A Christmas Carol Flashcards
1
Q
What does Scrooge’s name have connotations to?
A
- Ebenezer means ‘stone of help’ in Hebrew - he has potential to help others but isn’t using it
- antihero with a unpleasant sounding name (b/d sounds and ooge sound)
2
Q
What is Scrooge used as a symbol for?
A
- parallels with historical figures
- overpopulation = Thomas Malthus - more people = more likely they will live in poverty and suggested decreasing birth rates or increasing death rate
- Jemmy Wood and John Elwes - well known misers
- sort of self parody = unhappy childhood represents Dicken’s own childhood - (negative Scrooge may be what Dickens could have become)
3
Q
What quotation shows that Scrooge is strange and uncaring?
A
- even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the funeral
- he was an excellent man of business / solemnised it with n undoubted bargain (undoubted = clearly cheap and unadorned = ceremony performed cause it had to be)
- money > people = strange and uncaring and inhumane
4
Q
How does Scrooge behave towards his employee in Stave1?
A
- ‘poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every 25th December!’ = prioritises money over his well being
5
Q
What shows Scrooge only cares about money?
A
- ‘Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name’ = cheap and doesn’t care
6
Q
What simile is used to describe Scrooge in Stave 1?
A
- ‘secret and self contained and solitary as an oyster’
- Triadic structure and he’s not lonely as he enjoys being lonely
- Sibilance makes it sound haunting and eerie
- simile = oyster is dark and ugly but beyond the tough outer shell there may be a Pearl (potential is within Scrooge)
- he’s misanthropic (likes being lonely)
7
Q
What 2 quotes show Scrooge’ support of the Malthusian theory and the Poor Law?
A
‘If they would rather die… they has better do it and decrease the surplus population’ = lack of sympathy
- surplus = negative connotations (sees people as numbers)
- stabs at Malthusian theory
‘are there no prisons? And union workhouses?’ - uncaring and supporter of the poor law (Dickens opposed it)
8
Q
What quotation shows Scrooge as a miser?
A
‘Darkness is cheap and Scrooge liked it.’
- shows him as a miser
- Marley on his doorknob, rather than light a candle and calm down his nerves, he would rather walk through darkness
9
Q
What shows Scrooge is starting to change at the end of Stave 1?
A
- ‘Bah! Humbug!’ = nonsense = dismissive of Fred (arrogant?)
- he tried to say ‘Humbug!’ But stopped at the last syllable - tried = his attitude are beginning to change and his arrogance is waning = glimpse of transformation as he can’t dismiss Marley
10
Q
What quote shows Scrooge’s childhood loneliness?
A
‘A solitary child, neglected by his friends is left there still’
‘ a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire’
- here young Scrooge is really lonely and maybe reads fiction to distract himself from lonely
- he is emotionally starved and pitiful
11
Q
What shows Scrooge as excited in Stave 2?
A
‘In a most extraordinary voice bw laughing and crying’
‘His heightened and excited face would have been surprise to his business friends in the city indeed’
- excited and happy - passionate and revitalised by his past
- ‘his heart and soul were in the scene’ when w Fezziwig
12
Q
What shows Scrooge’s being more generous in stave 2?
A
‘Nothing, there was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something that’s all’
- initiated transformation but hard to move on from miserly ways
- ‘no I would like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That’s all!’ - staring to change but miserly ways are deep rooted and good times trigger his change
13
Q
What shows Scrooge becoming greedy?
A
‘ what idol has displaced you’ he rejoined. ‘ a golden one’ = Belle and Scrooge
- asks his fiancé the question = unaware of how much he hurt Belle as gold replaces her
- ‘where the shadow of the growing tree shall fall’ = greed is a tree that’s growing over him so blocking what he can see and what little he sees is in darkness
14
Q
What shows Scrooge as distressed by his past?
A
‘Your lip is trembling’ said the ghost. ‘And what is upon your cheek?’ And Scrooge mutters with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was a pimple’
- crying ?
15
Q
What shows Scrooge hurt by his past with Belle?
A
‘ show me no more!’ And ‘remove me!’- imperative = distressed
- ‘though Scrooge pressed it down with all his force he could not hide the light’ = he’s trying to suppress the light that is his past so he can diminish it = in denial so he tries to ignore it altogether but he can’t suppress it no matter how much he tries
16
Q
When did Marley die?
A
- for 7 years on Christmas Eve = connection between Christmas and the supernatural
17
Q
Was was Charles Dickens social status like?
A
- born into middle class family
- then father went to debters prison and he had to find job in unpleasant conditions
- father left and then he resumed education and did law, then writing
- so sympathetic towards poor
18
Q
What real life inspirations were there for Dickens?
A
- Francis/Fran -his talented sister that he saw less of cause she was in the royal academy of music
- Tiny Tim- Fran’s child who was sick
- Scrooge - 2 famous misers = John Elwes and Jemmy Wood
- Thomas Malthus = Dickens opposed it by negative character supporting it
19
Q
What shows us Scrooge hasn’t changed completely in Stave 3?
A
‘ A tremendous family to provide for!’
- Scrooge’s transformation is half incomplete
- provide = shows family is financially driven as large family is a cost rather than support and love
20
Q
What shows us that Scrooge is unaware about the conditions of the poor?
A
- after 2nd Ghost sprinkles ‘Christmas cheer’ onto poor people’s for, Scrooge says ‘why to a poor one most?’
- ignorance
- unaware of why life is difficult for the poor and why they need it more than the rich
- he doesn’t understand the poor
21
Q
How is Scrooge affected by the Ghost of Christmas present’s word about the decreasing the ‘surplus population’?
A
‘Hung his head’ and ‘overcome with penitence and grief’
- penitence = sorrow and regret for what you have done
- ashamed about his unsympathetic self
22
Q
What 2 quotes show Scrooge is changing in Stave 3?
A
- ‘tell me if Tiny Tim will live’
- ‘have they no refuge or resource?’ (About ignorance and want) - wants to support the poor rather than punish them = his sympathy applies to all poor people
23
Q
What shows us Scrooge has no value to god?
A
- ‘you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child’
- Scrooge is not thought of highly
- ‘Scrooge was the ogre of the family’ (Mrs C)= stupid and immense evil
- Fred calls him a ‘comical old fellow’ = a joke? - Scrooge’s now viewed positively
24
Q
What quote in Stave 3 shows that Scrooge enjoys human company?
A
‘ they all played and so did Scrooge’
- embracing human interaction and having fun
- opening up his oyster shell after so long
- is capable of enjoying himself = less 3D
- but this only happens after he’s showing sympathy towards poor so is Dickens saying that sympathies towards others = happiness
25
What shows us Scrooge is afraid of the Ghost of Christmas yet to come?
- ‘Scrooge feared the silent shape so much his legs trembled beneath him’ - trembled = overwhelmed so can’t help his body displaying it
- ‘I fear you more than any Spectre I have ever seen’ - most
- frequently questions ghost - anxiety
26
How is Scrooge presented as unloved?
- ‘ likely to be a very cheap funeral’ ... ‘I don’t know of anybody to go to it’ = Marley’s was cheap due to Scrooge but his was cheap as no one came
- ‘I don’t mind going If a lunch is provided ‘ = conjunction if = transactional care not genuine
- ‘old scratch’ called by a person = name for devil and 2nd person acknowledge is and then say ‘cold isn’t it’ = his death trivial and unimportant matter
27
What shows Scrooge is affected by the thieves in Stave 4?
‘Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror’
| - he had this same attitude before but then changes so shows him as changed
28
What shows us that Scrooge is naive in Stave 4?
- ‘the case of this unhappy man might be my own’ = modal verb might shows that it could be his own = aware his life is following the trajectory but naive as he doesn’t think of it as him = lesson not warning
- ‘the house is yonder’ ‘why do you point away from it’ = hadn’t clocked on still as the ghost points to a graveyard
29
What shows that Scrooge wants to change in Act 4?
- ‘I will honour Christmas in my heart’
- anaphora of I will = total certainty
- wants people to care about him
- ‘are there the shadows of things of will be or are they shadows of things that May be only’ = shows that he wants to change
30
What shows that Scrooge is happy at the start of Stave 5?
‘ I will live in the Past, present and the future’
‘ I say it on my knees, old Jacob; on my knees!’ - ! = happy
- overjoyed as he recognises he has an opportunity
‘As light as a feather, as happy as an angel and I am as merry as a school boy’ = connotations of joy and extreme examples of qualities
31
What action shows Scrooge as transformed?
‘ the prize turkey... go and buy it... come back with the man and I’ll give u a shilling. Come back with him in less than 5 minutes, and I’ll give u half a crown?’
- generous - ‘prize’ = the best food he can and he is offering to pay &repetition of ‘I’ll give u’ shows he’s willing to part with his money
32
What shows us Scrooge has become more generous with his money in Stave 5?
‘ a great many back payments are included in it, I assure you’
- offers to donate to charity = vast sum
- contrasts with the charity representatives in Stave 1
33
What shows Scrooge as act of giving is equal to having fun in Stave 5?
‘The chuckle,, and the chuckle...and the chuckle... and the chuckle.. by the chuckle... and chuckled till he cried’
- 6 times in one line
- how Scrooge feels about the boy when he delivered the turkey
- easy going, light hearted and pleased with life
34
What shows Scrooge enjoys Fred’s party in Stave 5?
- ‘wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful animists, won-dear-ful happiness’ at Fred’s party
- opposite to ‘bah humbug’
35
What shows Srooge’s relationship improvising after the Spirits visit?
- ‘ Now I’ll tell you what my friend’ = to Bob (tries to prank him = lighthearted) and my friend = fondness and change shows he’s more caring, and friendly
- ‘he was at home in 5 minutes’ = how comfortable Scrooge is at Freds and is opening up to him
- opposite to him being ‘cold’ and ‘as solitary as an oyster’
36
What quote at the end of Stave 5 shows Scrooge’s major transformation?
- ‘Scrooge was better than his word, he did it all and infinitely more and to tiny Tim he was a second father’ - Infinitely = incredibly generous and caring and kind - miserliness is inverted
- ‘He became as good as friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew’ = his transformation is complete and permanent
37
What shows Scrooge kept to his promise in Stave 5?
‘ it was always said that he knew how to keep Christmas well’
38
Who is Jacob Marley?
- Scrooge’s dead business partner and warns Scrooge about the spirits and what happens in the rest of the story
- symbol of a generic Victorian Everyman capitalist and a glimpse into Scrooge’s potential future
39
What shows that Marley wasn’t loved?
‘Scrooge was his sole friend and his sole mourner’
- sole = unloved
‘Even Scrooge was not to dreadfully cut up’
40
What shows that Marley is notoriously unkind?
‘Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley has no bowels but he had never believed it until now’
- bowels = deep feelings such as sympathy
- so merciless
41
What shows that Marley is eternally punished in hell?
‘There was something very awful, too, in the spectres being provided with an internal atmosphere of its own’
- infernal = hell and is eternally punished
42
What showed that Marley has committed a lot of sins in his life?
‘The chain he drew was clasped about his middle’
‘Chain was long and wound about him’ - long = lots of sins, wound = unable to get out
‘Made of cash boxes, keys, padlocks, deeds and heavy
- ‘I wear the chain I forged in life’ and ‘own free will’ = he is admitted to be greedy and should be punished
43
What shows Marley is regretful?
‘Mankind was my business’
- Marley is regretful and is ‘ringing his hands’ = uneasy and discomfort
- ‘the dealings of my trade were but a drop of water’ = emotions are more Important
- ‘why did I walk through crowds of fellow beings with my eyes turned down?’ = questions his behaviour
44
What is the ghost of Christmas past?
- a vehicle for delivering Scrooge’s back story
- a symbol of light (purity and goodness and wisdom) and a metaphor for human potential
- similarity with Jesus Christ (son?) = child that is a timeless entity and shows moralistic lessons
45
What were the contradictions in the Ghost of Christmas past ?
‘The arms re long and muscular’
| ‘Leg and feet most delicately formed’ = contrasting details in Spirit’ appearance
46
What shows the ghost of past is omniscient?
‘The ghost stopped at a certain warehouse door’
- a= many warehouses but spirit takes him to an important place = omniscient = supernatural qualities
-
47
What shows the ghost of past as teacher like?
- ‘ A small matter to make these silly folks so full of gratitude’ = moralistic, didactic
- ‘ghost pinioned him’ = forced him to listen and restrained him and shows Scrooge as defenceless
48
What is the ghost of Christmas present?
- ‘a jolly giant’
- Victorian version of father Christmas and has the same imagery as that (tan and green), dies when Christmas goes
- this may be ‘the father’ = powerful and can go wherever he wants
- all knowing - knows about Tiny Tim and cares about people (ignorance and want and cheers/ sprinkles onto food of poor)
49
What shows the ghost of present is jolly?
‘Come in!’ Explained the ghost. ‘Come in and know me better man!’
- jolly and warm/friendly way
50
What does the Ghost of Christmas present’s appearance tell us about it?
‘Deep green robe’ = Father Christmas
- ‘genial face”, ‘cheery voice’, ‘joyful air’ = semantic field of Merry language
- unconstrained demeanour = contrasts with Marley (good spirits = freedom)
- ‘ancient rusted scabbard ‘ is empty = peaceful entity
51
What shows that the spirit of the present is generous?
- ‘He sprinkled incense on their dinners from his torch’ = generous
- ‘to a poor one most’ = shows its understanding of plights of poor
52
What shows the present spirit can turn nasty?
- ‘If he be like to die he had better do it and decrease the surplus population’ = highlights Scrooge’s negative morals
- ‘you are more worthless and less fit to live’ = tries to teach Scrooge a lesson by showing his money doesn’t have any worth
53
What is the ghost of Christmas yet to come?
A ‘solemn phantom’
- allows Dickens to convey his idea about capitalism and greed
- symbol of the Grim reaper or the ‘holy ghost’ (responsible for brining Jesus back to life - brings back Scrooge?)
- future version of Scrooge?
54
How is the future spirit presented in terms of appearance?
‘ shrouded in a deep black garment’ or ‘concealed’ or ‘only one outstretched hand visible’= mysterious
- future is unknowable/dark
- ‘like almost along the ground’ = sinister and eerie
55
What shows the future spirit as didactic?
- ‘ the spirit answered not but pointed towards with its hand’
- ‘it’s finger pointed’
- ‘hand was pointed to them’
- frequent pointing has a didactic purpose
56
What is the future ghost called?
‘Spectre’ - only used for Marley and future = ominous and eerie
‘Spirit’
‘Phantom’- particularly sinister
57
What shows that the future spirit is future Scrooge?
‘ for the first time the hand appeared to shake’
- spirit begins to weaken in power just as Scrooge vocally demonstrates he learns his lesson so not all powerful
- kindness beats the ‘spectre’
- ‘the kind hand trembles’ = it has good intentions and power wanes
- Scrooge is nicer = spirits future is less possible or less possible that Scrooge’s future version doesn’t occur
58
Who are the Crachits?
- poor family, unnamed wife and disabled Tiny Tim (6 children overall’) and Bob works for Scrooge
- Dickens humanises the poor and demonises poverty
- symbol of the working class at large (increase sympathy) and possible family inspiration
59
How is Bob crachit described as pitiable?
- ‘The clerk tried to warm himself at the candle’ = sympathy and a meek character
- ‘the clerk smiled faintly’ /‘clerk observed’= Bob had no dialogue in this Stave
60
What shows Tiny Tim as a generous and kind child who follows Christian Values?
- ‘Alas for Tiny Tim bore a little crutch’ = symbol of poverty and may be rickets (are treatable but fatal if left untreated)
- ‘he was a cripple and it might be pleasant to them’ = pure and reiterates Christian values
- ‘god bless us every one’ = kind and generous
61
What shows the Crachits as poor and impoverished?
‘Dressed out out poorly in a twice turned gown’
- extremely poor and impoverished
Peter is in a ‘monstrous shit collar’ = has to wear father’s hand me down
‘Thread bare clothes’
Cheapness was a ‘Themes of universal administration’
62
What shows that the Crachits are resourceful?
‘Eked out by the apple sauce and mashed potatoes’ = eked out = stretched it out (resourceful)
‘But brave in ribbons’
‘ contented with time’
63
What shows the Crachits as loving?
‘mrs crachit made the grace, master Peter mashed the potatoes, miss Belinda sweetened up the apple sauce, Martha dusted the hot plates ‘ = sound like a team and cooperative
‘Kissing her a dozen times’ = MrsC kisses daughter
‘Quiet . Very quiet.’ (When tiny Tim has died = somber mood)
‘My little little child.’ = breaks down and strength of love is very strong
64
What shows Mr and Mrs C clashing?
‘Mr Scrooge!’ = ‘founder of the feast’ (Mr C) = grateful to be employed
‘I’d give him a piece of my mind to feast on!’(Mrs C) = doesn’t want to celebrate Scrooge - can seen the injustice and can’t just accept it = humanising them
65
What shows the Crachits as wanting to escape poverty?
‘Peter will be keeping company with someone and setting up for himself’
‘ Get along with you!’ Retorted Peter grinning. (He likes the idea of it)
‘It’s just as likely as not’ said Bob
- all think they can achieve to have a better life
- Stave 5 = ‘Bob has a monetary idea of knocking Scrooge down’ = shocked with disbelief
66
What visibly shows Scrooge as humanising the poor?
‘The clerk’ - S1
| ‘Bob crachit’ - S3 (seen as more human by Scrooge after this)
67
Who are in Scrooge’s family?
- Fred (nephew) and niece
- dead sister (Fan)
- presumably deceased father
- Dickens spent time away from his family due to his father which is similar to Scrooge
68
What shows Fred as warm and cheerful?
- Stave 1 - ‘ a merry Christmas uncle ! God save you!’ (! = excited)
- Stave 4- ‘pleasantest spoken gentlemen you ever heard’ by Bob Crachit
- ‘Fred will get Peter a better situation’ = act of kindness
69
What shows Fred is warm and opposite to Scrooge?
- ‘This nephew of Scrooge’s that he was all in a glow’/‘ ruddy’ = heated
- ‘external heat and cold had little influence on him’ = cold
- opposite and FOIL to Scrooge
- ‘to know a man more blast in a laugh than Scrooge’s nephew’ = hearty laugh and +be
- Scrooge is ‘out of practise’ of laughing = -ve
70
What is Fan described as loving?
‘A little girl’, ‘came darting in’ = excited
‘Putting her arms about his neck’, ‘often kissing him’ = affectionate
‘ dear, dear brother’ = adores him immensely
‘Drag him, in her childish eagerness’ = pure and complete love for her brother
71
What is Scrooge’s father depicted as?
‘Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like Heaven!”’
- so much = Impossible to compare their home to heaven as he wasn’t kind at all
- tyrannical, or loving or cruel father = may explain Scrooge’s behaviour
72
What shows that Fred’s family cares about Scrooge?
‘ it’s your Uncle Scrooooge!’
| - guest is laughing = make fun of the miser but Fred toasts him = natural family
73
What are ignorance and want?
- feral children which evoke an emotional response in Scrooge
- represent social injustice and their associated evils
74
What shows ignorance and want as unusual?
‘I see something strange and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw’ = strange and bestial
75
What shows Ignorance and want as pitiable?
‘Wretched, abject, frightful, Hideous, miserable’ = pitiable
‘Clung upon the outside of its garment’ = present - maybe be a big problem in the present time
76
How are ignorance and want described?
‘Yellow and meagre’ = ghastly and sub human
‘Devils lurked’ = represent modern evil
‘Had monsters half so horrible and dread’= hyperbolic language reinforces the idea of them being deformed by social injustice
77
What do the names of Ignorance and want show?
‘ boy is Ignorace’ = less education so disadvantaged as ignorant so can’t escape poverty
‘The girl is want’ = social inequalities = poverty as they didn’t have enough money or rights
‘On his brow I see that is written which is Doom’= hyperbolic and shows that no correcting social inequality = can’t escape impoverished live
78
Why were the Victorians interested in supernatural?
- literature, pop culture and scientific developments
- e.g mesmerism
- periodical public issues and religious pushback as faith in church strengthened
- scientific developments = telegram and telephone or ouija boards or gas lamps (carbon monoxide can cause hallucinations)
- economic changes = people became servant to rich people in large dark big houses (servants had secret passages to pop up from nowhere)
- lot of death
79
What quote foregrounds the importance of the supernatural?
‘Marley was dead:to begin with’
| - 1st sentence shows that his tale will relate to the supernatural and would hook more readers
80
What quote shows the first supernatural occurrence?
‘Not a knocker but Marley’s face’
| - 1st supernatural occurrence = explicit imagery of supernatural
81
How is Marley’s ghost shown as something to fear?
‘There was something very awful too in the spectre’s being provided with an infernal atmosphere of its own’
- very awful = to fear and intensifier ‘fear’
- may link to contemporary belief of purgatory
82
How is Marley’s ghost being didactic?
‘Without their visits’ ‘you cannot hope to shun the path I tread’ = moralistic/ heuristic and the ghost are trying to teach Scrooge a lesson
- links to mediums and séances as supernatural would pass a message to the living
83
What shows the supernatural as confusing for the living?
‘It was a strange figure like a child: yet so like a child as like an old man’
- supernatural is confusing and be young human understand as lots of contradiction as nothing makes sense
- can’t fathom anything as religious understanding of the world was gone due to scientific discoveries
84
What shows the supernatural as welcoming?
‘Come in! come in and know me better man!’
- positive aspect so not necessarily something to fear
- comfort and they could speak with their lost loved ones
85
What shows that supernatural can be horrible and disgusting?
Ignorance and want ‘glared out menacingly’ and are ‘horrible and dread monsters’
- but they represent humanity so Dickens uses supernatural to talk about societal issues
86
What shows the supernatural as uncontrollable and mysterious?
‘The spirit answered not but pointed onward with its hand’
- more powerful that people are
- mysterious as they don’t communicate in a natural way
- ghosts always communicated through a medium
87
What was the significance of family in the Victorian Era?
- royal family was a role model and they had a large family
- home life was an escape from the Industrial revolution and more children = more money as well as emotional comfort
- fixed gender roles (father is stern and distant from children and mothers should be good wives and be more involved in children’s loves)
- families played music and sung with each other
88
What shows Scrooge thinks of family as a financial asset?
‘I want nothing from you I ask you why cannot we be friends?’
‘ a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket’ = Scrooge only thinks of family as a financial value
89
What shows family beings pain?
‘Scrooge looked at the ghost and with a mournful shaking of his head, glanced anxiously at the door’
- In stave 2 when he sees Fan = sad ab her death
- family = pain as well as joy so may explain why Scrooge rejects family
90
What shows the role of an upper class Victorian father?
‘Father is so much kinder’
- upper class fathers in Victorian time were distant and formal and stayed out of their way of their children
- Scrooge’s dad may have been normal for the time
‘I’m not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home’ = absence from family may show why he doesn’t understand family
91
What shows that family is important through Scrooge’s regret?
Stave 2 - ‘might have called him father’ and she would have been ‘a spring time in the haggard winter of his life’ = source of joy and vitality in old age
‘His sight grows very dim indeed’ = sad and aware this imagined reality will never come true
92
How did Dickens show that a strong family could trump poverty?
- stave 3 - There was nothing of high mark in this. They were not a handsome family‘ = not high quality and not rich people
- but they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another and contented with the time’ = live satisfactory life as they had each other
- may increase sympathy for the working class so middle and upper class man could relate to it more
93
What shows Fred’s family as typical and good?
‘ after tea, they had some music’ = shows them as a typical common Victorian family = may celebrate all middle and upper and middle class families (if characters are praised and are like you, you will feel flattered so may go along with the message of the story)
94
How does Dickens de-romanticise families?
‘My little, little child!’
‘My little child’
- may use this to show the hardships of working class life where it’s common to lose children and siblings and relatives due to siblings and work based accidents = shocking and may adapt socially conscious views
95
How does Dickens celebrate the family unit and the happiness that family can being?
‘ at home in 5 minutes’ Scrooge an easily slot into family life
Repetition of ‘wonderful’ shows the typical Victorian value
96
How does Dickens use family to show Scrooge’s redemption?
‘ and to Tiny Tim he was a second father’
| - good father = good Victorian as it completes his redemption and aligns with family values
97
What is the significance of Christmas in the Victorian times?
- Pagan wintertime = evergreen plants warded off evil spirits s
- affluent middle class could take off Christmas Day and Boxing Day = new traditions centred around family - Christmas tree being brought from Germany due to Prince Albert
- penny post = could send letters and cards at Christmas time
- turkey dinner was more popular and carols were revived
- small Christmas presents were given mostly to (rich) children but nor necessarily for working class
98
How does the title display the universality and Dickens message of social inequality?
‘a Christmas carol’
| - Christmas is important and carol is sung as church no matter the social class
99
What quotes show Victorian Christmas in a positive light?
‘ a merry christmas uncle! God save you! (Fred to Scrooge) - connects Christmas with family
‘ we’ re to be together all Christmas long and have the merriest time in all the world’ (fan to young Scrooge) - reinforces this connection and superlative merriest shows how wonderful it was
100
What shows Scrooge doesn’t like Christmas?
‘ every idiot who goes about with ‘merry Christmas’ on his lips should be bodied with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly though his heart’ = Scrooge doesn’t value Christmas or understand it
- we would not want to be like Scrooge and would want to embrace the positivity of Christmas
101
What shows Christmas is not as wonderful for the poor?
‘ would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day’ (Scrooge)
‘ to the poor one most because it needs it most’ (present)
- many of the working class families have to work on Christmas Day and worse celebrations shows them as less advantaged
- ‘most’ shows that they’re more unfortunate
102
What shows the difference in Christmas for different classes through food?
Crachits original dinner - ‘There was never such as goose’ and ‘eked out by the apple sauce and mashed potatoes’ = not much meat as ‘eked’ out and goose was eaten by the poor in north as they couldn’t afford turkey
After Scrooge was generous - ‘not the likely prize turkey: the big one?’ - but here his generosity emphasised by the type and quantity of meta he buys as turkey is expensive and only eaten by rich (costly to transport)
103
How does Dickens show the universality of the festive seasons?
Scrooge and present see people celebrating Christmas in
‘A bleak and desert moor’
‘ a solitary lighthouse’
‘The black and heaving sea’
- if it can bring joy to people living in these desolate and disparate locations then Christmas must be the most wonderful time of the year
104
How does Dickens use Christmas to show a difference in Scrooge at the end?
‘ wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity and won-def- ful happiness!’
- repetition of wonderful shows how once transformed, Scrooge can openly take part if all the activities and festivities of Christmas
105
What asyndetic listing show Fred as a good person?
- a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time
106
Why is Martha not protected from the law?
‘Many hours she worked’
| - set in 1843 and act of factory worker’s was made in 1847 so it would’ve not been protected by the law
107
What shows the views about women?
‘A good wife’ = obedient
108
What was the context of wealth and poverty in the Victorian times?
- Industrial revolution = triggered greater wealth disparity and class difference
- Middle and Upper class only amounted for 15% of population
- 1834 Poor law transformed how poor were treated in society but for the worse
- Thomas Malthus’s idea about population growth were prominent at time which Dickens was writing - supported parenting rights, disease and starvation and war to reduce population
- charities did exist but were not sufficient
109
What are the negative presentation of the wealthy using Scrooge?
‘Are there no prisons? And the union workhouses?’
‘If they would rather die... they had better do it and decrease the surplus population’
- supports 1834 Poor Law and Malthusian theory
- presented in a negative way = in humane and heartless
110
How does Dickens show that money can’t buy you happiness through Scrooge?
‘ what idol has replaced you’
‘ a golden one’
- mindless pursuit of wealth comes at cost of family and love
- idol = most important
111
What shows that wealthy were making lives of the poor more difficult through the spirit?
‘You would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day, often the only day on which they can be said o dine at all... wouldn’t you?’
- In Victorian Era bakers couldn’t bake of 7th day or Christmas Day but needed to keep ovens warm (would cook meat and pies for the poor = they can eat on Sundays)
- however, on Sunday = politician cause them to completely close due to religion= poor couldn’t use the ovens as they wouldn’t have a cooked dinner
112
What shows Charity still existed for the poor?
‘ at a festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge’
| ‘Slight provision for the poor and destitute who suffer greatly at this present time’
113
What shows Scrooge being good to the poor and generous?
‘Not the little prize Turkey: the if one?’
| - using fortune to help the plights of poverty
114
What shows poverty can lead to death?
‘I see a vacant seat.... the child will die’ = poverty is connected to death
115
What shows poverty can lead to criminals?
‘ Scrooge listening to this dialogue in horror. sat grouped about their spoil, their scanty light afforded by the old man’s light, he viewed them with a detestation and disgust’ = shows how wealthy view the poor and shows that poverty can lead to criminals - shows poverty can cause desperation
116
What shows the poor as resourceful?
Mrs Crachit -‘Dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown but brave in ribbons’
- hard work = opposite to how the rich view them
117
What shows the poor as grateful?
‘Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon’
- goose brought out in Crachit household in stave 3
- goose = for the poor
- immense poverty highlighted but they are excited and are glad (emotive response from reader)
- don’t moan about their poverty
118
What was generosity like in the Victorian era?
- charities were not formalised so dependent on support of wealthy individuals and not gov
- church housed charitable endeavours as generosity = Christianity
- charities had some links to education
- Charles Dickens was a notable Victorian philanthropist
119
What shows a small effort can make a big impact on the poor?
‘ small matter to make these silly folks so full of gratitude’ = Fezziwig only spent a bit of money but they’re happy
