A Christmas Carol

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A Christmas Carol

• By Charles Dickens

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Ideas to Understand

• Workhouses
• Poor Laws
• The Treadmill

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Poor Laws The Treadmill
The Poor Laws The purpose was to reform the
poverty system. The reform was based on
principles which asserted that the population
increased faster than resources if not
controlled, minimum wage is needed to sustain
life of the worker, and people tend to do what is
pleasant so they will claim relief rather than
working.
The Treadmill kind of like today's stair master
Prisoners climbed steps along a rotating cylinder
designed to keep them mindlessly occupied and
wear them out physically. Outlawed in 1898.
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Workhouses

• workhouses - also known as the union, poorhouse,
  or simply "the house." Publicly supported
  institutions to which the sick, destitute, aged,
  and otherwise impoverished went for food and
  shelter. After the New Poor Law was passed in
  1834 the workhouse became little more than a
  prison for the poor. Civil liberties were denied,
  families were separated, and human dignity was
  destroyed. The meager diet instituted in the
  workhouse prompted Dickens to quip that the poor
  were offered the choice of "being starved by a
  gradual process in the house, or by a quick one
  out of it."

http//charlesdickenspage.com/glossary.html
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Who is Charles Dickens?
English novelist, generally considered the
greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens's works
are characterized by attacks on social evils,
injustice, and hypocrisy. He had also experienced
in his youth oppression, when he was forced to
end school in early teens and work in a factory.
Dickens's good, bad, and comic characters, such
as the cruel miser Scrooge, the aspiring novelist
David Copperfield, or the trusting and innocent
Mr. Pickwick, have fascinated generations of
readers. http//www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dickens.htm
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What is Victorian England Like?
The Setting of A Christmas Carol Victorian
England 1843

• www.logicmgmt.com/1876/intro.htm
• www.charlesdickenspage.com
• http//www.logicmgmt.com/1876/xmas/xmasintro.htm

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Holiday Fare in Victorian England

• Turkey Time - Turkeys had been brought to Britain
  from America hundreds of years before Victorian
  times. When Victoria first came to the throne
  however, both chicken and turkey were too
  expensive for most people to enjoy. In northern
  England roast beef was the traditional fayre for
  Christmas dinner while in London and the south,
  goose was favourite. Many poor people made do
  with rabbit. On the other hand, the Christmas Day
  menu for Queen Victoria and family in 1840
  included both beef and of course a royal roast
  swan or two. By the end of the century most
  people feasted on turkey for their Christmas
  dinner. The great journey to London started for
  the turkey sometime in October. Feet clad in
  fashionable but hardwearing leather the
  unsuspecting birds would have set out on the
  80-mile hike from the Norfolk farms. Arriving
  obviously a little tired and on the scrawny side
  they must have thought London hospitality
  unbeatable as they feasted and fattened on the
  last few weeks before Christmas!

• The Tree - Queen Victoria's German husband Prince
  Albert helped to make the Christmas tree as
  popular in Britain as they where in his native
  Germany, when he brought one to Windsor Castle in
  the 1840's ( Christmas Carol written in 1843)

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Preface

• 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.

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Stave 1 Marleys Ghost

• Questions to Consider
• What does Dickens emphasize at the beginning and
  why?
• Dickens describes Scrooge. What is Scrooge like?
• Reflect on Scrooges counting house. Would you
  want to work there?
• What day is it when the story begins?
• Who is Scrooges first visitor and is he
  welcomed?
• We are introduced to one theme---What is it?
• Fred and Scrooge have different perspectives on
  Christmas, what are they?
• What does Fred request? What is Scrooges
  response?
• Who are the next visitors and why are they there?
• How many years has Marley been deceased? Is the
  number significant?
• What does Cratchit request? Is it generously
  granted?
• Describe the atmosphere as Scrooge walks home?
• There is something strange about the knocker.
  What is it?
• What happens on the tiles of the fireplace?
• What visits Scrooge next. The message is
  important. Can you describe it in detail? Also,
  what does this visitor look like?

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The Counting House

• What was it like inside Scrooges counting house?

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(No Transcript)
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Atmosphere of Scrooges Walk Home
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The Door Knocker

• What is strange about it?

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• What questions does Scrooge have for the spirit?
• What does Scrooge think has caused him to see
  this apparition?
• What are the things attached to the ghost?
• What do these things represent?

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Marleys Ghost
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Review of Stave 1

• Who is Scrooge? What does he do for a living?
  What is Scrooges attitude toward Christmas?
• Who is Bob Cratchit?
• What is Scrooges nephew like? What is his
  attitude toward Christmas?
• Who are the portly gentleman? What do they want?

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STAVE 2 The Ghost of Christmas Past
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Stave 2 Characters and Order of Events

• Ghost of Christmas Past appears ,he represents
  Scrooges past. Scrooge must learn lessons from
  his past both positive and negative to move
  forward and become a better person.
• Scrooge as a child at boarding school. We meet
  Scrooges sister, Fan, and find out she brought
  Scrooge home. Their father was not a very kind
  person, but his father is so much kinder now and
  will allow Scrooge to come home. Fan died a woman
  and had one child---Scrooges nephew, Fred.
• Place where Scrooge was apprenticed- Fezziwigs-
  We find out Scrooge had a cheerful and
  kind-hearted boss. Fezziwig had the ability to
  make work pleasant by the kind words and kind
  looks he gave to his workers. He had a big
  Christmas party for all of his workers.

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Fezziwigs Ball
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Stave 2 -Continued

• After Fezziwigs, we meet Belle, the girl Scrooge
  was engaged to marry. She broke off the
  engagement with him because she started to
  believe money became more important to Scrooge
  than her. She saw the roots of avarice and greed
  start to grow from Scrooges being and consume
  him. Belle says that Scrooge would not choose her
  if they just met because she is dowerless, and
  since money is so important to him, he wouldnt
  choose a girl without money.
• We then see that Belle married someone else and
  had children with him.

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Stave 2 continued

• Scrooge revisits his past and regrets the way he
  treated the caroler, his clerk, and Belle.
• Scrooge sees how he has missed opportunities to
  have a relationship with his nephew, the son of
  his sister, who was so kind to him when they were
  children.
• One of Scrooges greatest regrets seems to be
  that he did not marry Belle and have children
  with her. And when he thought that such another
  creature, quite as graceful and full of promise,
  might have called him father, and been a
  spring-time in the haggard winter of his life,
  his sight grew very dim indeed. (p.40)

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Stave 2 Young Scrooge with Belle
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Stave 2 Questions for Thought

• The Ghost of Christmas Past- What does it look
  like? What does it represent?
• What does the Ghost of Christmas Past show
  Scrooge? How does Scrooge feel about traveling
  back into his past?
• Can you summarize the importance of each past
  memory? What was Scrooge to learn from each past
  experience?

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Stave 3 Ghost of Christmas Present
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Stave 3 Overview of Events

• Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Present, the
  embodiment of generosity
• They travel through the streets, the Ghost of
  Christmas Present sprinkles from his torch a
  blessing on people, especially poor people
  because they need it most
• They go to the Cratchit familys household and
  see how they celebrate the holiday- Despite being
  poor, the Cratchits are grateful for what they
  have, each one participates in cooking dinner,
  they enjoy each others time and company. They
  were poor, but happy and grateful for Christmas
  time and for all they have to celebrate. We also
  find out that Tiny Tim is sick.
• After the Cratchit household, we go to Freds
  house (Scrooges nephew) and we watch Fred and
  his company play games. In one of the games,
  they make fun of Scrooge. At the end, Fred
  earnestly toasts his Uncle Scrooges health, even
  though Scrooge never visits Fred or wishes him
  Merry Christmas.
• At the end of the Stave, two children are
  underneath the Spirits robeIgnorance and Want

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Stave 3 Ignorance and Want Explanation
Ignorance means you dont want to know, you dont
care to know. For Scrooge and Dickens society,
people were ignorant to the needs of the poor.
More importantly, people of Dickens society
thought the poor were of inferior moral
character, filthy, thieves and treated them like
second class citizens. Ignorance breeds Want,
which is excessive greediness. Dickens was
warning society that if people were ignorant and
let excessive greed rule their lives it would
bring about destruction.
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Stave 4 The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
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Stave 4 Important Events and Concepts

• The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge
  the potential future
• We see the business men discuss a mans death and
  no one seems to care
• The business men will only go to the funeral if a
  lunch is provided
• After the conversations of the business men, the
  Spirit takes Scrooge to the beetling shop
• In the beetling shop, the undertaker, the
  charwoman, and the laundress sell belongings they
  have stolen from a dead mans house
• Scrooge is disturbed to see how they have
  plundered the dead mans house . They were able
  to do this because there is no one there to care
  for the dead body. The man died alone with no
  one to take care of his body or house.
• Scrooge is appalled by the scene and wants to see
  emotion connected to the mans death. Scrooge
  hopes he sees someone who is sad and distraught
  about the mans death

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• The next scene features Caroline and her
  husbandthey are relieved and happy the man has
  died because they owed him money. Caroline and
  her husband were fearful that the man would not
  relent and give them more time to pay back their
  debt. Hearing that the man has died makes them
  feel relieved.
• Scrooge is upset and wants to see tenderness
  connected to a death.
• The Spirit shows Scrooge the Cratchit household
  which is somber. We find out Tiny Tim has died,
  and everyone in the family is grieving over the
  loss of the little child who had such a good
  heart.
• Scrooge is upset that Tiny Tim has died
• The Spirit takes Scrooge through the courtyard to
  a graveyard that is unkept and overgrown with
  weeds. The Spirit points to a grave and on the
  tomb is written Ebenezer Scrooge.
• Scrooge realizes that he is the dead man that no
  one cares for and he vows to keep the Christmas
  Spirit all year round. He says that he wants to
  change his life, so that his future will change

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Stave 5 The End of It

• Scrooge promises to keep Christmas and honor it
  all year long! He will honor the lessons he has
  learned from the spirits.
• Scrooge demonstrates he has changed by donating
  to charity, becoming a second father to Tiny Tim,
  and sending a turkey to the Cratchit family. What
  does each kind act demonstrate about how Scrooge
  has changed?