...“Bah, Humbug!” The classical story of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens drew us in and gave us many of the character types and themes that we have today. In this classical story, the reader follows the life of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as the ghosts try to cure Scrooge’s greedy nature. The modern story that uses the elements in A Christmas Carol is How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. In this modern work, the reader follows The Grinch, a crabby old creature who tries to steal the Who’s christmas spirit and happiness. A Christmas Carol has become such an influential work that modern authors still draw upon the character types, conflicts, and themes found in Dickens’ traditional story. Firstly, there are the character types that are shared between A Christmas Carol and The Grinch. Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present are at Fred’s Christmas party. Fred and his guests are talking about Scrooge. “‘I am sorry for him; I couldn’t be angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his ill...
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...A Christmas Carol has always been one a favorite Christmas story and movie. I admit I had never put much thought into all of the ways A Christmas Carol relates to disability. To briefly summarize the plot of the movie, Ebenezer Scrooge is a crotchety old man who goes on a journey with the three ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. The three ghosts are on a mission to open the eyes of Mr. Scrooge to the life he has made for himself. Ebenezer Scrooge has made a life of money being the utmost importance. He has shut out his family and those close to him. After the visits from the ghosts, Scrooge realizes he must make a change in his life and takes part in the Christmas festivities of his friends and family. One of the first things I noticed about how A Christmas Carol related to disability was the misrepresentation of disabilities. The movie seemed to portray anyone who was not of wealth to be disabled....
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...Charles went to live with a family friend Elizabeth Rylance. There Charles attended a private school for three years. In May 1827 Charles worked as a junior clerk for the law offices of Ellis and Blackmore. In 1832 at the age of 20 Charles submitted his first story A Dinner at Poplar Walk. As a young man Charles also mastered shorthand, and before long was employed as a Parliamentary reporter. In 1836 at the age of 25 he started working at Pickwick Papers. At Pickwick Papers he published many of his novels in monthly installment in the paper. The first of these installments were from the novel Oliver’s Twist, which would later be published in 1838. Some of Charles Dickens other novels include Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, A Christmas Story, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend. Charles Dickens first love was a woman by the name of Maria Beadnell, after Maria’s parents disapproved of their courtship Maria was sent away to school in Paris. On April 2, 1836 after a one year engagement Charles married Catherine Thomson Hogarth. Together Charles and Catherine would have 10 children and be together for 18 years. In 1857 however Charles would hire Ellen Ternan to star in one of his plays and fall madly in love with her. Although not a practice in that time Charles would divorce his wife Catherine to pursue his relationship with Ternan who was 27 year his junior. When Catherine left him she would take only...
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...A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Ebenezer Scrooge acts as the main character within this novel in which he is depicted as a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, old sinner as self-contained and as solitary as an oyster”. He is incapable of relationships. However, throughout his life of suffering he is guided by the Ghosts of Christmas past, Christmas Present and of Christmas future. A Christmas Carol is a celebration of Christmas and the good it inspires. Scrooge was a cold and old disgruntled man that saw no purpose in life, wouldn’t accept changes, and wished to be alone. The heaviest rain, snow, hail and sleet were just like any other days that had no effect on him. Nobody ever stopped him in the streets to greet him or even ask what time of the day it was. The only relationship he had was with his lifelong business partner Marley, who had been dead for seven years when the novel began. He despises the poor and hates any part of life that is in relation to happiness or spending money. Scrooge’s appearance has been made very “cold and bitter”. For example, “his thin lips blue”. Scrooge’s personality attitude towards the poor is horrible, for example, when the charity guys come into the room and asked Scrooge if he wishes to make a donation he replies no, this makes the readers dislike Scrooge and disagree with the points that he has to make like, “it is a good thing that the Union work houses are still in operation”. Scrooge is a cold-hearted...
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...“No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused.” This quote from in Charles Dickens’s novel, A Christmas Carol, is spoken by the ghost of Jacob Marley to Ebenezer Scrooge. In the scene, the spirit is trying to convince Scrooge to change his miserly ways before it is too late. Throughout the book, Dickens uses symbolism in the ghosts that visit Scrooge. After reading Thomas C. Foster’s book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I have also been able to recognize that the book might also be somewhat political. In Dickens’s book, the first ghost that visits Scrooge is his old business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, who was once like Scrooge, essentially begs him to become a better, less selfish person. Now, Marley’s character is full of symbolism. It is even stated in the book that the thick chains that weigh down his body are representative of the “chains he forged in life.” They represent his greed and his wrongdoings that keep his locked down. When his physical appearance is described, it even says...
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...‘A Christmas Carol’ covers a period of 24 hours from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. It is a simple morality tale of the radical change in the character Ebenezer Scrooge from being bitter, iron fisted and miserable to becoming a new, openhearted and charitable man. The novel was first published in 1843, a time when many of the wealthy people neglected the old Christmas spirit of charity. In addition, the Industrial Revolution had further done away with the simple pleasures of the season. Dickens’ intentions in writing ‘A Christmas Carol’ were not only linked to his own childhood and sympathy for the poor, but he was also making an appeal to the rich people of society to mend their selfish ways. Dickens is able to show the change in Scrooge’s character by establishing what Scrooge is like at the very beginning of the story with the first two words he says: ‘“Bah! Humbug!’’ ’It is clear from the dismissive tone and the two exclamation marks that Scrooge has no patience with the idea of Christmas as a special time. At the start of the novel, Dickens is using Scrooge, someone who associates happiness with nothing but money, as a classic example of a wealthy person in the 19th Century. He does this with Scrooge inquiring of his nephew ‘“What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”’ Scrooge’s manor in saying this reveals certain elements of his character such as his shallowness and uncaring nature. In Scrooge saying this it demonstrates to the reader that Scrooge does...
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...well defined so as to construct scenes of frost covered brick alleyways in London, England, around Christmastime. The plot, which many are extremely well acquainted with, follows the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who not only neglected to celebrate Christmas himself, but also expressed spitefulness to those who could not pay off investments. Ignoring his worker’s, Bob Cratchit, ill young child and poor family, more poverty across and beyond the city, and those who needed consolation, Scrooge was visited by the ghost of his late working partner, Jacob Marley, seven years to the day after his death, falling on Christmas Eve, and told to mend his ways, so as to avoid a miserable fate like his. Scrooge was consecutively visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, (specifically of Scrooge’s), the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future, where he saw how he had once had happiness, and of how there was much suffering in the world. This corresponds to the theme of the book, which is of how a moral transformation can occur when one sees others in need, or reflects on his wrongdoings in life with repentance. This internal drive to change for the better was demonstrated when Scrooge observed Bob Cratchit’s house with the Ghost of Christmas Present; at first, he commented on Cratchit’s slovenly behaviors and inefficiency, but after he regarded an ordeal with his family, he saw the tension he had caused them, and felt remorse. Second, the setting to the novel was also of surprising...
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...A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Stave by stave Before you read the book … 1. Find out ten interesting facts about Charles Dickens. 2. Find out what these words / writing techniques mean: Allegory Novella Time travel narrative Gothic elements When you have read Stave 1, complete the following activities. 1. Complete a similar table, describing Ebenezer Scrooge and his nephew Fred, using words from the opening Stave. Scrooge Tight-fisted Cheerful Covetous old sinner 2. Fred Glowing Find evidence from the text that supports the following points relating to Jacob Marley, Marley’s Ghost: The effect the chains have on Scrooge and the reader The words he uses to appeal to Scrooge The torment that Marley is experiencing. When you have read Stave 2, complete the following questions. Comprehension style questions: 1. Why is the Ghost of Christmas Present described as both a child and an old man? 2. How does Dickens use this Ghost to reflect Scrooge’s childhood and his memories associated with this time in his life? 3. How is this Ghost dressed and does it symbolise anything? 4. Why is the Ghost also a source of light and what does light symbolise? 5. How does the Ghost communicate with Scrooge? 6. How do we learn about his childhood and his sister, Fan? © www.teachit.co.uk 2014 23383 Page 1 of 3 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Stave by stave 7. What are his first...
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...At the beginning of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is mean, ill tempered, truculent. He’s mean because in the story Cratchit burst into applause. Scrooge’s response to this is “Another sound out of you, and you’ll keep your Christmas by losing your position.”(4) He’s ill tempered because in the story there are few kids singing God Rest Ye merry gentlemen. Scrooge’s response will seizing a ruler to this is “ get away from here , you! I didn’t ask to be bothered with that.”(6) He’s truculent because Fred his nephew said i fell in love. After that Scrooge repeated said “good afternoon.”(4) Scrooge changes from these traits through experience with the ghosts of the Past, Present, and Future. First the ghost of Christmas Past visits Scrooge...
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...“ Scrooge and Marley A Christmas Carol.” Change is a new feeling or behavior that a character or person doesn’t normally have, any person or character has the ability to change. In the text “ Scrooge and Marley a Christmas Carol,” the character Scrooge proved to people and ghosts that anyone one can change. Scrooge’s character transform in the text by becoming thankful, understanding, and cautious. To start off, the ghost known as “ The Ghost of Christmas Past” begins to show Scrooge more of his past that Scrooge has never thought back about. In the text the Ghost of Christmas past started off by showing Scrooge his past about his sister. Scrooge’s sisters name was Fan, now Fan was described a pure spirit due to all her kindness spreaded toward...
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...How does Dickens use language and Imagery to show that Scrooge's desire for wealth has affected his character and Behaviour and that of the people around him? 'A Christmas Carol' written in 1843. It was the first of five short Christmas books written and published by Charles Dickens. 'A Christmas Carol' was the most successful novel in the series. Soon after its publication, all of the copies were sold. Since its publication, the story has been sold in a variety of forms. 'A Christmas Carol' has been adapted for stage, radio, movies and television; however, the book remains the most popular telling of the tale. The book 'A Christmas Carol' is not simply a book about Christmas. Charles Dickens used the theme where people are sensitive to philanthropy- (loving your fellow man) and generosity so it had universal appeal. Charles Dickens wrote the novel because he wanted to publicise the plight that the poor suffered; the story bore extreme relevance in it's time and he embodied his philosophy that we should love our fellow man in his work. This is very poignant in a Christmas Carol as Scrooge adapts into a character who learns that he can still love his fellow man. This concept is summed up in the book when it says that 'if a man's spirit does not walk around the earth in life it is condemned to do so in death. 'Belle breaks their arrangement, one which was made when he was a poor man because 'Another idol has displaced me'. She thinks she is no longer as important to Scrooge as...
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...story, A Christmas Carol is about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from his cruel attitude towards Christmas and people. This story shows the reader that if you give to someone, they will give back to you. In the story, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is miserly and hogs his riches. He does not like to partake in any parties or celebrate any holiday of any kind with his family and friends. After his visit with two spirits who show him some mistakes he made years back that led him to these feelings, he realizes that if he did not alter his mistakes and attitude, it would lead to sorrow and multiple deaths. Because of the spirits he then grew more attentive to the people around him and the days that they spend working for their family. This shows that the spirits improved his awareness. I think it helped out scrooge big time. Before scrooge’s hauntings, he was upset. While scrooge has his visit with the ghost of Christmas...
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...In the novel, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is a rude, grumpy, mean old man. He thinks Christmas is a humbug and he doesn’t want to get in the Christmas spirit because he treasures his money and doesn’t want to spend one bit of it. Scrooge will be visited by three spirits throughout the book. The spirits will try to teach him a lesson and that he needs to change his ways before it is too late. In A Christmas Carol, the author Charles Dickens, shows that one’s business in life is helping others and being charitable through Scrooge’s experiences with the three ghosts. In Stave I, Scrooge thinks the definition of man’s “business” is money. This impacted Scrooge because he has become greedy and uncharitable. Scrooge does not care about...
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...the story “A Christmas Carol” there is a very apparent change in the main character Ebenezer Scrooge. He in some ways could be described as changing into a whole new, unrecognizable man. He is very cold hearted, hateful, greedy, and had no appreciation for Christmas at all when our story first starts. But after meeting three ghosts face to face, and getting a look at what could be, things really change him. ``Bah!'' and “Humbug!'' Were two very common words to hear coming from Ebenezer Scrooge at Christmas time. At the start of the story we see a man who is very greedy, and has a hate for Christmas and all who love it. We see Scrooge very rudely turn his nephew away, along with a man who wanted money. He even goes...
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...A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, is not only a highly regarded form of literature in telling a story, but also in teaching moral values. Dickens used detailed adjectives and a rhythmic style of writing in many of his stories to make his readers feel a full range of intense emotions; this including A Christmas Carol. The story begins with Ebenezer Scrooge sitting in his workplace on Christmas Eve. Scrooge receives a visit from the ghost of his old work partner, Jacob Marley. Marley explains that Scrooge will receive a ghost for the next three nights in order to help change his miserable life. From this point, the reader ignites a journey following Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas. A common denominator found in all of Scrooge’s...
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