1. ESSAY QUESTION– 45 mins (including planning time)
A Christmas Carol CORE KNOWLEDGE
SKILLS
Analysis Points:
Link to the question
Link to the terminology (Lang/Structure – evaluating choice)
Short Quote(s) -or Moment
Explain meaning and effect – both obvious and hidden (explicit and implicit)
Zoom in on words/explore connotations and effect
Suggest what other readers might think/feel (offering an alternative opinion)
Link to the writer’s intentions (step out from the close analysis to give an overview of meaning)
Explore a linking quote/supporting idea
***DON’T FORGET CONTEXT FOR THIS MODULE!***
Context Features
Dickens used conventions from the Gothic genre –death, spirits, supernatural,
Huge population increase in London in Victorian Britain. Overcrowding. Large supply of labour meant employers could pay low wages.
¼ of population living in poverty. No welfare state to provide benefits for poor. Charity was vital.
Many children died in childbirth/infancy
No printers or copiers in 19th century. Clerks wrote everything out by hand.
Dickens’ father ran up huge debts, and got sent to a debtors’ prison.
Dickens then taken out of school and sent to a Blacking factory at age 12.Terrible conditions. Cruel employers. Low pay.
Poor Children sent to terrible evening ‘ragged schools’ where they were neglected, and not educated well which meant they would stay poor. Education wasn’t compulsory. Only rich children enjoyed good schools.
Dickens visited ragged schools – ones for the poor
Religious society –most went to church, and believed in after life and knew Christian message of forgiveness.
Dickens was inspired to write the book by insomnia filled night walks in London
Vocabulary
Definition
Hardship
Severe suffering or going without things
Transformation
A marked change
Welfare
The health, happiness and fortunes of a person or group
Redemption
The action of saving or being saved from sin, error or evil
Mankind
The human race
Festive
Relating to a festival, usually Christmas. Also cheerful.
Miser
A person who hoards wealth and spends as little as possible
Ignorance
A lack of knowledge or education on a topic
Free Will
The ability to choose between different courses of action in your life
Capitalism
An economic system built around market forces and aimed at profit and wealth creation. Government intervention is minimal. Private companies largely in charge.
Epiphany
A moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation
Solitude
The state of being alone
Humility
Having a modest or low view of your own importance
Nostalgia
A sentimental longing for the past
Apparition/Spectre
A ghost
Deference
Polite submission and respect
Parable
A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson
Philanthropy
A desire to promote the welfare of others, especially by generous donations to good causes
Pathetic Fallacy
Linking of nature and weather to human emotions/moods
Metaphor
Where one thing becomes another in a comparison
Simile
A comparison using like or as
Allegory
A story that holds a deeper, moral or political meaning
Description
A spoken/written account of a person, action or event
KEY THEMES
Family, Christmas, Poverty and Wealth,
The Past, Change, Food, Love, Death, Compassion
EXAM REQUIREMENTS
ESSAY QUESTION– 45 mins (including planning time)
Brief introduction – Mention where extract is from in the novel / Offer an overall link to the question covering the novel as a whole.
Extract Focus – 1 paragraph – Link to Question. Aim for up to 6 quotes covered
Whole Novel Focus -2 paragraphs – Link to how question can be answered in other key moments/quotes throughout the novel
Brief Conclusion – Link back to the question
EMBED CONTEXT THROUGHOUT THE ESSAY
Typical Questions
Write about Scrooge and the way he changes through the novel. OR
Write about the theme of self-interest and how this is presented in the novel.
Refer to the extract and the novel as a whole
Show your understanding of characters and events in the novel
Refer to the context of the novel

2. Key Quotes The Plot Stave 1 Stave 2 Stave 3 Stave 4 Stave 5 Scrooge
Bob Cratchit.
Cratchit Family
Jacob Marley
The Ghost of Christmas Past
The Ghost of Christmas Present
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Belle
Fred
Minor Characters
Protagonist –An old miser who discovers the message of Christmas
Scrooge’s long suffering clerk. His family survive on very little but are close and happy.
Scrooge’s former business partner, now deceased. He appears as a ghost.
The ghost that arrives in great light
The ghost that resembles a jolly giant
The ghost that resembles the grim reaper
Scrooge’s one time fiancee who left him due to his obsession with money
Scrooge’s nephew. Fan’s son.
Fezziwig –Scrooge’s old boss
Fan – Scrooge’s sister
Mrs Dilber, The Laundress and Joe
‘Hard and sharp as flint’
‘Solitary as an oyster’
‘Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?’
‘Every idiot who goes around with Merry Xmas on his lips…should be buried with a stake of holly through his heart’
‘If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population’
‘I will honour Christmas in my heart. I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach’
‘I am as happy as an angel’
‘I’ll send it to Bob Cratchit’
‘The clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like only one coal’
‘There’s another fellow, my clerk with fifteen shillings a week, a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I’ll retire to Bedlam.’
‘Tiny Tim hoped the people saw him in the church because he was a cripple, and remember upon Christmas day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see’
‘’Mrs Cratchit made the gravy hissing hot…Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple sauce…There never was such a goose cooked’
‘Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes’
‘God bless us every one’
‘Mr Scrooge. I’d give him a piece of my mind. An odious, stingy, hard , unfeeling man’
‘One the very day of the funeral, Scrooge solemnised it with an undoubted bargain’
‘I wear the chain I forged in life…The chain was made up of cash boxes…ledgers…heavy purses’
‘My spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money changing hole’
‘Mankind was my business’
‘Would you so soon put out the light I give?’
‘Scrooge was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts and hopes and joys long long forgotten’
‘A solitary child, neglected by his friends is left there still – Scrooge sobbed’
‘One child: true – your nephew!’
‘A small matter to make these folks so full of gratitude’
‘I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That’s all.’
‘A jolly giant who bore a glowing torch with a cheery voice and a joyful air’
‘I see a vacant seat. The child will die’
‘Scrooge was the ogre of the family and the mention of his name cast a dark shadow.’
‘Even here…two men wished other Merry Christmas in their can of grog’
‘Yes/No game…a disagreeable, savage animal. It’s Uncle Scro-o-o-oge!’
‘They are Man’s. This boy is ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware for I see that written which is Doom.’
‘It was shrouded in a deep black garment…left nothing visible except one outstretched hand.’
‘Ghost of the Future. As I know your purpose it to do me good, I am prepared to bear you company with a thankful heart.’
‘If there is any person in the town who feels emotion caused by this man’s death, show that person to me, Spirit, I beseech you!’
‘I am sure we shall none of us forget Tiny Tim.’
‘He read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, Ebenezer Scrooge.’
‘Another idol has displaced me…a golden one’
‘I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off, until the master passion, Gain, engrosses you.’
‘May you be happy in the life you have chosen’
‘Now a comely matron sitting opposite her daughter.’
‘I have always thought of Christmas as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time.’
‘Don’t be angry Uncle. Merry Christmas!’
‘Scrooge’s offences carry their own punishment. Who suffers? Himself!’
FEZZIWIG –’He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome. The happiness he gives is…as if it cost a fortune. ’
FAN – ‘I have come to bring you home dear brother, home, home, home!’
LAUNDRESS
‘He’d have had somebody to look after him when he was struck by death, instead of lying gasping out his last there, along by himself’
The Plot
Stave 1
Scrooge sits in his counting house on a cold Christmas Eve, miserable and cursing everything to do with Xmas. His clerk, Bob shivers in the side room. Scrooge rejects his nephew Fred’s annual offer to come to their house for Christmas, and gives nothing but a lecture to two charity collectors. He is visited by Jacob Marley who warns him to take note of his condition and the 3 spirits which will visit him.
Stave 2
Scrooge is taken by the Ghost of Xmas Past, a childlike ghost with a brightly glowing head, back in time to revisit his sad lonely boarding school days left on his own at Xmas, then a time when his sister Fan came to collect him and he was overjoyed. He is also shown a Christmas Eve when he was the apprentice of Fezziwig, a happy, caring boss. He is also shown the scene where his fiancee, Belle left him, and Belle has a new husband and daughter of her own.
Stave 3
Scrooge is next taken by the Ghost of Xmas Present, a majestic giant wearing a green fur robe, through London to see Christmas as it will happen that year. He watches the Cratchit family prepare a miniature feast in their meager home. He discovers the courage and kindness of Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit’s crippled son. He sees Fred’s Xmas party, and also countless people around the globe all celebrating Xmas with someone else, unlike Scrooge who appears doomed to spend it alone. The Ghost ages towards the end of the day, and reveals two starved children, Ignorance and Want, a warning to mankind of not caring for others in society.
Stave 4
The Ghost of Xmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge through a series of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man’s recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing the food at the funeral, some uncaring tramp like characters trading his belongings, and a poor couple expressing relief because their debt may be transferred to someone more merciful. Finally, the Ghost guides Scrooge to an abandoned old gravestone bearing the name of Ebenezer Scrooge. He begs and pleads with the silent spirit to change his fate, promising to change his ways.
Stave 5
Overwhelmed with the chance to redeem himself, Scrooge rushes out on to the street to share his newfound Christmas spirit with bemused passers-by. He sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchits, and raises Bob’s salary. He attends Fred’s Xmas party, and gives a generous sum to the charity collectors. As the years go by, he holds true to his promise and honours Christmas with all his heart, treating Tiny Tim as if he were his own child, providing for the poor, and treating fellow human beings with kindness, generosity and warmth.