A Christmas Carol Flashcards
In which stave is this quote and what is the context behind it?
‘“What else can I be,” returned the uncle, “when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in ‘em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will,’ said Scrooge indignantly, `every idiot who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.’
Stave 1, where Scrooge is visited by his nephew. The repetition of the word ‘time’ emphasises that it is a key theme in the novella.
In which stave is this quote and what is the context behind it?
“Good Heaven!” said Scrooge, clasping his hands together, as he looked about him. “I was bred in this place. I was a boy here!”
The Spirit gazed upon him mildly. Its gentle touch, though it had been light and instantaneous, appeared still present to the old man’s sense of feeling. He was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys, and cares long, long, forgotten!
“Your lip is trembling,” said the Ghost. “And what is that upon your cheek?”
Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was a pimple; and begged the Ghost to lead him where he would.
“You recollect the way?” inquired the Spirit.
“Remember it!” cried Scrooge with fervour; “I could walk it blindfold.”
“Strange to have forgotten it for so many years!” observed the Ghost. “Let us go on.”
They walked along the road, Scrooge recognising every gate, and post, and tree […]
Stave 2, when Scrooge’s memories are returning to him here in his childhood home. The “gentle touch” of the ghost reveals “odours” floating in the air and then in turn, these senses reveal the kinds of emotional connections that Scrooge has blocked out: “hopes, and joys, and cares”.
In which stave is this quote and what is the context behind it?
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
Stave 1 - This is our first insight of scrooge’s character. The asyndetic list of adverbs shows scrooge as someone who works hard to scrape every last penny that he can. He is harsh and difficult to befriend - ‘hard and sharp as flint’.
Nobody can make him commit a generous act - ‘no steel had ever struck out generous fire’
He lives in isolation and doesn’t really talk to anyone - ‘secret, self contained’
He likes to maintain a hard exterior but if cracked open there may be a pearl inside, something worth exposing.
In which stave is this quote and what is the context behind it?
‘Business!’ cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. ‘Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!’
Stave 1 - When Scrooge is visited by Jacob Marley’s ghost.
What is the setting for A Christmas Carol?
London, 1849
How many years ago did Marley die?
“seven years ago this very night”
What is the purpose of Scrooge’s nephew’s visit to him on Christmas Eve?
To try and invite him to Christmas dinner
What was Scrooge like as a child?
Lonely and Sad
What worried Scrooge when he visited the Cratchit’s on Christmas day with the Ghost of Christmas Present?
Tiny Tim was going to die
What did the chains Jacob Marley wore symbolize?
Missed opportunities to help others
What is the climax of A Christmas Carol?
When Scrooge sees his name on the gravestone
Why does Belle end her relationship with Scrooge?
Because he is consumed by greed
Define ‘Genial’
cheerful, kindly
Define ‘Incredulous’
not believing, disbeleif
Define ‘Incessant’
unceasing/continuous/constsant
