A Christmas Carol Study Guide
Stave 1 Marley’s Ghost
Explain how Scrooge originally knew Marley.
2. According to the narrator, what about Marley must be distinctly understood?
3. Describe the difficult working conditions that Scrooge’s clerk must endure.
4. Tell how Scrooge responds to each of the following:
a. his nephew’s invitation to dinner
b. the gentlemen’s request for money for the poor
c. the boy who sings a carol through the key hole
5. When Scrooge reaches his house, what does he see in the door knocker and how does he react to what he sees?
6. Describe Marley's ghost.
7. Why must he travel far and wide and why does he wear a chain?
8. According to Marley’s ghost, why is he visiting Scrooge?
9. Who is the protagonist in this book?
10. What would you say is the conflict?
11. List three things in this chapter that prove the setting is England, 1843.
12. List the other characters in this chapter and explain each character’s relationship to Scrooge.
13. Explain how Scrooge’s lifestyle is inconsistent with his wealth. (One paragraph)
14. Does Scrooge enjoy life? Use examples for the story to explain your answer. (One paragraph)
15. Would you have wanted Scrooge to be your friend? Explain. (One paragraph)
16. What was the reason for Marley’s jaw dropping when the bandage was removed?
17. What is irony? What was ironic about Scrooge’s speech to the ghost?
18. Define allusion. Name one example of allusion used in Stave One.
Vocabulary for Stave One: In order to understand the story, it helps to know these words.
executor / palpable / extinguish / ominous / facetious / garretincredulous / incessant / benevolence / lamentation / solitary / caustic
unhallowed / entreaty / multitude / intimation / congeal / lunatic
trifle / covetous / impropriety / resolute / legatee / implore
Stave II. The First of the Three Spirits
According to the nearby church chimes and his own watch, what time is it when Scrooge wakes up?
2. Tell why he finds it hard to believe this is the correct time.
3. How does the Ghost of Christmas Past get Scrooge’s attention?
4. List five physical details that give this Ghost a strange appearance.
5. Discuss what the ghost says is his business with Scrooge.
6. The ghost helps Scrooge revisit scenes from five past Christmases. Describe each of these five scenes.
7. Explain how Scrooge gets rid of the Ghost of Christmas Past.
8. What does the light coming from the top of the ghost’s head represent or symbolize?
9. Each of the five scenes Scrooge sees again in Stave Two makes him regret something that he failed to do. Identify and describe each of these five regrets.
10. What was the overall effect on Scrooge of his trip into the past?
11. What do you think is the meaning of Scrooge’s inability to extinguish the Ghost’s light?
Vocabulary Words to know
repeater: watch or clock that can be made to strike the time
reclamation: rescuing or recovering a person from their mistakes.
jocund: cheerful, happy
cupola: small dome or similar structure on a roof
deal forms: long benches made from unpainted pine
condescension: looking down on something in a haughty way.
gainsay: deny
apprenticed: bound as a worker without pay to learn a trade from a master craftsman
organ of benevolence: area above the forehead, believed by some to be the source of kindliness
porter: dark-brown beer
negus: hot wine punch with lemon and spices
avarice: greed
fraught: filled
dowerless: without a dowry, or the property a woman brought to her husband at marriage
Stave III. The Second of the Three Spirits
1. What makes Scrooge realize that the second of the three spirits has arrived?
2. Describe the scene surrounding the second Spirit when Scrooge first sees it.
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3. Describe the physical characteristics of the Ghost of Christmas Present. What does he carry in his hand? For which class of people does he have the most sympathy?
4. Describe Tiny Tim’s handicap. What does Scrooge ask the ghost to tell him regarding the boy? What is the ghost’s reply, and how does Scrooge react to it?
5. List three of the places that the Ghost and Scrooge visit after leaving the Crachits and before arriving at Scrooge’s nephew’s house. What activities does Scrooge witness in all these places?
6. Describe the scene in Scrooge’s nephew’s house. Who is present? List three of the things they do as part of their Christmas celebration. Tell how Scrooge reacts to what he sees.
7. The Ghost twice quotes Scrooge’s own words to him. Identify these two instances, and explain the Ghost’s reasons for quoting Scrooge.
8. Both Bob Crachit and Scrooge’s nephew drink toast to Scrooge. Explain how their families and friends react to their toasts. What do the toasts reveal about Crachit’s and the nephew’s character?
Words to Know:
consolation seething compulsion demurely conspicuous swarthy subsequently bilious ubiquitous ensued prematurely withered goblets exulted blithe dismal grog
Creative: Writing a Letter: Pretend you are Bob Crachit. You have found a better job, and you are writing a letter to your replacement in Scrooge’s office. In two paragraphs, tell the new clerk about a typical workday at Scrooge and Marley. Discuss the hours and the working conditions and suggest ways to get along with the boss, Ebenezer Scrooge. Be honest, but remember to write as kindly Bob Crachit would.
Expressing with Poetry: Poets, this is for you! Compose a poem based on a scene or theme in Stave Three. You might write about the joy of family, or the love displayed during Christmas, or on a darker note about ignorance or doom. It’s up to you. Chose your style and your topic and create a masterpiece.
Stave IV The Last of the Spirits
1. Describe the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. What aspect of the Ghost’s behavior scares Scrooge the most?
2. Tell what Scrooge overhears the merchants at the Exchange discussing. Who in particular does Scrooge hope to see there?
3. List the four people at the junk dealer’s shop. What are three of them trying to sell? Where and from whom did they get the goods? Tell how Scrooge reacts to what he witnesses at the shop.
4. Explain why the young man and his wife Caroline feel relieved that the unnamed businessman had died. What is Scrooge’s reaction to this scene?
5. List three details that alert you to the fact that Tiny Tim has died. In what ways has Scrooge’s nephew shown “extraordinary kindness” to the Cratchit family?
6. What does Scrooge finally discover in the churchyard? What assurance does he beg the Ghost to give him? What resolution does Scrooge make?
7. The climax of a story is the point when the main character’s conflict reaches an intense turning point. Identify the climax of A Christmas Carol. What is the result, or resolution, of Scrooge’s conflict?
8. At the end of Stave Four, Scrooge pleads to learn whether he can alter the future that the Ghost has shown him. The Ghost does not answer in words, but gives a sign. Identify this sign, and explain what you think it means.
Words to Know:
repute / slipshod / beetling / reek / disgorge / shrouded / solemnflaunting / repent / scanty / revered / avarice / pendulous / excrescence
beseech / relents / faltered / essence / tarry / infamous / alteration
inexorable / replete / foreshadow / intercede / strive / dwindle / repulse
What does Scrooge conclude when he sees that his bed curtains have not been torn down? What day is it when he wakes up?
2. What errand does Scrooge hire a boy to do?
3. Scrooge meets the “portly gentlemen” who visited his office in Stave One. In your own words, explain what Scrooge tells this man.
4. Tell how Scrooge is welcomed at his nephew’s house. What four wonderful things does Scrooge enjoy there?
5. What joke does Scrooge play on Bob Cratchit? What is Bob’s first reaction to the new Scrooge?
6. Explain how Scrooge’s relationship with the Cratchit family changes. Tell what happens to Tiny Tim.
7. In Stave One, the atmosphere in Scrooge’s house is dark and gloomy. What is the atmosphere like in the house in Stave Five? Include two or three details to support your analysis.
8. At the end of Stave Five, Scrooge does not mind that some people laugh at him for being generous. What does this attitude tell you about how deep his change of heart is?