A Christmas Carol - Music

Question 1

what does music symbolise?

Answer 1

happiness and the warmth of shared, community events

Question 2

how does the music present itself throughout the novel?

Answer 2

• lighthouse men who are in harsh conditions where one ‘struck up a sturdy song that was like a gale itself’
• a cheerful company around a ‘glowing fire’ singing
• this positivity in the novel presents the theme of Christmas, how everyone is kind and having a good time together

Question 3

what is the music like for the ‘good’ characters?

Answer 3

• Fezziwig’s dancing to the fiddler at the party
• the noise of Tiny Tim’s ‘active little crutch on the floor’ and beating ‘the table with the handle of his knife’

Question 4

what shows the value of music in life for Scrooge?

Answer 4

• Fred’s ‘musical family’
• Dickens says that if Scrooge could have listened to the music his niece is playing ‘often, years ago, he might have cultivated the kindnesses of life for his own happiness with his own hands’