Study Guide

Staves 1-5

Stave 1

Marley’s Ghost

1. Who is Jacob Marley? What must be understood about Marley from the beginning of the story? When did he die?

(p.1)

• Jacob Marley was Scrooge’s partner.

• It must be understood that Jacob Marley is dead.

• He died 7 years ago on Christmas Eve.

2. What is the point of view for this story? (Be careful! It is not what you might think at first.)

• Omniscient – There is an all knowing narrator who tells the story.

3. Describe Scrooge’s personality. (p.2-3)

Scrooge is:

• Tight-fisted

• Hard

• Secret

• Self-contained

• Cold-hearted

4. How does Scrooge use his money? Does he use the money to make himself comfortable? (p.3)

• Scrooge uses his money for his most minimal needs.

• He eats gruel for supper, keeps a small fire so he doesn’t even make himself comfortable with his money.

5. Describe the difficult working conditions that Scrooge’s clerk must endure. Bob Cratchit must endure: (p.4)

Bob Cratchit must endure

• cold in the office,

• low pay,

• long hours and

• a nasty boss.

6. Explain how Scrooge responds to each of the following:A) His Nephew’s Invitation (6-7)B) The gentlemen’s request for money for the poor: (9-10C) The boy who sings a carol through the keyhole (12)

• A) Scrooge replies, “Bah! Humbug!” to his nephew’s invitation and questions what the point of the celebration was.

• B) He refuses the gentlemen’s request. He goes on to say, “Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons? … The poor should go there….If they refuse then they should die and decrease the surplus population.”

• C) He threatens to hit the boy with a ruler

7. When Scrooge reaches his house, what does he see in the door knocker? (p.14)

• Jacob Marley’s ghostly face appeared in the knocker.

8. How does Scrooge react to what he sees? (p.15)

• Scrooge is amazed and frightened, but dismisses the mirage. None the less, he goes around the house checking that he is alone.

9. How does Marley convince Scrooge he is real? (p.21)

Marley:

• Stands up

• Shakes his chains

• shouts

10. Explain why the Ghost must “travel far and wide,” and how Marley got his chain. (p.21)

• The ghost must travel he never looked beyond himself in life. Now he is forced to watch what he has missed out on.

• He built his own chain out of the sins or mistakes that he made in his life. Each mean or bad thing that he did created a link.

11. Marley tells Scrooge, “The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business.” What does Marley mean his true “business” ought to have been (p.23-24)

Marley’s true business ought to have been

• “mankind, • common welfare, • charity, • mercy, • forbearance, • benevolence.”

12. Marley tells Scrooge he has a “chance and hope” of escaping Marley’s fate. What is this chance? Whom does he tell Scrooge to expect next? (p.24-25)

• He is warning Scrooge to change his ways or end up as Marley did.

• He tells Scrooge to expect three more spectors.

13. When does Marley say each spirit would arrive? (p.25)

• The first will arrive tomorrow when the bell tolls 1.

• The second will arrive the next night at the same hour.

• The third will come the next night when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate.

Stave 2

The First of the

Three Spirits

1. According to the nearby church chimes and his own watch, what time is it when Scrooge wakes up? Tell why he finds it hard to believe this is the correct time. (p.29)

• It is midnight. It was after 2:00 A.M. when he went to bed.

2. Who are Ali Baba, Robinson Crusoe, and Friday? (p.37)

• They are all literary characters. These are characters from books that Scrooge imagines comes to have adventures with him. He considers them his friends.

3. Each of the five scenes Scrooge sees again in Stave Two makes him regret something that he failed to do. Identify and describe each of the five regrets.

4. Why does Scrooge’s fiancée, Belle, release him from their engagement? (p.47)

• She feels he has changed and now loves wealth and gain more than he loves her. She believes if Scrooge married her, he would regret the marriage.

• She releases Scrooge for the person he once was.

Stave 3

The Second of the Three Spirits

1. What makes Scrooge realize that the second of the three Spirits has arrived? (p.56)

• Scrooge sees the light coming in from the next room. He realizes this is from the second spirit.

2. Describe the physical characteristics of the Gost of Christmas Present. What does he carry in his hand? For which class of people does he have the most sympathy? (p.58)

• The Ghost is a giant, he has sparkling eyes, a jovial face, and dark brown curly hair. He wears a loose-fitting green robe.

• He is holding a torch that spreads happiness and joy.

• He holds the most sympathy for the poorer people

3. Describe the Cratchit family. (p. 65-66)

• The Cratchit family is extremely poor

• They are wearing twice-turned gowns

• Have a very small meal

• Youngest child is sick and weak

• The family helps one another.

• They seem happy together and thankful with what they do have.

4. Foreshadowing is a hint or a clue an author gives to suggest something that may happen later in the story. What might Dickens be foreshadowing in this passage: “Bob’s voice…trembled more when he said that Tiny Tim is growing strong and hearty”? (p.67)

• Dickens is foreshadowing Tiny Tim’s continued illness and at this point his certain death.

5. The Spirit reveals that Tiny Tim will die “[i]f these shadows remain unaltered by the Future.” Why is Scrooge “overcome with penitence and grief” ? (p.71)

• Because the Ghost repeats to him his own words about letting the poor die in order to “decrease the surplus population.”

• Scrooge’s generalization about the poor is now given a specific name and a face in Tiny Tim Cratchit.

6. According to Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, who always suffers from Scrooge’s “ill whims”? (p.49)

• Fred says that Scrooge’s offenses “carry their own punishment.”

• Fred feels sorry for Scrooge, believing that Scrooge is hurting no one but himself, because he deprives himself any joy in life.

7. What are the two children’s names? (p.86)

• Boy = Ignorance

• Girl = Want (Poverty)

8. Personification gives human form to abstractions. How does Dickens personify ignorance and want (poverty) in Stave Three? Why do you think he chooses to personify these abstractions as he does? (p.86-87)

• Dickens personifies Ignorance as a young boy and Want as a young girl who hide beneath the spirit’s robes.

• They are “Man’s children” or conditions for which humans bear responsibility.

• Dickens is also criticizing the self-serving tendency to only pay attention to the poor only during the holidays while denying their plight during the rest of the year.

Stave 4

The Last of the Spirits

1. When the last of the Spirits appears, the narrator first refers to it as a “Phantom” instead of a ghost or spirit.

What effect does the use of this term have? (p.89)

• The term “phantom” implies a more fearful image than the term “spirit” or “ghost.”

2. The final Spirit take Scrooge into the streets of the city where Scrooge overhears businessmen discussing someone’s death. What is their general attitude toward this person’s death? (p.91-92)

• The first group of businessmen discussed the death casually and joked about the man’s money. Some would only attend the funeral if lunch was provided.

• Others share the news casually as if discussing the weather. The death was treated casually, without grief or mourning.

3. When Scrooge is in the presence of the corpse, why does the Spirit continually point to the corpse’s covered

head? (p.100-102)

• The Spirit wants Scrooge to pull back the sheet to reveal the identity of the corpse.

4. What does Scrooge finally discover in the churchyard? What assurance does he beg the Ghost to give him? What

resolution does Scrooge make? (p.110-111)

• He discovers that the dead businessman is himself.

• He begs the Ghost to tell him that his future can be changed.

• He resolved to honor Christmas in his heart everyday of the year.

5. Contrast the Cratchit family’s reaction to Tiny Tim’s death with the reactions others show to Scrooge’s death. Why does Dickens highlight these contrasting reactions?

• Tim’s death caused grief and sadness. • Scrooge’s death caused indifference

and jokes. • Dickens is underscoring the extent to

which Scrooge has alienated himself from the rest of humanity. Also highlighting the theme that people should help one another and be kind to others.

6. Why do you think Dickens never has the third Spirit speak? What effect does the Spirit’s silence have?

• Dickens may have wanted the third Spirit to seem forbidding.

• The future is changing and you make your own future. Scrooge needed to determine his own future

• Also, we can learn less from the future than the past or present; the future is silent.

Stave 5

The End of It

1. Why is Scrooge overcome with joy on Christmas morning? (p.115)

• Scrooge realizes that he now has time to make amends. He is a changed man.

2. What does Scrooge have sent to the Cratchit house? Why does he do it anonymously? (p.117-118)

• Scrooge sends the prize turkey to the Cratchit’s house.

• He does it anonymously because he didn’t want them to know that he had changed yet and wanted the Cratchit family to have the best celebration possible.

• He also didn’t want them to send it back.

3. Scrooge meets the “portly gentlemen” who visited his office in Stave One. In your own words, explain what

Scrooge tells this man. (p.120)

• Scrooge apologizes, tells the man that he will contribute a huge sum of money to the fund, and invites the man to visit him.

4. Tell how Scrooge is welcomed at his nephew’s house. (p.121)

• Scrooge’s nephew and niece are surprised but happy to see him.

• They played party games, were welcoming and were generally happy.

5. What does Scrooge do to make up for how he has treated Bob in the past? (p.121)

• He gives Bob a raise and vows to help his family.

6. Explain how Scrooge’s relationship with the Cratchit family changes. Tell what happens to Tiny Tim. (p.121)

• Scrooge becomes very close to the Cratchits almost like a grandfather.

• Tiny Tim lives.

7. How does Scrooge act differently the day after Christmas? (p.121)

• Scrooge pretends to act like he did at the beginning of the novel.

• He gives Bob a hard time for being late.

• Then, he reveals how much he has changed and that his behavior was a joke he was playing on Bob.

8. In Stave One, the atmosphere in Scrooge’s house is dark and gloomy. What is the atmosphere like in the house

in Stave Five?

• In Stave 5, the atmosphere in Scrooge’s house is light, airy, and happy.

• Scrooge laughs out-loud, runs around the house, listens in joy to the church bells, smells the fresh air, lets the sunlight come in, and dresses in his best clothes.

9. The theme of the story is the main message in the story. What is the theme of A Christmas Carol?

• “People can change their own lives and make the world a better place for others.

• Kindness is never wasted

• Mankind is everyone’s business.

• Selfishness leads to a lonely life.

• You should help others.

Important People ChartPerson/Character Why they are important to the story?

Scrooge A cold-hearted, cheap man. Changed dramatically by his experience. “Bah, Humbug!”

Bob Cratchit Clerk for Scrooge

Fred Scrooge’s nephew; Fan’s son

Jacob Marley Scrooge’s business partner in life; who helped Scrooge after his death.

Fezziwig Scrooge apprenticed for this man. He enjoyed life.

Fan Scrooge’s sister, who loved and cared about Scrooge, she was delicate and sweet

Tim Cratchit Bob’s son, famous for the line, “God bless us everyone!”

Victoria Queen of England when A Christmas Carol was written

Charles Dickens Wrote A Christmas Carol

Stave The chapter names of A Christmas Carol

Belle Scrooge’s fiancé