is “happy as an angel.” He
______________ like he hasn’t laughed in years. He doesn’t even know how long he has been asleep or
what has occurred here, but he feels like a ______________.

The church bells start chiming. Scrooge runs to the window and sees a beautifully clear, cold day. He
shouts out to a young ______________ on the street what day it is. The boy replies that it is Christmas
Day. Scrooge is ecstatic not to have missed it. He asks the boy to go to the nearby ______________ with
the huge ______________ turkey in the window and to buy it, and offers him half a crown if he comes
back quickly. The grateful boy dashes off. As he waits for the turkey, he sees his door ______________
again, and exclaims how thankful he is to it for showing him Jacob Marley’s face.

The turkey arrives and Scrooge ______________ in sending it to the Cratchit house, paying everyone
______________ for the job. He can’t stop chuckling, so much so that he has trouble shaving and dressing.
He goes into the street and greets everybody______________. Some even greet him back. He meets one
of the ______________ who had come to see him the day before and wishes him Merry Christmas. He
tells the man that he knows that his ______________ is not pleasant to him, but asks to be
______________ and gives him a ______________ donation for the poor. He says he won't accept the
man's surprised offer of thanks, but asks the gentleman to come and visit him.

49
All morning, Scrooge walks through the town, greeting and talking to people. Then he goes to
his ______________ house and summons up the ______________ to knock. He is met by the
housekeeper and asks kindly to come upstairs. He stuns everyone when he arrives and announces he has
come to ______________, but they rapidly make him feel at home, and he enjoys an evening that is just as
wonderful as it was in the spirit’s ______________.

The next day, Scrooge goes to the______________, in the hope of catching Bob Cratchit coming in late.
Sure enough, Cratchit arrives late, and Scrooge pretends to be his old self and ______________ at him. He
starts as if to punish ______________, but then shocks ______________ by telling him that he is going to
raise his salary. He laughs with joy and promises to help Cratchit and his family.

The ______________ ends by saying that Scrooge does all that he promises, and more. ______________
survives and thrives. Scrooge is ______________ with many, and it ______________ bother him that
some still remember and mistrust him because he was once such an old ______________. He becomes
known for his Christmas ______________, and the story ends with Tiny Tim’s words, “God bless us, every
one!”.

shop narrator large handsomely Popular

wet laughs miser doesn’t Gentlemen

dinner vision tears Tiny Tim Growls

Bob boy baby prize Name

Cratchit delights courage jumps Office

forgiven spirit knocker warmly nephew’s

Extension: compose 10 questions you would ask the reformed Scrooge in an interview -
questions about his trip down memory lane, his regrets, how he has changed etc.

50
 “As solitary as an oyster”

“decrease the surplus population”

51
 “the shadows you have shown me here by an altered life”

How has Scrooge changed thanks to the ghosts’ visits?

Stave One Stave Five
Quotation One Quotation Two
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- He dressed himself all in his best, and at last got
stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, out into the streets. The people were by this time
scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and pouring forth, as he had seen them with the Ghost
sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck of Christmas Present; and walking with his hands
out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and behind him, Scrooge regarded every one with a
solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his delighted smile. He looked so irresistibly pleasant,
old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled in a word, that three or four good-humoured
his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his fellows said,' Good morning, sir. A merry Christmas
thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating to you.' And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of
voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his all the blithe sounds he had ever heard, those were
eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own the blithest in his ears.
low temperature always about with him; he iced
his office in the dogdays; and didn't thaw it one
degree at Christmas.
Quotation Three Quotation Four
Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with He went to church, and walked about the streets,
gladsome looks, `My dear Scrooge, how are you? and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and
When will you come to see me?' No beggars patted children on the head, and questioned
implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of
him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever houses, and up to the windows, and found that
once in all his life inquired the way to such and everything could yield him pleasure. He had never
such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men's dogs dreamed that any walk -- that anything -- could
appeared to know him; and when they saw him give him so much happiness. In the afternoon he
coming on, would tug their owners into doorways turned his steps towards his nephew's house.
and up courts; and then would wag their tails as
though they said, `No eye at all is better than an
evil eye, dark master!'

How has Scrooge changed thanks to the ghosts’ visits?

How does the writer Why is it effective? Context
à Link to the actual words used à Can you link Old Major’s ideas to the real
achieve it? à What does it make you feel/do? world?
à Identify a technique/ use of language à What are the connotations? à Can you relate Old Major to Lenin?
à Use a quotation à Does it have an emotional impact?

52
1. Explain what happens in quotation one. 11. Explain what happens in quotation three.
2. Choose a micro-quotation from the quotation one to describe 12. Choose a micro-quotation from the quotation one to describe
Scrooge. Scrooge.
3. Choose a longer quotation. 13. Choose a longer quotation.
4. On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means... 14. On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
5. Yet, on a deeper level we can infer… 15. Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
6. Scrooge changes by the end of the story… 16. Scrooge changes by the end of the story…
7. Choose a micro-quotation from the quotation two to describe 17. Choose a micro-quotation from the quotation four to describe
Scrooge. Scrooge.
8. Choose a longer quotation. 18. Choose a longer quotation.
9. On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means... 19. On the surface the word/phrase/technique ‘…’ means...
10. Yet, on a deeper level we can infer… 20. Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
21. Explain the overall change in Scrooge
22. Perhaps, Dickens was hoping to… (link to context/purpose)

Useful vocabulary:
Dickens believed education could… Malthus believed… Dickens believed the awful conditions in
a) Solve all the problems in London a) We can’t improve our lives if the population increases workhouses…
society b) We can’t improve our lives until the population a) “Ought not to exist”
b) Create problems in London society increases b) “Ought to be encouraged”
c) Rescue working class children from c) We can’t improve our lives unless we earn more money c) “Were totally inevitable”
poverty d) We can’t improve our lives unless we do more for d) “Were a necessary deterrent”
d) Keep working class children in poverty charity

In less than thirty words, explain what happens the first time the charity collectors visit Scrooge…

Write down a quotation from that scene (think Malthus!)

He had not gone far, when coming on towards him he beheld the portly gentleman, who had walked
into his counting-house the day before, and said,' Scrooge and Marley's, I believe.' It sent a pang across
his heart to think how this old gentleman would look upon him when they met; but he knew what path
lay straight before him, and he took it.
`My dear sir,' said Scrooge, quickening his pace, and taking the old gentleman by both his hands. `How
do you do. I hope you succeeded yesterday. It was very kind of you. A merry Christmas to you, sir.'
`Mr Scrooge.'
`Yes,' said Scrooge. `That is my name, and I fear it may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your
pardon. And will you have the goodness' -- here Scrooge whispered in his ear.
`Lord bless me.' cried the gentleman, as if his breath were taken away. `My dear Mr Scrooge, are you
serious.'
`If you please,' said Scrooge. `Not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it, I assure
you. Will you do me that favour.'
`My dear sir,' said the other, shaking hands with him. `I don't know what to say to such munificence.'
`Don't say anything please,' retorted Scrooge. `Come and see me. Will you come and see me.'
`I will.' cried the old gentleman. And it was clear he meant to do it.
`Thank you,' said Scrooge. `I am much obliged to you. I thank you fifty times. Bless you.'

53
 Why has Scrooge’s attitude to charity change? Try to think of 8 reasons!
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
But he was early at the office next morning. 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.
And he did it; yes, he did. The clock struck nine. No Bob. A quarter past. No Bob. He was full eighteen minutes and a half behind
his time. Scrooge sat with his door wide open, that he might see him come into the Tank.
His hat was off, before he opened the door; his comforter too. He was on his stool in a jiffy; driving away with his pen, as if he
were trying to overtake nine o'clock.
`Hallo.' growled Scrooge, in his accustomed voice, as near as he could feign it. `What do you mean by coming here at this time of
day.'
`I am very sorry, sir,' said Bob. `I am behind my time.'
`You are.' repeated Scrooge. `Yes. I think you are. Step this way, sir, if you please.'
`It's only once a year, sir,' pleaded Bob, appearing from the Tank. `It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday,
sir.'
`Now, I'll tell you what, my friend,' said Scrooge,' I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore,' he
continued, leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that he staggered back into the Tank again;' and
therefore I am about to raise your salary.'
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.
`A merry Christmas, Bob,' said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. `A
merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year. I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist
your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob. Make
up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit.'

How has this extract been structured to interest you as a reader?

 what the writer focuses your attention on at the beginning
 how and why the writer changes this focus as the Source develops
 any other structural features that interest you.

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

54
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Evaluation
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. Some people laughed to see
the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that
nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in
the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they
should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed:
and that was quite enough for him.
He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards;
and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the
knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every
One!

Some critics have described Scrooge’s transformation as “unbelievable”. To what extent

do you agree with this statement?
You must include
 a quote from earlier in the story
 a quote from the extract above
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
55
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Mind Map These Key Quotations

Annotate:
Language analysis (techniques & word class)
Structural analysis (links to other scenes)
Multiple interpretations
Contextual links
Key vocab

56
 “as solitary as an oyster”

Themes:

Mind Map These Key Quotations

Annotate:
Language analysis (techniques & word class)
Structural analysis (links to other scenes)
Multiple interpretations
Contextual links
Key vocab

57
 “if they would rather die they had better do it
and decrease the surplus population”

Themes:

Mind Map These Key Quotations

Annotate:
Language analysis (techniques & word class)
Structural analysis (links to other scenes)
Multiple interpretations
Contextual links
Key vocab

58
 “I wear the chain I forged in life”

Themes:

Mind Map These Key Quotations

Annotate:
Language analysis (techniques & word class)
Structural analysis (links to other scenes)
Multiple interpretations
Contextual links
Key vocab

59
 “The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it
cost a fortune”

Themes:
Mind Map These Key Quotations
Annotate:
Language analysis (techniques & word class)
Structural analysis (links to other scenes)
Multiple interpretations
Contextual links
Key vocab

60
 “two children; wretched, abject, frightful,
hideous, miserable”

Themes:

Mind Map These Key Quotations

Annotate:
Language analysis (techniques & word class)
Structural analysis (links to other scenes)
Multiple interpretations
Contextual links
Key vocab

61
 “assure me that I may yet change the shadows
you have shown me here by an altered life”

Themes:

Mind Map These Key Quotations

Annotate:
Language analysis (techniques & word class)
Structural analysis (links to other scenes)
Multiple interpretations
Contextual links
Key vocab

62
“he became as good a friend, as good a master,
and as good a man, as the old city knew”

Themes:

63