A Christmas Carol Knowledge Organiser

A
CHRISTMAS
CAROL
KNOWLEDGE
ORGANISER
WITH
KEY
QUOTATIONS

, A Christmas Carol
Plot Summary
Stave One
 Fred visits Scrooge at work to invite him for Christmas dinner, but Scrooge refuses to go.
 Scrooge is cruel to Bob, giving him only a small fire for warmth & only reluctantly giving him
Christmas o . He then refuses to give money to charity.
 Marley’s Ghost appears in Scrooge’s home, wearing chains as punishment for his actions. He
warns Scrooge needs to change or su er a similar fate.


Stave Two
The Ghost of Christmas Past appears at Scrooge’s bed & shows him moments from his past:
 A sad, lonely Christmas at school from when he was a child.
 Happier Christmases with his sister & Mr Fezziwig, his former employer.
 Belle breaking o her engagement to Scrooge.


Stave Three
The Ghost of Christmas Present appears & shows Scrooge:
 The Cratchits’ Christmas – Scrooge learns that Tiny Tim will die if nothing changes.
 People all over the world enjoying Christmas.
 Fred’s House, where people play games & mock Scrooge.
 Ignorance & Want, two children who represent flaws in society, and mindset of the upper class.


Stave Four
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come visits Scrooge and shows him:
 The joy and lack of respect characters show at an unknown man’s death – it turns out to be
Scrooge.
 The Cratchits who are mourning Tiny Tim’s death.
 Scrooge’s own isolated and uncared-for grave.
Scrooge vows to change his ways and his actions.
Stave Five
Scrooge is back in bed, and he has changed:
 He donates to charity, raises Bob’s wages and is sociable.
 He joins Fred for Christmas party, and is kind and joyful towards everyone.
 He buys the Cratchits a turkey and befriends them.
Tiny Tim survives – it’s implied that Scrooge’s redemption saves his life. Scrooge respects Christmas.

, Background
& Context
Charles Dickens
 Born in 1812 in Portsmouth.
 Middle class, but experienced poverty when his father was arrested and put in prison for
debt.
 Dickens had to give up his education to work in a factory.
 As a young man, he worked as a clerk. He published A Christmas Carol in 1843.


The Industrial Revolution
 Factory owners started using machinery.
 People moved to cities to work in factories instead of working on farms.
 Between 1800 & 1900, London’s population grew from 1 to 6 million.
 Factory owners became wealthier, but their workers often lived in poverty.
 The Industrial revolution created a large gap between the rich and poor, who were stuck in a
cycle.


Poverty in Victorian Britain
 Overcrowding – Many people who moved to the city lived in overcrowded slums.
The slums were dirty & filled with hunger, disease and crime.
 Su ering children – Children were often forced to work long hours in dangerous
conditions by factory owners.
Tiny Tim represents the su ering children. Ignorance & Want are children too – hints children
were particularly a ected by poverty.


Christmas
 Christmas gained importance over the 1800s – by the end it was the most important
celebration of the year, with food, games & merriment.
 As it was celebrated extravagantly by Queen Victoria, it gained immense popularity.
 Associated with Christian values such as charity & goodwill to all.
 Dickens wanted society to honour these values all year round, as an advocate for the
lower, working class.

, Scrooge
Greedy, Miserly, Solitary, Unsympathetic, Selfish, Isolated, Cold-hearted, Remorseful,
Regretful, Kind, Compassionate, Jolly, Merry, Warm-hearted


Stave One (Opening)
 “a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!”
 “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”
 “Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had struck out generous fire”
 “carried his own low temperature always about with him”
 “solitary as an oyster”

Stave One (With Fred)
 “cold, bleak, biting weather; foggy withal”
 “ ‘Bah!’ said Scrooge, ‘Humbug!’ ”
 “every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips, should be boiled with
his own pudding”

Stave One (Charity Men)
 “Are there no prisons?” , “Are there no workhouses?”
 “I can’t a ord to make idle people merry”
 “If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.”

Stave One (Carol Singer)
 “Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror”

Stave One (Bob Cratchit asks for a day o )
 “A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty fifth of December!”

Stave One (Jacob Marley’s Haunting)
 “not a knocker, but Marley’s face”
 “Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it”
 “double locked himself in, which was not his custom”
 “the spectre’s voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones”
 “Scrooge trembled more and more”
 “began to quake exceedingly”