Literary elements

1. Charles Dickens’”A Christmas Carol”

2. Symbolism
• Scrooge
– Beliefs and values of Victorian England in the 1800’s
• Bob Cratchit
– The spirit of Christmas Dickens wanted to see revived in England
• Fire that warms Bob and in the fire place
– The warmth felt within those who share and celebrate the season.
• Marley’s Chains
– The money and priorities that Marley valued in his life while he was living.
• Ghost of Christmas Present
– Christmas joy , kindness, generosity, and peace
• Light Coming from the Ghost of Christmas Past-
- The memories and spirit of Christmases past
• Cap held by the Ghost of Christmas Past
– greed, selfishness and other actions that extinguish the spirit of Christmas

3. Symbolism
Girl Want
Poor children who do not have the common necessities
(housing, food, clothing)
Boy Ignorance
– The uneducated, working-class factory children; they
should be feared because if they remain uneducated
England will collapse and be doomed.

4. Symbolism
• Scrooge’s Coat of Gray
– Scrooge’s cold-hearted, unsympathetic
personality
• Scrooge’s Coat of Blazing Holly-Red
– A redeemed Scrooge who is caring, generous, and
warm-hearted

5. Theme
• What are some of the themes embedded within A
Christmas Carol?
People can change, also expressed as mankind can be
redeemed.
Acts of kindness enrich the spirit and lead to more
acts of kindness by others.
Unless society reaches out to help those less
fortunate and in need, especially children, society is
condemned/doomed.
The way man treats others is more valuable than one’s
possessions.
Man’s offensives carries its own punishment

6. Characterization
• What are some ways the author characterizes
Scrooge?
“Oh, but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone….secret, self-contained,
and solitary as an oyster.”
Direct Characterization
“’There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night. I should
like to have given him something: that’s all.’”
Implies change through characters speech
“’If they rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus
population.’”
Characters speech
“ ‘It should be on Christmas Day, I am sure, ‘ said [Mrs. Cratchit], ‘ on which
one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy unfeeling man as Mr.
Scrooge.’ “
Effects on other characters

7. Characterization
“Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say with gladsome looks, ‘My dear
Scrooge, how are you?’ No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no man or
woman now, or ever in his life, inquire the way to such and such a place.”
Effects on others
Scrooge says, “ I’ll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling
family.’”
Actions
Mr. Scrooge purchased the largest turkey in the poulterer’s shops and had it
delivered to Cratchit.
Actions
He had been revolving in his mind a change of life and thought and hoped he
saw his new-born resolutions carried out in this.
Characters Thoughts

8. Characterization
• What are some ways the author characterizes
Fred? Bob?
• Fred
 Fred invites his uncle for Christmas dinner even though he
knows he doesn’t like him.
 Fred restrains himself from yelling or call Scrooge names.
 Fred welcome his uncle after he was treated poorly by him.
 Sees Christmas as a time where he profits in personal gratitude
rather than monetary gain.

9. Characterization
• Bob
Slips the two men money when he is can afford
it.
Encourages Fred when he leaves.
Wishes Scrooge a Merry Christmas even when
Scrooge doesn’t want to hear it.
Applauds Fred’s views on the season.
Toasts Scrooge even though he treats him
poorly.
Not handsome

10. Setting
• How is the setting significant to the novel?
• Charles Dickens was concerned about the way
in which people were treated during the
Victorian time period.
• The overall themes embedded within this story
are based on the unfair treatment and class
separation of the Victorian time period;
however, they can be still applied in current
times.

11. Flashbacks
• What flashback helps the reader understand why
Scrooge doesn’t care for his nephew?
• When he reveals that his sister has died.
• What flashback helps the reader understand why
Scrooge doesn’t believe in love?
• When Belle, his lost love, releases him.

12. Foreshadowing
• “So I pray, you hurry back to your seats
refreshed and ready for a miser- to turn his
coat of gray into a blazen Christmas holly-red.”
• What is the significance of this quote?

13. Foreshadowing
• What signals does Dickens use to let the
reader know that he will have an unusual
evening?
Marley’s face appears on the door knocker,
he checks each room, the pictures of Marley
throughout the room, the sound of chains,
the door opening , and the ringing bells.

14. “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will
live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three
shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
Ebenezer Scrooge
FULL MOVIE (1984) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvdMjXhPGd0
CARTOON VERSION 1997 https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KntAvJfGF6g
Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/christmas-according-
to-dickens/#ixzz3LyjoGjuh