Story Summary Flashcards
Stave 1
• Scrooge is a parsimonious (stingy) man who refuses to celebrate Christmas, or anything positive in life
• We see his interactions with Fred (his nephew) to which he shows his miserly traits. Fred is the antithesis (opposite) to Scrooge as he is positive and jovial
• Scrooge dismisses two gentlemen collecting money for charity because he believes the poor should be put in prison or the workhouses instead (place where the poor work in exploitative conditions place to stay -
• Scrooge returns home where he is visited by the first ghost - Marley (his ex-business partner)
• Marley is draped in chains, symbolising that eternal punishment, and tries to warn Scrooge that if he continues on this greedy and selfish trajectory he will end up the same as Marley
• Scrooge is terrified and petrified, he puts seeing Marley down to a “disorder of the stomach” (e.g. food poisoning). Marley tells him 3 other ghosts will come and visit him
Stave 2
• The Ghost of Christmas Past visits Scrooge and he looks like an old man and young man simultaneously.
• He is a bright light and wears a cap, and a white tunic (almost a white looking dress)
• The Ghost instantly brings him back to his hometown, to which we see an emotional reaction from Scrooge - this is the first time Scrooge is humanised in the novella (made to appear a like to a normal human)
• He shows Scrooge at boarding school, and being united with his younger sister Fanny to which it is revealed that she has formerly passed away.
• Scrooge is also taken back to a positive time where he was an apprentice for a man called Mr. Fezziwig. We see a jubilant young Scrooge who admires Mr. Fezziwig and see them all at a vivacious and flamboyant party hosted by Fezziwig.
• A more dark flashback from the past is shown by the Ghost - the end of Belle (Scrooge’s ex wife) and his marriage. She speaks about how Scrooge idolises money over love and was not the man she was once engaged to. This is a painful memory for Scrooge and he gets an “extinguisher cap” and puts it on the Ghost to try eradicate him.
Stave 3
• The 3rd Ghost to visit Scrooge appears- the Ghost ofChristmas Present
• The Ghost appears to look like a mix of Father Christmas and God. He is surrounded by Ivy and is sat on top of a pile of food. He represents abundance and is there to contrast Malthusian views (poverty is inevitable as there is not enough food supplies to go round)
• He is shown the joyous celebrations of Christmas as his nephew Fred’s house. We see them making jokes at Scrooge’s expense, yet Fred showing compassion for Scrooge and saying how he is not judgmental towards
• The Ghost next takes Scrooge to the scene of the Cratchits’. Despite their poverty, Bob and his family express a deep level of gratitude for the little they have. Bob even crowns Scrooge the “founder” of their meagre feast (despite being severely underpaid). We see the fragility of Tiny Tim and the Ghost alluding to his death.
• At the end of the stave, the Ghost shows Scrooge two animalistic looking children and names them ‘ignorance’ and ‘want’. These are symbols of the neglected lower classes because of the upper classes ignorance and exploitation. Scrooge is disturbed
Stave 4
• The last ghost, the most terrifying of them all, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
• The Ghost is draped in a dark black cloak and replicates the grim reaper (a person who typically brings people to their death). He is unalike to the other ghosts, he doesn’t speak, instead uses his hand and finger to point.
• He shows Scrooge at first some rich upper-class men talking about a funeral and speaking about this dead individual in economical terms. It is revealed they are speaking of Scrooge.
• Scrooge’s servant is shown to have taken his belongings, even the curtain of his death bed, to sell them to a man called Old Joe. This whole stave shows the carelessness of people towards Scrooge in his death - a harrowing realisation for Scrooge.
• We are taken back to the Cratchits’ home and they are all devastated by the death of Tiny Tim.
• The last scene Scrooge is shown is his neglected grave.
• He pleads the Ghost for a chance of redemption and salvation, and whether these events can be reversed if he alters his behaviour.
Stave 5
• Scrooge wakes up on Christmas Day and is overjoyed that he has been given a second chance at life. His movement is as “light as a feather” and he seems to have been born into a new man - regressing back into a jovial and magnanimous (generous) individual
• He sends a prize turkey to the Cratchits as a token of his gratitude for them, he then goes to spend the day with Fred’s family.
• The next day at work, he pretends to be his same miserable self to Bob, scrutinising for his lateness.
• Instead, he gives Bob a raise for his hard work and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim (who doesn’t die).
• Scrooge continues to be a charitable and magnanimous individual, embodying communal spirit.
