Christmas Carol (MK)

Question 1

Fezziwig (praise)

Answer 1

“The spirit signed to him [Scrooge] to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise to Fezziwig.”

Question 2

Fezziwig (Christmas)

Answer 2

“No more work tonight. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer!”

Question 3

Fezziwig (light)

Answer 3

“A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig’s calves.”

Question 4

Fezziwig (happiness)

Answer 4

“The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”

Question 5

Fezziwig (Power)

Answer 5

“He has power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our services light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil.”

Dickens creates Fezziwig as an anthithesis of Scrooge.
Scrooge also has the power⬆️

Question 6

Scrooge (Asyndetic)

Answer 6

“A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping,clutching, covetous old sinner!”

this exclamation suggests that even the narrator is overwhelmed by how outrageously unpleasant Scrooge is.

The list of adjectives emphasise how awful he is.

Question 7

Scrooge (Sharp)

Answer 7

“Hard and sharp as flint.”

Simile shows us he is tough and unbreakable.

Question 8

Scrooge (Oyster)

Answer 8

“Secret and self contained and as solitary as an oyster.”

the ​sibilance ​is similar to that of a snake which suggests something sinister. This is a Biblical allusion ​as it alludes to the snake in the tree which tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Dickens may be trying to say that isolation can be deadly.

Question 9

Scrooge (warmth)

Answer 9

“No warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him.”

Dickens uses pathetic fallacy to represent Scrooge’s nature. The weather is a metaphor for Scrooge’s behaviour as he cannot be made either warmer or colder by it.

Question 10

Scrooge (Poor Law)

Answer 10

“The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour then.”

Scrooge’s refusal represents the selfishness of the richer people of Victorian society. Instead of creating a community in which life can be enjoyed by all, Dickens highlights the injustice of wealth distribution.

Vigour-noun-physical strength and good health.

Question 11

Scrooge (melancholy)

Answer 11

“Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern.”

The adjective ‘melancholy’ means sad or depressive. It is repeated to show how empty Scrooge’s life is.

Question 12

Scrooge (eye)

Answer 12

“There was an eager,greedy,restless motion in the eye.”

The use of ‘greedy’ emphasises his love of money and ‘restless’ suggests he will not be satisfied with what he has, ‘eager’ showing his determination to get money and showing he will do anything for it.

Question 13

Scrooge (idol)

Answer 13

“Another Idol has displaced me [Belle].”

By saying money is an ‘idol’ it makes it seem like Scrooge worships money, like a god.

Question 14

Scrooge (crying)

Answer 14

“No more. I do not wish to see it. Show me no more.”

Question 15

Scrooge (glowing)

Answer 15

“He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions.”

Scrooge is no longer dark and cold inside. Him glowing is a symbol of love and family just like the big fire in his room.

Question 16

Cratchit raises a toast on Christmas day. Here, Dickens evokes the biblical message of…

Answer 16

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Question 17

Bob Cratchit (Coal)

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Bob Cratchit (comforter)

Answer 18

“The clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle.”

Bob Cratchit attempts to provide himself some warmth at the very small fire provided by the “candle” but “failed”, emphasising how the very little support and generosity Scrooge provides Bob with, and the lack of support and generosity victorian society provides in general

Question 19

Scrooge to Bob Cratchit (Threat)

Answer 19

“Let me hear another sound from you and you’ll keep your Christmas by losing your situation.”

This shows the disrespect from Scrooge towards his own worker and he believes he doesn’t deserve paid time off.

Question 20

Bob Cratchit (horse)

Answer 20

“He had been Tim’s blood horse all the way from Church.”

Question 21

Bob Cratchit (bob)

Answer 21

Bob had but fifteen “bob”a week himself.

Perhaps this is to serve as a constant reminder of how little Bob earns, or may be to represent the ​importance and power of money over the lower classes

Question 22

Bob Cratchit (disbelief)

Answer 22

“Bob trembled and got a little nearer to the ruler. He had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge down with it.” (S5)

Question 23

Tiny Tim (Bible)

Answer 23

Serves as an allusion to Jesus’ interactions with the children.

“Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.”

Question 24

Tiny Tim (crutch)

Answer 24

“Tiny Tim bore a little crutch, and his limbs supported by an iron frame.”

Question 25

Tiny Tim (lame)

Answer 25

“He [Tim] hoped the people saw him in church, because he was a cripple.”

(“He who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.”)

Question 26

Tiny Tim & Bob Cratchit

Answer 26

“Bob held his wither little hand, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken away from him.”

Verb - wither - dry and shrivelled

Question 27

Tiny Tim & Scrooge

Answer 27

“Spirit, tell me if Tiny Tim will live.”

“Tiny Tim is the catalyst for change in Scrooge.”

Question 28

Scrooge & Tiny Tim (Father)

Answer 28

“To Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father.”

Question 29

Marley (dead)

Answer 29

“Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.”

This Juxtaposing of Marley and metal cleverly foreshadows his later appearance as a door-knocker

Question 30

Marley (disturbing Scrooge)

Answer 30

“The spectre’s voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones.”

Question 31

Marley (chain)

Answer 31

“I wear the chain I forged in life.”

The chain is a symbol of Marley’s greed and punishment, and Dickens uses it to personify the consequences of treating people this way.

Question 32

Marley (incessant)

Answer 32

“No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse.”

He has been suffering in death for all of his misdeeds in life and feels guilt for how he behaved.

Question 33

Marley (iron)

Answer 33

“Captive, bound, and double ironed.”

Question 34

Ghost of Christmas (child)

Answer 34

“A strange figure - like a child: yet not so like a child as an old man.”

The noun ‘child’ evokes an innocent appearance that Scrooge is anxious to wipe out, which suggests his refusal to change.

Question 35

Ghost of Christmas Past (give)

Answer 35

“Would you soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give you.”

This metaphor illustrates that the first ghost is there to illuminate Scrooge’s past and to show him where things have gone wrong, but Scrooge needs to accept this help.

Question 36

Ghost of Christmas Present (sat)

Answer 36

“There sat a jolly giant.”

The noun phrase “jolly Giant” position the Ghost as non-threatening to both Scrooge and the reader. This is a Spirit whose physical presence and jolliness fill the room, perhaps symbolising Dickens’s desire for goodwill to others.

Question 37

Ghost of Christmas Past mimicry of Scrooge

Answer 37

“Are there no prisons, are there no workhouses.”

Question 38

Ghost of Christmas yet to come (approach)

Answer 38

“The phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached.”

Signifies the fateful, irreversible consequence of death

Question 39

Ghost of Christmas yet to come (filled and fear)

Answer 39

“Its mysterious presence filled him [Scrooge].”

“I fear you more than any spectre I have ever seen.”

Question 40

Fred about Scrooge

Answer 40

“His offences carry their own punishment.”

Question 41

Quote about poverty (charity workers)

Answer 41

“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”

Question 42

Poverty (Cratchits)

Answer 42

“They were not well dressed, their clothes were scanty, Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker’s.”

Pawnbroker - sell anything for money

Question 43

Poverty (quarter)

Answer 43

“The whole quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery.”

The description of the setting is used to illustrate the poverty that is blatant in society. The ​triplet used to create a negative image in the readers’ minds as the words encapsulate the impact poverty has had on the city.

Question 44

Scrooge (neglected)

Answer 44

“A solitary child neglected by his friends at school.”

Question 45

Family (pleased)

Answer 45

“They were happy, grateful, pleased with one another.”

Dickens’ use of synonyms for happy serves to show the reader that family and togetherness is more important than wealth.

Question 46

Family (wonderful)

Answer 46

“Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity.”

Unanimity (noun) - agreement by all people involved.

shows that Scrooge’s redemption has brought happiness to him and everyone around him too

Question 47

Redemption (singing)

Answer 47

“There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: thats all.”

Scrooge regrets his actions.

Question 48

Redemption (taught)

Answer 48

“I will not shut out the lessons they have taught me.”

shows he has truly changed at this point by accepting the lessons of the spirits and learning the true morals and values of Christmas which he will use to redeem himself if given a second chance.

Question 49

Redemption (became)

Answer 49

“He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.”

Question 50

Statement at the beginning

Answer 50

“Marley was dead to begin with.”

Paradox

Question 51

Isolation (sole)

Answer 51

Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole friend, and his sole mourner.”

this shows how lonely Scrooge and Marley were, isolated by their obsession with money. this demonstrates Scrooge’s unforgiving exterior personality.

Sole - someone who acts alone - adjective.

Question 52

Isolation solitary

Answer 52

“As solitary as an oyster.”
“A solitary child neglected by his friends.”

Solitary - existing alone - adjective

Question 53

Responsibility (population)

Answer 53

“If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Thomas Malthus - Give money to the poor and they will just have kids and poverty will happen all over again.

This quote demonstrates that Scrooge has no sympathy for the poor. -> Scrooge sees the poor as simply a burden on society, who are responsible for their own condition and therefore not deserving of charity.

Surplus-noun-something left over

Question 54

Responsibility (remain)

Answer 54

If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.”

The conditional phrase uttered by the Ghost was a pivot point in Scrooge’s thinking and in the readers. If things continue as they are, sad conditions will remain.

Question 55

Supernatural (spirits)

Answer 55

“Why do Spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?”

if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.

Question 56

Supernatural (cried)

Answer 56

“One ghost cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant.”

Question 57

Supernatural (Marley)

Answer 57

“Marley’s ghost bothered him exceedingly.”

Question 58

Supernatural (misery)

Answer 58

“The misery with all them, was, that they sought to interfere in human matters but had lost the power forever.”

Sought - Seek

Question 59

Good will to all men (uncle)

Answer 59

“A merry Christmas, Uncle, may God save you!”

Question 60

Good will to all men (Christmas)

Answer 60

“I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all year round.”

Question 61

Time (icicle)

Answer 61

“An icicle must have got into the works.”

Suggesting the clock is broken

Question 62

Time (Ghost Present)

Answer 62

“My life upon this globe is very brief.”

Here Dickens is emphasising how brief the spirit of Christmas lasts within society, further illustrating that as soon as Christmas is over people go back to their selfish ways. It could also suggest that life is really short and it’s important for Scrooge to make the best of it.

Question 63

Time (month)

Answer 63

“I don’t know what day of the month it is.”

Question 64

Weather (froze)

Answer 64

“The cold within him froze his old features.”

Scrooge has constant cold within him, this cold representing his mean habits. ‘Froze’ not only reinforces this idea, but also creates imagery of a statue, something emotionless and unfeeling, stuck in its own hard shell, closed of from society. Scrooges has become a misanthrope due to the cold within him.

Misanthrope - person who dislikes human kind.

Question 65

Weather (bleak)

Answer 65

“It was cold, bleak, biting weather.”

reflects scrooge’s cold-heartedness, with it being “cold” used by dickens as a symbol for scrooge’s emotional coldness, and the personification of the weather as “biting”, being a vicious, violent verb, reflecting Scrooge’s ill-will and aggression to the rest of mankind.

Question 66

Weather (dark)

Answer 66

“It was quite dark already - it had not been light all day.”