...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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...points) ‘Not a knocker...but Marley’s face’- this shows that there was a supernatural face of Jacob Marley on a plain old door knocker, we know it wasn’t a trick of the mind because it was a plain knocker and had no patterns to show a kind of face. ‘Knocker...but’ – the ellipsis builds up suspense and shows something might happen next. When the bell rings, it shows that it’s not normal for 1 bell to ring ever so softly it doesn’t make any noise and all of the sudden all 4 bells start to ring like crazy and all the bells in the house. The reader might something is going to happen after like paranormal behaviour in the house and they might sympathies for him because his old dickens uses a very good technique in this very chapter. ‘The cellar door flew open with a booming sound , and then he heard the noise much louder on the floors below, coming up the stairs, then coming straight towards his door.’- this sentence gets the reader attached to read more. Scrooge is in his house all alone and it is not normal for the door knob to be turning all by itself, then Marley flew in with lots of chains attached to him. Chains so long that they were still on the floor below while Marley was already upstairs. Spookiness= where is it built/hinted at? Why? What is the effect? How does it make us want to read on? * Scrooge = How does the reader grow to understand what scrooge is like? Where are the clues...
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...A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Preface to A Christmas Carol I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it. Their faithful Friend and Servant, C.D. December, 1843. Synopsis Ebenezer Scrooge has lost his only friend, his business partner Jacob Marley. Seven years have passed since Marley's Christmas death, and Scrooge has not changed a bit. He still refuses to give to the poor, suggesting that for them perhaps the only place better than prison is the grave. He still only grudgingly gives his employee Christmas day off, and he still refuses his nephew's offer of Christmas dinner. He dismisses the whole holiday as a "Humbug." But, on this particular Christmas, his dreary home will be visited by ghosts. First, Marley will arrive and, despite Scrooge's refusals, he promises that further spirits will arrive. Christmas Past will bring Scrooge on a tour of his unpleasant childhood, his fall from grace with his father, and the loss of a fiancée; but he will show the good times too, when, as the employee of Fezziweg, Scrooge learned what a joyous holiday Christmas could be. Christmas Present will show him the celebrations going on without him: the sentimental family celebration of the Cratchits and the more rollicking party thrown by his nephew Fred. But Christmas...
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...Analysis Essay for Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol "Greed, Ebenezer Scrooge, wealth. Feel them. Know them. Yours was as heavy as this I wear seven years ago, and you have labored to build it since," wailed Jacob Marley in Frederick Gaines's adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (396). Burdened by his greedy life, Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge's deceased business partner, is forced to wander the spirit world with no sense of peace. He warns Scrooge to change his selfish ways to avoid the same miserable fate. Marley's ominous warning sets in motion three life-altering journey through time for Scrooge with the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet To Come. Ebenezer Scrooge, originally a greedy and heartless character, changes drastically after his ghostly experiences influence him to become a generous and caring man by the end of the story. In Scene I of "A Christmas Carol", Scrooge is a bitter and self-centered man. For instance, Scrooge's own nephew, Fred, asked Scrooge if he would join Fred and his family for dinner. Scrooge coldly denied Fred's invitation by saying "Nephew, keep Christmas in your own way…"(390)....
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...The Christmas Carol is about a greedy man named Scrooge, who only cared about money, and always wanted to be alone. But he has changed into a better person. However, he has learned that if he continues to be greedy, and selfish, then his life, eventually would not end well. Scrooge has seen how his relatives celebrate Christmas, and how he has changed, and how that will affect him in the future from the three ghosts of past present and future. Scrooge and Past visit his past when Scrooge was young. On the way, they stop by young Scrooge with a woman. She was unhappy because she knew that Scrooge adored his money more than her. The woman knew “even if he became wiser, than he wouldn’t change towards her” (Dickens 765). She has thought of...
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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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...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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...the end, Scrooge is worthy of redemption. Discuss By the end of A Christmas Carol, the main protagonist, Scrooge, is worthy of redemption. For someone with such wealth, Scrooge was an unusually morose and unhappy character, particularly at Christmas. At the start, Scrooge was unhallowed and resolute in his views about Christmas, and would not be persuaded that it was a time for kindness and merriment. However as the novel progresses, Scrooge changes his ways and displays qualities of a good person. His benevolence, kindness and generosity make him worthy of redemption. Scrooge finally makes up for his mistakes and become more friendly and charitable. This is largely as a result of the four ghosts’ visitations and his experiences with them. His witnessing the past, present and future have impacted towards changing his personality. Scrooge’s visitations with the three ghosts changed the way he viewed people and taught him about kindness and respects. During Marley’s visit, Scrooge listens to all the hardships Marley endured while he was busy making money in unscrupulous ways. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. He tells Scrooge that he didn't learn until he became a ghost that charity and kindness were the important aspects of living, but by then it was too late. He informs Scrooge that three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future will visit him during each of the next three nights. Dickens uses the invention of Christmas Spirits to...
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...[pic] Гальперин И.Р. Стилистика английского языка Издательство: М.: Высшая школа, 1977 г. В учебнике рассматриваются общие проблемы стилистики, дается стилистическая квалификация английского словарного состава, описываются фонетические, лексические и лексико-фразеологические выразительные средства, рассматриваются синтаксические выразительные средства и проблемы лингвистической композиции отрезков высказывания, выходящие за пределы предложения. Одна глава посвящена выделению и классификации функциональных стилей. Книга содержит иллюстративный текстовой материал. Предназначается для студентов институтов и факультетов иностранных языков и филологических факультетов университетов. GALPERIN STYLISTICS SECOND EDITION, REVISED Допущено Министерством высшего и среднего специального образования СССР в качестве учебника для студентов институтов и факультетов иностранных языков |[pic] |MOSCOW | | |"HIGHER SCHOOL" | | |1977 | TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Предисловие к первому изданию……………………………………………………..6 Предисловие к второму изданию……………………………………………………..7 Part I. Introduction 1. General Notes on Style and Stylistics…………………………………………9 2. Expressive Means (EM) and Stylistic Devices (SD)………………………...25 3. General Notes on Functional Styles of Language……………………………32 4. Varieties of Language………………………………………………………..35 5. A Brief...
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