A CHRISTMAS CAROL

READING/STUDY PACKET

ANSWERS….

STAVE ONE

I. Vocabulary:

1. D 8. B

2. I 9. F

3. G 10. C

4. A 11. J

5. M 12. E

6. K 13. H

7. L

II. Similes

1. …”a doornail.” (p.3, paragraph 1)

2. “…flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire;…” (p. 4, paragraph 1)

III. Comprehension Questions:

1. This statement reveals Scrooge’s character as being hard-hearted, unfelling, unsympathetic, misanthropic.

2. Jacob Marley was Scrooge’s business partner and business friend. Jacob Marley died on Christmas Eve seven years prior to the beginning of the story.

3. Dickens uses comic relief to show us Scrooge’s fear by having Scrooge complain about little things affecting his senses, such as not feeling well or having a stomach disorder. Scrooge jokes that Marley’s ghost may be a ‘hallucination’ brought on by Scrooge having an upset stomach from eating bad food. Dickens wants the reader to recognize Scrooge’s nervousness and feeble attempts to express humor in the face of fear or an alarming situation.

4. Marley convinces Scrooge that he is real by yelling, shaking his chain, removing the cloth that tied his mouth shut allowing his lower jaw to drop open down upon his breast.

5. The chance and hope that Scrooge may escape the same fate as Marley are the visits from the 3 spirits to teach Scrooge a lesson of heart and giving. Scrooge must then shun the paths Marley trod (walked through life living), changing Scrooge’s way for good.

6. Charles Dickens uses allusion to explain how dead Marley is by Dickens stressing the importance of believing Marley is dead through alluding to Shakespeare’s “HAMLET”. As that plays audience must believe that Hamlet’s father is dead in order for his appearance to be significant, so must Dickens’ readers believe that Marley is dead in order for his appearance before Scrooge to be important to teach a lesson.

STAVE TWO

I. Vocabulary

1. supplication – asking for something humbly

2. vestige – visible trace or sign that something once existed

3. fervor – great warmth & intensity of emotion

4. condescension – patronizing & superior behavior and attitude

5. aspirations – conditions or achievements that are longed for

6. pinioned – restrained & immobilized a person by binding their arms

7. tumultuous – noisy, confused

agitated – extreme emotional disturbance acting upset.

II. Comprehension Questions:

1. The first ghost is an old man, shrunk up like a child, long white hair, no wrinkles, muscular arms & hands, delicate bare feet and legs. A pure white tunic/lustrous belt, holding a branch of holly; the tunic is covered with summer flowers; bright light shines @ the top of his head. He dissolves and reappears.

2. The people are fictional characters from stories read or told by others. This scene tells us about young Scrooge’s (1) highlights young Scrooge’s sense of imagination & wonder; (2) highlights his intense loneliness & his ability to find comfort only in escapist literature.

3. The second regret that Scrooge has about Christmas Eve is that he wishes he could say “a word or two” to his clerk; Scrooges vision of kindness with which Fezziwig treated his employees and apprentices prompts Scrooge, presumably, to regret his mistreatment of his clerk.

4. Dickens uses repetition with the first ghost’s appearance by repeating the phrase “…the curtains of his bed were drawn (aside)” three times; Repetition emphasizes Scrooge’s astonishment and terror at the appearance of the Ghost.

5. The Ghost shows Scrooge the holidays he spent as a child at the boarding school to awaken Scrooge’s feelings of empathy. Once Scrooge remembers his own misery as a child, he would be more able to empathize with other; Scrooges reaction is that Scrooge is surprised to find himself filled with joy and gladness at the sight of fellow students, pity for his former self, left alone at school for the holidays, new found desire to have given to caroler outside his home on Christmas Eve.

6. Scrooge’s fiancée, Belle, releases him from their engagement because she feels that he has changed and now loves wealth and gain more than he loves her. If Scrooge married her, he would later regret this; She releases Scrooge for the love of the person he once was. Belle’s letting go of Scrooge shows her affection for him one last time.

7. When Scrooge sees Belle, her husband, and their daughter by the fire Scrooge realizes that he could have had a daughter to care for him in his old age, but he chose a different life for himself. He realizes what his choices have cost him.