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Stave 2 - Key Quotes

Stave 2 - Key Quotes 'He spoke before the hour bell sounded, which it now did with a deep, dull hollow, melancholy ONE. Light flashed up in the room upon the instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn.' - Narrator 'It was a strange figure - like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white, as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, nd the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand: and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it ...
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Stave 2 - Plot Summary

Stave 2 - Plot Summary Scrooge wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike phantom with a brightly glowing head. The spirit escorts Scrooge on a journey into the past - to his previous Christmas. Scrooge sees 'shadows' of his past, so he cannot be seen by the people in the memories. He revisits two of his childhood Christmases: one where he is left alone at his school and one where his little sister, Fan, comes to take him home. He then sees a Christmas spent at his apprenticeship, with his employer: Fezziwig, his engagement to Belle, who leaves Scrooge due to his love for money makes him not be able to love another. Scrooge, upset at his role in these events, sheds tears of regret before the phantom returns him to bed.
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Plot - Settings - Themes - Characters - Techniques - Context

Plot - What happens in Stave 1? We are introduced to the protagonist  - Ebenezer Scrooge We are told about Scrooge's background and what his personality is like We see Bob Cratchit working for Scrooge in his cold office Fred comes to see his uncle - Scrooge - and invites him over for his Christmas party. Scrooge refuses Two portly gentlemen come to Scrooge and Marley's to ask Scrooge for some money for charity Scrooge goes home and thinks he sees his dead partner, Marley, in the door knocker The Ghost of Jacob Marley haunts Scrooge and tells him that, if he does not change his ways, he will be condemned to wear heavy chains and roam the Earth for all eternity Marley tells Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits Settings - Where does this part of the novel take place? London, England Scrooge and Marley's Scrooge's house Themes - What are the big ideas that Dickens is exploring/introducing in this section of the novel? Greed Poverty Hier...
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LITERARY DEVICE - Fred and Scrooge Character Foil

Fred and Scrooge Dickens inserted a character foil into A Christmas Carol to make Scrooge look extremely unpleasant in contrast with nicer characters. In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with the protagonist*  of the story, to highlight qualities of the other character. For example, by Fred being young, positive and selfless, Scrooge being old, negative and selfish is emphasised. Some other examples of character foils used in literature are: Lennie and George - Of Mice and Men Romeo and Mercutio - Romeo and Juliet Mary and Lydia - Pride and Prejudice Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Jekyll and Hyde Pip and Estella - Great Expectations (also written by Dickens) Dr. Frankenstein and his monster - Frankenstein  *The protagonist of a story is the (one of the) leading character(s). In A Christmas Carol, the protagonist would be Scrooge.
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EXAMPLE PARAGRAPH - How does Dickens present Scrooge?

How does Dickens present Scrooge? Dickens presents Scrooge as the typical high class man in the Victorian Era. This is shown when Scrooge says '"If they would rather die (...)  then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."' The word 'surplus'  shows that Scrooge thinks of the working class as unnecessary extras to the Capitalist society in the Britain at the time. This is written to reiterate how horrible the upper classes were to the lower classes at this time, and it shows how ideas like this made it difficult for the poor to survive during the Industrial Revolution.
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Stave 1 - Key Quotes

Stave 1 - Key Quotes 'Marley was dead, to begin with (...) Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.' - Narrator 'a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!' - Narrator 'Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire' - Narrator '"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried a cheerful voice. It was the Scrooge's nephew' - Narrator '"Bah!" said Scrooge. "Humbug!"' - Scrooge 'his face was ruddy and handsome' - Narrator '"What else can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas-time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books, and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If...
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Stave 1 - Plot Summary

Stave 1 - Plot Summary A miser, old Ebenezer Scrooge, sits in his office on a cold Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers because Scrooge refuses to spend money on coals for a fire. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party. Scrooge reacts with bitterness, spitting out an angry "Bah! Humbug!"  in response to his nephew's "Merry Christmas!" . Two portly gentlemen also drop by and ask Scrooge to donate some money to their charity to help the poor in the festive season. He refuses, and asks the gentlemen if the prisons or workouses are still open and, if so, that the poor should be sent there. Later that evening, after returning to his dark, cold house, Scrooge is visited by his old business partner, who died seven years ago that night: The Ghost of Jacob Marley. Marley's punishment for his greedy life is that his spirit is condemned to wander the Earth weighted down by heavy chains. Marley wish...
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