Stave 1

Question 1

Marley was dead to begin with.

Answer 1

It is an abrupt opening sentence that emphasises the importance of Death as well as Marley’s character

Question 2

And Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘ Change

Answer 2

‘Change references the London Stock a exchange and it highlights how good and powerful a businessman he is. It also implies that Scrooge saw the burial as little more than another business deal

Question 3

Dead as a doornail

Answer 3

Simile. A popular phrase of the time. The constant reassurance of Marley’s death makes the reader doubt he is

Question 4

I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade.

Answer 4

First of the many references to the industrial Revolution

Question 5

Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did.

Answer 5

Dickens starts to make us doubt the soundness of the statement

Question 6

An excellent man of business

Answer 6

He’s a stern miser with no feelings and was very cheap with the funeral viewing it as a business deal and nothing more

Question 7

Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name.

Answer 7

This could be for 2 reasons. Either, deep down Scrooge valued Marley as a friend or he is too cheap to paint over the sign

Question 8

He answered to both names

Answer 8

Scrooge and Marley where so alike they were essentially interchangeable hinting that is Scrooge doesn’t change he is going to meet the same fate as Marley

Question 9

A tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone,

Answer 9

Like a grind-stone, he is rough and coarse with people. Another reference to the industrial Revolution

Question 10

Hard and sharp as flint

Answer 10

Scrooge is sharp and damaging like flint but flint produces fire suggests he has a potential to emit warmth

Question 11

Solitary as an oyster

Answer 11

Scrooge is hidden within his shell and keeps himself isolated. However, like a pearl in an oyster, he has treasure hidden deep within

Question 12

Foul weather didn’t know where to have him.

Answer 12

Scrooge was bitter and cold that bad weather had no effect on him anymore

Question 13

No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!

Answer 13

The evil eye is a biblical idea that is believed to cause misfortune or injury

Question 14

Once upon a time – of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve – old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house.

Answer 14

Dickens uses the traditional fairy tale opening but for a story set in the Victorian times. It’s a modern day fairy tails. It hints at the supernatural, fantastical elements of the story

Question 15

It was cold, bleak, biting weather:

Answer 15

Pathetic fallacy

Question 16

Candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices

Answer 16

The fire / Christmas Spirit has not yet reached Scrooge

Question 17

the houses opposite were mere phantoms.

Answer 17

Foreshadows the phantoms that will come soon

Question 18

Who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters

Answer 18

Shows how tight-fisted Scrooge is as he gives his clerk the bare minimum. It shows Cratchit’s desperation as he puts up with these dreadful conditions to earn a little wage. Cell suggests comparisons to a prison showing Scrooge views Cratchit as little more than a criminal

Question 19

Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal.

Answer 19

It highlights the wealth divide as Scrooge has a much greater coal supply than Cratchit

Question 20

Clerk put on his white comforter

Answer 20

The white comforter juxtaposes the bleak surroundings suggests the clerk is a good person. White has associations of hope, purity and peace

Question 21

‘Bah!’ said Scrooge, ‘Humbug!’

Answer 21

A humbug is a fraud or trickster so he is suggesting Christmas is a fraud

Question 22

He had so heated himself

Answer 22

Scrooge himself is juxtaposing the semantic field surrounding him of cold and misery showing the effect Fred has on him

Question 23

He was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.

Answer 23

Fred’s description is positive unlike Scrooge’s. Smoked again is another reference to the Industrial Revolution and it contrasts Scrooge’s icy imagery

Question 24

What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.

Answer 24

Scrooge indicates only money can bring happiness yet ironically Scrooge is very rich but truly unhappy

Question 25

A time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer;

Answer 25

He holds a cynical tone about Christmas and mocks those who disagree with him

Question 26

Boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart

Answer 26

Violent imagery which suggests the anger and hate Scrooge holds for the holiday. Antithesis of Fred

Question 27

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say

Answer 27

Shows the difference between Scrooge’s capitalist views and Fred’s socialist views

Question 28

The clerk in the Tank involuntarily applauded.

Answer 28

By going against his boss, Cratchit showed brief resistance against Scrooge and his miserly ways but only brief as he needs the job

Question 29

Growled Scrooge

Answer 29

Animalistic imagery showing his violent nature

Question 30

His nephew left the room without an angry word, notwithstanding

Answer 30

Scrooge’s nephew is too generous and helpful to with ill on his uncle especially because of the festive occasion

Question 31

I’ll retire to Bedlam

Answer 31

Refers to Bethlehem Royal hospital, the oldest mental health institution in Europe at that point

Question 32

Portly gentleman

Answer 32

They were obviously wealthy as they could afford vast amounts of food yet they are also generous as they are trying to help those poorer unlike Scrooge

Question 33

And the Union workhouses’ demanded Scrooge. Are they still in operation?’

Answer 33

Workhouses were public institutions were the homeless and poor received board and lodging in exchange for free labour. They were exploitative to the poor and had horrible conditions essentially unliveable

Question 34

Both very busy

Answer 34

Highlights the amount of people who are suffering in extreme poverty and the fact the workhouses are full shows us how desperate people were even though the workhouses had horrible conditions

Question 35

When Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices

Answer 35

Foreshadowing to the Ghost of Christmas Present (Abundance) and Want in Stave 3

Question 36

Many would rather die

Answer 36

Shows how bad the conditions were and how ignorant the fish were to their plight

Question 37

Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened

Answer 37

Pathetic fallacy

Question 38

Gruff old bell was always peeping silly down at Scrooge

Answer 38

Personification. Means God himself is watching and judging Scrooge. Victorian society was extremely religious

Question 39

The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold

Answer 39

Personification of the cold. Implies the child has been disfigured by poverty as it eats away at the fragile lives of young, unprivileged children

Question 40

For he boasted no great-coat

Answer 40

Bob is unable to afford one due to how little his job pays

Question 41

It must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again

Answer 41

Personification of the home. Compared it to a lost child suggesting Scrooge himself is lost

Question 42

The other rooms being all let out as offices

Answer 42

Shows how obsessed with money he is that he rents the extra rooms as offices instead of giving it too the poor for housing

Question 43

Let it also be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought on Marley, since his last mention of his seven years’ dead partner that afternoon.

Answer 43

Dickens is reinforcing the idea that the knocker is completely normal making the dead begin to doubt so. Another buildup of suspense. Knocker were only features on richer houses

Question 44

Not a knocker, but Marley’s face

Answer 44

First appearance of Marley’s ghost

Question 45

A terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy

Answer 45

The terrible sensation is fear which he hasn’t felt in a while.

Question 46

The sound resounded through the house like thunder

Answer 46

The sound is unnamed which creates unease and tension.

Question 47

But I mean to say you might have got a hearse up that staircase

Answer 47

It emphasises the social injustice between the rich and poor

Question 48

Darkness is cheap

Answer 48

Reflects his cold and miserly personality