👻 A Christmas Carol

Question 1

What is your model introduction?

Answer 1

Charles Dickens’ allegorical novella ‘A Christmas Carol’ centres on the themes of redemption, generosity and change. It was written during the Victorian Era in the midst of the Industrial Revolution when the divide between rich and poor was immense. As a child, Dickens himself worked in a factory and so he wrote the novella as a political diatribe to critique the social injustices and wealth distribution of Victorian society, to express the struggles of the poor and to encourage readers to strive for a more socially responsible society. Therefore, in order to achieve this, he utilises the at first avaricious protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge as a vehicle to illuminate and convey (link to Q).

Question 2

What structure are you using?

Answer 2

P1- Intro

P2- ‘solitary as an oyster’ and ‘cold, bleak biting weather’ (stave one)

P3- ‘Are there no prisons?… Are there no workhouses?’ and ‘decrease the surplus population’ link to Thomas Malthus (stave one)

P4- ‘A solitary child, neglected by his friends’ and ‘another Idol has displaced me’ (stave two)

P5- ‘I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.’ and ‘as light as a feather’ and ‘as happy as an angel’ (stave five)

P6- (if you have time) conclusion, metamorphasis- Scrooge’s heart described as ‘fluttering’

Question 3

Analyse ‘solitary as an oyster’

and ‘cold, bleak biting weather’

What Stave are they from?

Answer 3

‘solitary as an oyster’

-Presents Scrooge as a caricature of a typical Victorian capitalist.
Enhances his isolation and distance he keeps from society. Oysters have hard protective shells which implies Scrooge is misanthropic, difficult to reach and does not open up emotionally. Alternatively, oysters also have the capacity to contain a pearl which could be symbolic of Christmas spirit and foreshadow Scrooges change. Oysters form pearls due to pressure and stress in the sea and this could be symbolic of the hardships that Scrooge has been through as a child.

‘cold, bleak biting weather’

The pathetic fallacy mimics Scrooge’s cold demeanour and attitude towards others. The plosive of ‘bleak biting’ creates a dithering sound reflecting how harsh and cold both the climate and Scrooge are. The verb ‘biting’ can mimic the hostility between the social classes in 19th century society.

(Stave one)

Question 4

Analyse ‘Are there no prisons?… Are there no workhouses?’

and ‘decrease the surplus population’

What Stave are they from?

Answer 4

‘Are there no prisons?… Are there no workhouses?’

This rhetorical question underscores Scrooge’s lack of compassion for the poor, indicating his belief that the poor should be confined to institutions rather than helped. Scrooge’s unpopular, Malthusian views alienate him from society.

‘decrease the surplus population’

Expresses Scrooge’s Malthusian views, which Dickens disagreed with, on how poverty and hunger are always inevitable for some. ‘decrease’ and ‘surplus’ are mathematical, numerical terms emphasising how Scrooge views the proletariat as a worthless number problem and how emotionless he is.

(Stave one)

Question 5

Analyse ‘A solitary child, neglected by his friends’

and ‘another idol has displaced me’

What Stave are they from?

Answer 5

‘A solitary child, neglected by his friends’

The adjective ‘solitary’ links back to Stave one where the current Scrooge is being described as ‘solitary as an oyster’ and shows how the older Scrooge is self inflicting his isolation where as, in contrast, the younger Scrooge is being isolated by others such as his father. This proves that his isolation has always been prevalent yet we know he was ‘neglected’ at a younger age which causes readers to feel empathy towards Scrooge.

‘another idol has displaced me’

It is revealed that Scrooge’s fiancée, Belle, feels replaced by Scrooge’s idolization of money.
Shows how avaricious Scrooge is because he places higher importance on money then on family and relationships.
Use of the word ‘idol’ could imply that Scrooge looks up to money and worships it. This would have shocked contempoary audiences as during the Victorian era, it would have been considered a sin to worship anything other than God.

(Stave 2)

Question 6

What quotes are you using from Stave five to show Scrooge’s change?

+ analyse

Answer 6

‘I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future’

The accumulative effect of this triadic structure reinforces the impact that all the ghosts have had on him. The modal verb ‘will’ juxtaposes his pervious unwillingness further cementing his change.

‘light as a feather’

‘light’ links back to Stave one when Marley is weighed down by the ‘the chains I forged in life’ and shows how Scrooge’s change has allowed him to be free from this.

‘happy as an angel’

The noun ‘angel’ has heavenly connotations enhancing the fact that Scrooge is no longer a sinner. It could also link to Scrooge being Tiny Tim’s guardian angel.

Question 7

What do these 3 terms mean?

Parsimonious

Avaricious

Misanthropic

Answer 7

Parsimonious- Very unwilling to spend money or use resources. (tight fisted)

Avaricious- Having or showing an extreme greed for wealth or material gain. (greed)

Misanthropic- Having or showing a dislike of other people. (unsociable)

Question 8

Why does Dickens use Staves instead of Chapters?

Answer 8

Dickens uses Staves as a form of musical symbolism as staves are typically seen in music.

This gives the novella the form of an informative, joyful carol.

Dickens intent here was to make the novella like a song because songs stick in your head- he is making his moral message memorable.

Question 9

What quotes are you using for The Cratchits?

+ analyse

Answer 9

‘Then up rose Mrs. Cratchit… but brave in ribbons’

The verb ‘rose’ shows how confident she is in her appearance despite her clothing being torn and out fashioned. Alternatively, it could foreshadow it could foreshadow how eventually, society’s lower classes will rise above the constraints which have been placed upon them- exacerbating the eagerness of the proletariat to become ‘free’ rather than ‘idle’.
However, she covers up her appearance with ‘ribbons’ to try and divert her children away from their unprivileged conditions which many, a result of society’s ignorance, were ashamed of.

‘they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another’

-This is despite living in unprivileged conditions.
The accumulative effect of this triadic structure emphasises the family’s close, tight bond which juxtaposes Scrooge’s relationship with his family. This illustrates that being surrounded by family and friends is much more valuable than being oriented around wealth.

Question 10

What quotes are you using for Ignorance and Want?

+ analyse

Answer 10

‘Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked’

Rather than presenting Ignorance and Want as stereotypical children, they are depicted as ‘devils’ instead of ‘angels’. By juxtaposing the stereotypical innocent image of children, Dickens emphasises the detrimental consequences and the ill-effects of greed and ignorance on the fabric of society.
The purpose of this was to gain sympathy from readers in the hope that society would learn the harrowing consequences of their own actions.

‘Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish’

This asyndetic list portrays how those in poverty have been stripped of their health, youth, and basic human rights.
This graphic state of the children was used strategically to shock contemporary readers as it reveals the true extent of the social injustices in Victorian England.

The adjective ‘wolfish’ uses zoomorphism to present the children’s desperation for food and shelter- the same way in which wolves hunt for their own food.

‘I see that written in doom, unless the writing be erased’

-Dickens is raising awareness of the dire consequences which were currently being ignored in society.
The metaphorical phrase indicates that the poor faced detrimental consequences at the hands of petulant capitalists like Scrooge.

Noticeably, the noun ‘doom’ is exponentially vague to express the open ended consequences that may occur if societal problems are not fixed.