A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens

About the Author Charles Dickens Famous author and social campaigner At 12 began working full days at a warehouse Work conditions and cruel treatment influenced Dickens’ later writings

Birth/ Early Life One of eight children Favorite pastime when young was reading Photographic memory of people he met and things he read Raised in a middle class family --Family debt forced young Dickens to begin working --Father placed in debtor’s prison

More about the author Writing Wrote most of his stories in short installments for newspapers Used cliffhangers- story pauses, leaving character in an exciting or difficult situation Paid by the page– contributes to the length of his stories

Important Works Great Expectations A Tale of Two Cities Oliver Twist A Christmas Carol David Copperfield Pictures from Italy A Trial for Murder

From Books to Movies Many of Dickens’ famous works were later turned into movies --A Christmas Carol -- A Tale of Two Cities --Great Expectations --Oliver Twist

Death Died of a stroke after working on his last novel Edwin Drode Died exactly 5 years after being in a train accident

Dickens’ writings Social Commentary Disliked the division between social classes in Victorian England Felt that the poor were treated unfairly Advocate for charity

Victorian Christmas Traditions Many Christmas traditions celebrated today were introduced during Dickens’ time Decorating Christmas trees Christmas cards Gift giving from parents to children Traditional Christmas carols Christmas stories

Theatre Terms Dialogue– words spoken by characters. Preceded by characters’ names in plays Dramatic monologue– speaker in play addresses a silent listener Gesture– physical movement of a character during a play Props– articles or objects that appear onstage during a play

More theatre terms Soliloquy– character reveals thoughts by talking aloud to himself; not meant to be heard by anyone else onstage Aside– actor speaks directly to audience; is not heard by others onstage Monologue– only one character speaks; others onstage can hear him Playwright– author of a play

More theatre terms Stage directions– comments given by the author to describe dialogue, setting, and action of a play Staging—position of actors on stage, backdrops, costumes, props, and lighting Blocking– movement and position of actors on stage within a scene Theme– unifying subject or idea of story Symbol– object that stands for something other than itself

Characterization- The act of creating and developing a character Direct Character- A writer states the characters’ traits or characteristics Indirect Character- A writer depends on the reader to draw conclusions about the character traits

Figurative Language Project “A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley is filled with figurative language. Go through the play and find one figurative language quote.(word for word copied from the text) Make a colored illustration that describes the quote, include the quote, the name and the page number. This is worth a quiz and a classwork grade. Do your BEST and be NEAT! ;0)