1. A Christmas Carol
By: Charles Dickens

2. Characters Ebenezer Scrooge: hard hearted, miserly businessman
Fred: Scrooge’s kindhearted nephew
Bob Cratchit: Scrooge’s overworked and underpaid clerk
The Cratchit Family: comprises Bob, his wife, and several children, including the crippled, but always cheerful, Tiny Tim
Marley’s Ghost: spirit of Scrooge’s former business partner (Jacob)
Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Christmas yet to Come

3. Setting
19th Century
London, England
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day

4. Narrator The narrator of A Christmas Carol is omniscient
The narrator knows everything and can tell the reader not only what the characters are physically experiencing but also what they are thinking.
This type of character can read all of the characters’ thoughts.

5. Themes
Society’s evils are largely the work of human beings, but each person has the power to do the right thing
Through three ghosts, Scrooge discovers that money cannot buy true happiness
It is a privilege and our duty to make the world a better place

6. Theme Continued… The Power to Choose…
Although Scrooge has been miserly and hardhearted for many years, when he decides to change, he undergoes a transformation. Convinced by Marley and the Christmas Ghosts that his indifference to others has almost ruined his life, Scrooge chooses good over evil and continues that path for the rest of his life.

7. Themes Continued… Can Money Buy Happiness?
Despite his wealth, Scrooge is a profoundly unhappy man. He can afford to live comfortably, but he deprives himself of even such small pleasures as light and heat. Meanwhile, other characters demonstrate that satisfaction in life does not arise solely from material wealth.

8. Money Buying Happiness
Characters with Money
Scrooge
Marley
Mr. Fezziwig
Businessmen on the Exchange
Characters without Money
Cratchits
Fred & his wife
Caroline & her husband

9. Literary Devices in A Christmas Carol
Metaphor – Direct comparison of two unlike things
“The houses opposite were mere phantoms.”
“In came Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast, substantial smile.”
Simile – Comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as”
“Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.”
Alliteration – Repeated consonant sound in a series of words
“bright gleaming berries glistened”
"...secret, self-contained, and solitary as an oyster"

10. Literary Devices in A Christmas Carol
Personification – giving human characteristics to something non-living
The wind whispered through the trees.
"...the slow potatoes bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled."
Flash-back – The author begins a story in the present but moves into the past to show the reader something in the main character’s life
External conflict – character vs. character, character vs. nature, character vs. society
Internal conflict – character vs. self