A Christmas Carol Revision Guide PDF

## A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ### What's It About? A Christmas Carol is one of the best-known works by the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870). It tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a rich but cold-hearted man who is shown the importance of kindness. One cold and foggy Chri...

## A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ### What's It About? A Christmas Carol is one of the best-known works by the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870). It tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a rich but cold-hearted man who is shown the importance of kindness. One cold and foggy Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him to change his miserly ways. Scrooge is then visited by the ghosts of past, present and future Christmas, which help him to understand the errors of his past. Scrooge is left promising to do good in the world. Through the story, Dickens uses Scrooge's journey to highlight the problems that troubled Victorian society, such as family and redemption. ### Miserly Tight with money. Someone who has a lot of money but spends very little (like Scrooge) is **a miser**. ### Redemption The act of being saved from sin or evil. Someone is **redeemed** if they turn away from evil and follow a better path. ### Context A Christmas Carol is written in the form of a novella. The story itself is highly allegorical - it’s designed to be about the real world and encourage good behaviour. The book’s title references the Christmas season that brings joy and cheer. Dickens wanted to do the same thing, so he titled the chapters of A Christmas Carol as **staves**. At the time the book was written, the Industrial Revolution was transforming the world, and a huge divide between the rich and the poor was created. Many owners of and investors became enormously wealthy, while the working-class, who were often overworked and overcrowded, were poorly paid and lived in terrible conditions. Dickens had first-hand experience of poverty and worked in debtors’ prisons and ragged schools. He was sent to a debtors' prison when his father was unable to pay back debts. ### Allegorical Something is **allegorical** if it has a deeper meaning or message that's designed to give the reader a moral or teach them a lesson. ### Stave A verse of a song. The chapters in A Christmas Carol are titled ‘staves’ as the book has a similar structure to a traditional Christmas song. ### Debtors' Prison In Victorian Britain it was a crime to owe someone money and not pay it back. People who got into debt that they were unable to pay were sent to **debtors' prisons**, where they were made to work until the money was paid. ### Ragged School A type of school for homeless children in Victorian Britain. **Ragged Schools** were run by charities to try to educate children who would have been given no schooling otherwise. ### Sentimental Something **sentimental** is deliberately designed to make the reader emotional. Dickens was a master of **sentimentality** - he often deliberately provokes pity or sadness in the reader to hammer his message across. ### Social Commentary Writing that directly talks about the issues in society to try to raise awareness or promote change. ### Who's Who * Would the story’s message be as effective if Scrooge was a younger man? * Bob never stands up to Scrooge’s mistreatment. Is he a man of principle or a pushover? * What does Marley’s Ghost show us about regret and remorse? * Does the Ghost of Christmas Past teach Scrooge any lessons, or does it let him find the answers on his own? * The Ghost of Christmas Present only lives for one night. What does this suggest about the spirit of Christmas? * The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come terrifies Scrooge. Is fear the most effective way to teach someone a lesson? * Is Tiny Tim a fully-rounded character, or is he just here to make the reader feel sorry for him? * Does Fred exemplify the spirit of Christmas better than any other character? * How does Fezziwig’s attitude to wealth contrast with Scrooge’s? * Belle rejects Scrooge because she wants to marry for love and not money. How might a Victorian audience have reacted to her decision? ### Summary #### Stave One * On a freezing and foggy Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by his nephew, Fred, but refuses to go to the Christmas party because it is a 'humbug' and a waste of money. * Scrooge turns away two men collecting money for the poor, arguing that they should be in prison or workhouses if they cannot support themselves. * That evening, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him that he will suffer the same fate if he doesn't change ways. Marley's Ghost warns Scrooge that he can escape his fate by being visited by three spirits. #### What kind of atmosphere does Dickens create in the first stave? How does he achieve this? Dickens uses setting and imagery to create a dark and depressing atmosphere in the first Stave. He describes a freezing and foggy Christmas Eve, showing the reader how Scrooge has shut himself away from the joy of Christmas. Marley's Ghost is frightening and frightening, creating an atmosphere of fear and dread. #### Stave Two * The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his childhood, showing him his loneliness and the harsh treatment he received at school. * The Ghost of Christmas Past then shows him his younger self falling in love with Belle, but Scrooge's greed causes her to leave him. * The Ghost of Christmas Past then shows Scrooge a Christmas party with his former employer, Mr. Fezziwig, highlighting how this man spreads cheer and generosity to his employees, in contrast to Scrooge's behaviour. #### What do you think the first spirit's physical appearance could symbolise? The Ghost of Christmas Past is dressed like a child. This could symbolise the innocence of childhood that Scrooge has lost. It could also symbolise the importance of past experience and how it can influence our present and future choices. #### How do the events of this stave help us understand how Scrooge ended up the way he did? The events of Stave Two show Scrooge's childhood loneliness and his later failure to form a loving relationship because of his greed. It shows that Scrooge has lost a great deal of joy in life because of his obsession with money and his rejection of what it actually means to be a good person. #### Stave Three * The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge his nephew Fred's Christmas party, filled with laughter and joy. * It then takes Scrooge to see a poor family, the Cratchits. Tiny Tim, despite being very ill, is overjoyed at the prospect of Christmas dinner. * The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge a stark vision of the future. He is then warned that his own death will result in no-one showing him any affection or remorse. #### How does the atmosphere change when this spirit appears? Why do you think Dickens does this? The atmosphere of the novella shifts in the third stave. The dark and depressing atmosphere of Stave Two is replaced by a more positive one filled with laughter and warmth. Dickens creates this shift because he wants to show the reader the contrast between Scrooge's current life and the choices he can still make to change his future. He wants the reader to be swept up in the joy of Christmas, but also experience the sorrow and regret experienced by Scrooge. #### Stave Four * The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge a vision of his own death, and no one shows him any love or caring. Scrooge is shown the future that awaits him if he carries on the way that he is. #### What changes do we see in Ebenezer Scrooge in this stave? Scrooge is filled with fear and regret, but also a sense of hope. He realises that he is responsible for his own misery and is willing to change. He asks the Ghost to show him more of the future so that he can learn from the mistakes of his past. #### Stave Five * Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning, completely changed. He gives Bob Cratchit a pay rise, visits Fred and happily joins in the Christmas celebrations. #### Compare this scene to Scrooge's first appearance. How different is he now? Scrooge starts the novella as a mean and miserable miser, rejecting Christmas and refusing to help the poor. He ends the novella as generous and caring man, embracing Christmas and taking responsibility for those in his care. He is a completely changed person. #### What is the tone of the story's ending? How would you sum up Dickens' ultimate message? The tone of the ending is optimistic and hopeful. The reader is left with a sense that good can triumph and that anyone, no matter how bad their behaviour in the past, can be redeemed. Dickens’ ultimate message is that we all have a choice, and we can choose to be kind and compassionate or to be mean and selfish. Choosing to be kind will bring us happiness and contentment, while choosing to be mean and selfish will lead to sadness and loneliness. ### Themes Page #### Poverty and Social Injustice Throughout the novella, Dickens depicts the huge gap between the rich and poor in Victorian England. Scrooge represents the wealthy upper classes; at the beginning, he shows no sympathy for the poor, arguing that those who can't support themselves should be in prison, in a workhouse or dead. His attitude is based around the assumption that people are poor because of their own laziness. However, Dickens shows the reader that this is not the case. The Cratchits are poor but it's clear that this is through no fault of their own; Bob is a hardworking, honest and kind person, and his eldest son Peter also works to support the family, but they still struggle for money simply because they are badly paid. Tiny Tim represents the thousands of innocent children who lived in poverty in Victorian England. His potential death shows the reader that the lives of the poorest people are dependent on compassion from those who are more fortunate: as Bob's employer, Scrooge is in a position to improve the lives of the Cratchits, but it's up to Scrooge to decide whether to do so or not. Dickens shows that a relatively small amount of money for someone like Scrooge can be life-changing for someone like Bob. Dickens shows the reader that if everyone shares some responsibility for the welfare of the poor then all of society benefits. The appearance of Ignorance and Want exemplifies this idea. Through them, Dickens shows that children who are born into poverty and denied access to education have no chance of improving their situation and are stuck in poverty all their lives. He argues that generosity towards the poor is beneficial to all of society as it breaks this cycle of poverty. The alternative is for those poor children to grow up into desperate adults who turn to crime to make a living. #### Christmas Spirit The celebration of Christmas is a central theme of A Christmas Carol. Dickens presents Christmas as a joyful time full of fun, games and feasting. Most importantly, he presents Christmas as a time to enjoy the company of family and friends and show generosity and compassion to others. As a result, Scrooge's hatred of Christmas is a particularly effective way of showing him to be cold, heartless and joyless. The Christmas spirit is demonstrated through the characters of Fred, Fezziwig and the Cratchits, who all have very different social backgrounds but are all able to celebrate and enjoy Christmas in their own ways. By refusing to take part in the celebrations, Scrooge cuts himself off from the joy that spending time with family and friends brings. Without the Christmas spirit, Scrooge's money is a source of no real happiness. The direct opposite of something. The festive atmosphere overcomes the gloominess of the smoggy streets of London, and brings a sense of companionship and cheer to those who work tirelessly in dangerous conditions to keep the country running. Dickens also shows us the importance of charity during the Christmas season. The happiness brought by Christmas serves to highlight the misery faced by the poorest members of society, who have little to celebrate. Dickens brings attention to their suffering and shows how Christmas serves as both a reminder and an opportunity to improve the lives of the less fortunate. #### Family In A Christmas Carol, Dickens shows that a loving companionship, support and strength, even in difficult times, is a source of great happiness. The Cratchits exemplify the theme of family in the novella. Despite being poor, they love each other, find joy in each other's company, and look after each other in their hardest moments. Dickens presents them as bringing a level of happiness that no amount of money could buy. Scrooge is alone at the start of the novella, but Dickens makes it clear that this is his own choice - he has his nephew, Fred, but rejects the chance to have a relationship with him. Scrooge is bitter about the neglect he suffered from his own father and the chance of a family of his own that he lost when Belle broke up with him. Dickens show that Scrooge's bitterness about the past holds him back from the chance of happiness in the future. When he finally accepts Fred's dinner invitation and opens his heart to the Cratchits, Scrooge finally experiences all the joy of a loving family that he rejected for years. Dickens also shows that family relationships last for a lifetime and that it's never too late to patch things up with a family member. Fred never stops showing Scrooge love, even though he's constantly rejected, and when Scrooge finally realises the error of his ways, Fred shows him unconditional forgiveness. #### Transformation and Redemption The overall story of A Christmas Carol is Scrooge's journey of transformation from a lonely old miser to a kind-hearted and generous man. Dickens shows the reader that regardless of our situation, we all get to choose whether or not to show kindness to others. In A Christmas Carol, those who choose to show kindness are happy and fulfilled, while those who don't end up lonely and bitter. At the start of the novella, Scrooge makes a conscious effort to reject acts of kindness: he turns down Fred's invitation and the chance to donate to the charity collectors. Through the visions of the three spirits, though, he begins to see that it is his owns choices that have turned him into a miserable man, even if they have made him rich. He sees that after his death he will be forgotten and missed by no-one, just as Jacob Marley was. At the same time, he sees how other people who choose to live their lives with compassion are rewarded with happiness, even if they have less. Fezziwig, the Cratchits, Fred and Belle all do their best to be good to others and although they all have different social situations, they are still happy in their own ways. The ending of the novella provides Scrooge's redemption as Dickens shows the reader that it's never too late to change and to start making amends. Scrooge learns that although he cannot change his choices in the past, he can control his actions in the present and future and choose to do good where he can. As a result of this lesson, Scrooge is rewarded with the happiness he was lacking, through the company of family and friends. ### Useful Terms * **Allegorical:** Something is allegorical if it has a deeper meaning or message that's designed to give the reader a moral or teach them a lesson. A Christmas Carol is an allegory as it has a moral lesson contained within it. * **Antithesis:** The direct opposite of something. * **Counting-house:** A Victorian term for the accountant's office in a business. * **Debtors' Prison:** In Victorian Britain it was a crime to owe someone money and not pay it back. People who got into debt that they were unable to pay were sent to debtors' prisons, where they were made to work until the money was paid. * **Exemplify:** To give or act as a perfect example of something. * **Fence:** Somebody who pays money for stolen goods. * **Idealised:** Something that is idealised is presented as perfect or better than it is in reality. * **Industrial Revolution:** A time period from around 1760 to 1840 in which huge progress was made in technology. Before the Industrial Revolution, everything was made by hand, which took a long time. During the Revolution, machines were invented that could create many more products many times faster. This led to the development of modern factories, and huge numbers of people moved from the countryside to cities to work in them. The factory owners and investors became hugely rich, but the workers were very badly paid and their jobs were often very unsafe. The cities soon became overcrowded and dirty. * **Malthusianism:** A theory named after its creator, Thomas Malthus. Malthus argued that the population would always grow and eventually overtake the amount of food, jobs and housing available. As a result, he saw poverty as unavoidable, and argued that it was necessary for people in the 'surplus population' to die in order for everyone else to have enough. In Dickens' view, this theory was completely inhumane. * **Miserly:** Tight with money. Someone who has a lot of money but spends very little (like Scrooge) is a miser. * **Morality:** The idea of what is good and bad or right and wrong. * **Novella:** A book longer than a short story, but shorter than a novel, usually short enough to read in one go. * **Poor Law of 1834:** Before 1834, the government provided money, food and shelter to poor people who were unable to work. It was claimed that this system was being abused by the 'idle poor' (people who were able to work but chose not to out of laziness) so in 1834 the Poor Law was passed, which got rid of the previous benefit system and replaced it with the workhouses. Under the Poor Law, entering the workhouse was the only option for those who needed support. * **Ragged School:** A type of school for homeless children in Victorian Britain. Ragged Schools were run by charities to try to educate children who would have been given no schooling otherwise. * **Redemption:** The act of being saved from sin or evil. Someone is redeemed if they turn away from evil and follow a better path. * **Sentimental:** Something sentimental is deliberately designed to make the reader emotional. Dickens was α master of sentimentality - he often deliberately provokes pity or sadness in the reader to hammer his message across. * **Social Commentary:** Writing that directly talks about the issues in society to try to raise awareness or promote change. * **Stave:** A verse of a song. The chapters in A Christmas Carol are titled 'staves' as the book has a similar structure to a traditional Christmas song. * **Undertone:** A meaning or message in a story that is implied rather than said directly. * **Workhouse:** An institution that gave poor people a place to live and kept them fed in exchange for hard and tedious work, such as breaking rocks into gravel or unpicking the individual threads from ropes. Workhouses were deliberately designed to be miserable places to live; this was to make sure that only really desperate people would turn to them. After the Poor Law was passed, entering the workhouse was the only option for many poor people as there was no longer a welfare or benefit system to support them.