lit_exam_overview_summer_2013.doc |
A Christmas Carol is one of the five sections of your exam Lit 2B.
You have a 40 mark question on the novel where you have an extract to write about but you must also bring in your knowledge of the whole play. Example of the exam style question here: A Christmas Carol You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question. Write about Scrooge and the way he changes throughout the novel. In your response you should: refer to the extract and the novel as a whole; show your understanding of characters and events in the novel; refer to the contexts of the novel. [40] This question assesses AO1, AO2 and AO3. Use this website, along with your class notes, to revise key topics and ideas. Seven years after the death of his business partner Jacob Marley, a miserable old man named Ebenezer Scrooge is working in his office. He hates happiness, love, family, generosity, Christmas, and probably also puppies. When his nephew Fred invites him over to Christmas dinner, Scrooge yells at him and refuses. Scrooge then tells off the people collecting charity donations, and grumbles and complains that the fact that his clerk Bob Cratchit gets a paid day off for Christmas is theft. That night, he is haunted by Marley's ghost, which warns Scrooge that the dead who led bad lives are forced to roam around and not be at peace. The ghost also claims that three other ghosts are going to appear to Scrooge, and leaves after telling Scrooge to change his life before it's too late. Scrooge shakes all this off as indigestion, but sure enough he soon gets a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past. This spirit takes him on a tour of his childhood memories and Scrooge quickly starts crying when he remembers himself as a neglected boy. The past also features scenes from Scrooge's young adulthood, when he transforms into the greedy miser that he ends up being after rejecting his fiancée and not learning the lessons of hospitality taught by Fezziwig, the man he was apprenticed to. Now it's time for the Ghost of Christmas Present, which flies him around the country to show how pretty much every other human is making the most of the season by getting together with friends and family. The flyby includes a stop at Fred's house, where a bunch of friends are living it up with dancing and games. Scrooge also gets to check out the dirt-poor but loving Christmas dinner preparations of the Cratchit family. The youngest son is Tiny Tim, a sick, saintly boy. Next, Scrooge is squired around by a phantom—the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Spoiler alert: Christmas Yet to Come is a pretty sucky place. Tiny Tim is dead, the Cratchits are bankrupt, and also Scrooge himself is dead with no one to mourn him—just a bunch of people to rob his corpse. After seeing his grave and freaking out, Scrooge promises to reform… … and so he wakes up in his own bed on Christmas Day. He sends a giant turkey to the Cratchits, goes off to Fred's party after all, and gives a honkingly large donation to the charity collector. He changes his attitude and lives the rest of his life with generosity, good cheer, and compassion toward the worse off. Truly, he's become all about the spirit of Christmas. Use these worksheets to help you to revise the characters: It's really important that you understand the main characters. You should be able to summarise them all in a few words, and should understand their impact on the story. There are loads of useful websites to help you with this, and the summaries below should give you a nudge in the right direction. Click the link or the button below to listen to some character descriptions :) Listen here!
Scrooge is a hard, cold miser who spends his days counting his profits and wishing the world would leave him alone. He doesn't believe in charity, and he is certain that those who do are just lazy bums looking for a handout. Scrooge's entire life is his business and he shuts out his nephew who is the only relative he has. But Scrooge is visited by his old business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him that if he continues to live his life in such an unchristian way, he will spend all eternity trying to make up for it. Three ghosts, who show him that the errors of his ways, visit Scrooge. Because of what he sees and learns, Scrooge opens his heart to the people around him and learns charity and love and saves himself from the doom of which Marley warned him. Bob Cratchit is an accountant who works for Scrooge, and he is a kind and loving family man. Scrooge generally mistreats Cratchit, but the accountant bears his employer no ill will because he believes that Scrooge's life is lonely. The greatest sorrow in Cratchit's life is that his young son, Tiny Tim, is very ill. Because Bob's salary is so meagre, the family cannot afford treatment for Tim. When Scrooge sees their situation during one of the ghostly visitations, he realizes that he must be more generous to his employee and help save Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim is Bob Cratchit's youngest son. He is a lame boy with a cheerful nature despite his ailments. At the Christmas church service, Tim hopes that people will look at his ailment and be reminded of how Christ healed the lame and blind. Tiny Tim's guileless nature impresses Scrooge, and when he learns from the Ghost of Christmas Present that Tiny Tim will die soon, Scrooge is saddened. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come also shows the Cratchit house without Tiny Tim, and the vision is a sad one. Scrooge is touched by the gentleness of the little boy and wishes to prevent this fate from occurring. |
AuthorEverything you need to know about A Christmas Carol! Archives |