Questions and Answers for A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
Explain Ignorance and Want, who appear in stave 3 of A Christmas Carol.
Ignorance and Want are perhaps the most blatantly allegorical figures in A Christmas Carol. Collectively, they represent the conditions of the poor: wretched, hungry, and unable to pull themselves...
A Christmas Carol
Who is Belle in A Christmas Carol, and why was she important to Scrooge?
In stave 2, "The First of Three Spirits," of Charles Dickens's classic novella A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Past guides Ebenezer Scrooge through memories of the important people in his...
A Christmas Carol
How does the character of Scrooge change throughout the story?
In the novel A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, the character called Scrooge goes through a catharsis - he manages,just in time as far as his age is concerned, to reinvent himself. He goes...
A Christmas Carol
In "A Christmas Carol," Marley's chains are an important symbol in the story. What are they made of? What is hanging...
Marley's chain is symbolic of his guilt as well. He says that he forged it during his life, of his own free will. He is guilty, indeed, of heavy sins against his fellows, sins that he chose to...
A Christmas Carol
What was Ebenezer Scrooge's job in A Christmas Carol?
Ebenezer Scrooge was a banker. The reason Ebenezer Scrooge was so rich was that he made his living lending other people money and charging interest. He worked in a counting house, and he owned the...
A Christmas Carol
Name the six places the second spirit takes Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.
First, the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge into the city of London. They see the dark houses with the sooty windows, and despite the meager living conditions of the residents, there is "an...
A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol, what is the warning that Marley gives Scrooge?
Although Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge's now-deceased former partner in the firm of Scrooge & Marley, gives Scrooge one specific warning in stave 1 of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol—“I am...
A Christmas Carol
How does Dickens present Scrooge's character in chapter 1?
In stave one, Ebenezer Scrooge is depicted as an extremely cold, callous businessman who is insensitive, cold-hearted, and miserly. Dickens vividly describes Ebenezer Scrooge by writing, Scrooge!...
A Christmas Carol
What is the theme of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens?
It could be suggested that there are multiple themes to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Dickens’s story, of course, is about a miserly old businessman living a solitary life whose every...
A Christmas Carol
What quotes describe how Scrooge changes in stave 3 of A Christmas Carol?
In stave 3, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present. When he sees the very large spirit, the narrator says that Scrooge looked at it “reverently,” which is quite a contrast from the...
A Christmas Carol
Describe the two children who emerge from the second spirit's robe in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
In Stave 3, "The Second of Three Spirits," of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present have just left a children's Twelfth Night party—which...
A Christmas Carol
What year was the story A Christmas Carol set in?
The story was published in 1843, and takes place in the early 1800’s (1800-1850). Dickens is careful not to give a specific year that the story is set during the story. This adds to its...
A Christmas Carol
What did Scrooge say about giving his clerk a day off to celebrate Christmas in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol?
Scrooge complains that it is not "convenient" or "fair" for him to be expected to give his employee a day off for the holiday of Christmas. Scrooge claims that the clerk, Bob Cratchit, would...
A Christmas Carol
Describe Marley's Ghost in A Christmas Carol. Explain how he got his chains and why he must always travel.
Marley's Ghost first appears on the surface of Scrooge's knocker when Scrooge arrives home on Christmas Eve. Scrooge is puzzled at first by the appearance of Marley's face on his knocker but...
A Christmas Carol
What does Scrooge mean by saying that they should "decrease the surplus?"
This statement reveals a couple of things about Scrooge. First, it reveals his cold-heart; he would rather see the poor people die instead of helping them, and by dying, they would be doing a...
A Christmas Carol
What do the children "Want" and "Ignorance'' symbolize in A Christmas Carol?
Ignorance, the boy, can be interpreted as symbolizing the ignorance that keeps the poor, in Victorian England, poor. Without education, what chance can they have of bettering their situation? If...
A Christmas Carol
Why does the Ghost of Christmas Past show Scrooge the boarding school where he was left alone in A Christmas Carol?
The Ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge to a poignant memory in his childhood, reminding him of the Christmas when he was "neglected by his friends" and it seems (at least at first) by his...
A Christmas Carol
What effect does the ghost of Christmas past have on Scrooge?
Initially, Scrooge feels a strong desire to see the ghost put on its extinguisher cap. He "begged him to be covered." Something about the light is painful or, at least, uncomfortable for Scrooge...
A Christmas Carol
What are some quotes about Scrooge that show his personality, his desires and ambitions, his appearance, and his...
Ebenezer Scrooge is well-known as the "squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner" of Charles Dickens's classic novella A Christmas Carol. "Hard and sharp as flint" he...
A Christmas Carol
What is the meaning and significance of the bandage worn by Marley's ghost?
Nowadays, most corpses are embalmed before burial. Back in Victorian times when Dickens was writing, this was not so -- as muscles would relax and then firm under rigor mortis, corpses would be...
A Christmas Carol
Poverty In A Christmas Carol
Poverty is a critical theme embedded across A Christmas Carol, as is society's blindness towards the suffering of the poor. This blindness is an attitude that is practically incarnated in the...
A Christmas Carol
Why Does Scrooge Not Like Christmas
Scrooge seems to feel that Christmas is a time when people behave more irresponsibly with money than they do during the rest of the year. In the first stave, he says to his nephew, Fred, "What’s...
A Christmas Carol
When Bob Cratchit arrives at work a few minutes late the day after Christmas, how does Scrooge have some fun at the...
At this point in the novella, Scrooge is a completely changed man, but Cratchit doesn't know it, so Scrooge plans on playing a joke on Cratchit. When Cratchit sneaks into the office a whole...
A Christmas Carol
What details on Fred's party in stave 3 are given in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens? What is said about...
As Scrooge watches, Fred and his wife host a group of friends for a Christmas party. He sees them laughing in a warm, cozy room as they talk about Scrooge's opinion of Christmas. It's clear that...
A Christmas Carol
What is the moral of A Christmas Carol?
The moral of The Christmas Carol is that society can be transformed for the better through generosity, empathy, and compassion. Scrooge has forgotten how to feel for his fellow humans. He is so...
A Christmas Carol
How does the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come help Scrooge in his transformation?
In Stave Four, Scrooge is visited by the last of the three ghosts, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. This ghost is instrumental in helping Scrooge to reform his character because he shows him...
A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol, who is Old Fezziwig? How does Scrooge feel about him?
"Old Fezziwig" is Mr. Fezziwig, the kindly, jovial warehouse owner to whom Ebenezer Scrooge was apprenticed as a young man and who appears in stave 2, "The First of Three Spirits," in Charles...
A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, what type of literary device is "golden idol"?
When the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge a meeting he had as a young man with his fiancee, Belle, she is in the process of breaking off their engagement. She says that "another idol has...
A Christmas Carol
Metaphors In A Christmas Carol
Is not the title itself a metaphor? Carols at Christmas tell stories about the Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; or, they tell of someone's seeing the star in the heavens, or they relate some other...
A Christmas Carol
What Does Scrooge Learn From The Ghost Of Christmas Past
In stave 2, "The First of the Three Spirits," of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey into the past—Scrooge's past—which begins with...
A Christmas Carol
When the Crotchet family toast to Scrooge, how is Bob Cratchit's attitude in contrast with his wife's attitude?
The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the home of Bob Crachit where he witnesses the family's Christmas celebration. After the dinner has been eaten, the hearth of the Crachits is...
A Christmas Carol
Scrooge's Sister
In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Stave 2: "The First of the Three Spirits", Ebenezer Scrooge is taken to the past. Scrooge knows who he will probably get to see again: his dead sister,...
A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol, how does Scrooge react to Tiny Tim's death?
Before the spirits visit Scrooge, he is busily working when men stop by to collect charity for the poor. Scrooge dismisses their efforts and refuses to contribute to the cause, telling the men that...
A Christmas Carol
How is Scrooge affected by seeing the Cratchits in A Christmas Carol?
Scrooge's eyes are well and truly opened by the sight of the Cratchits' home life. Although they don't have two brass ha'pennies to rub together—largely thanks to Scrooge's incorrigible...
A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol, why did the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come not speak ?
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is described as a phantom, and instead of speaking, he points throughout his time with Scrooge. Scrooge asks the ghost countless questions, but perhaps the most...
A Christmas Carol
Where did the Ghost of Christmas Past take Scrooge in A Christmas Carol?
The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge out of the city and to a country road, to the place where Scrooge was born and raised. They walk together along the road, towards a "little market-town,"...
A Christmas Carol
How does Charles Dickens represent the Cratchit family as being poor?
Your question refers to the family of Ebeneezer Scrooge's employee, Bob Cratchit. While Scrooge is known for his extreme thriftiness, dark temper, and lack of charity during the "present" setting...
A Christmas Carol
Symbolism In A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens uses symbolism to amplify the message of kindness in A Christmas Carol. Set during the Christmas season, which is itself a symbol-laden holiday, the story reminds us at the outset...
A Christmas Carol
What is the lesson Scrooge learns in Stave 4 that he had not learned before?
In Stave 4, Scrooge learns the truth about the value of his life as it applies to other people. What he comes to see through the lessons of the final spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, is...
A Christmas Carol
What appears in the door knocker to Scrooge from A Christmas Carol?
Instead of the door knocker, Scrooge sees Marley's face. Marley's face is not shadowed, like the rest of the objects in the yard, but is strangely illuminated. The expression on this disembodied...
A Christmas Carol
What does Scrooge mean when he says, "There's more gravy than of grave about you"?
In the opening stave of Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is incredulous when he encounters the Ghost of Marley in his bedroom on Christmas Eve and blames the spirit's appearance on indigestion....
A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol, how does Scrooge try to "extinguish the light"? Did he succeed? What is the symbol of the light?
When the Spirit of Christmas Past appears before him, Scrooge desires "to see the Spirit in his cap"; that is, to cover the light of knowledge from memories that it spreads through the room....
A Christmas Carol
What does Cratchit ask for from Scrooge? Christmas Carol summary
The narrator tells us that, in the past, when Cratchit has asked Mr. Scrooge for additional coal to warm the office, "the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part." In other...
A Christmas Carol
What are some of Scrooge's traits that should be mentioned in a character analysis?
Of course, Scrooge undergoes a complete transformation over the course of the story, but at its beginning, his most notable character trait is his miserliness. He refuses to give Christmas gifts,...
A Christmas Carol
What does Fezziwig symbolize in A Christmas Carol?
Fezziwig is the employer whose long-ago Christmas celebration the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge. As the ghost and Scrooge watch, Mr. Fezziwig throws a generous and lively Christmas feast...
A Christmas Carol
What do we learn about Scrooge's home life when Fan visits him at school in A Christmas Carol?
What kind of man would keep his son at school for Christmas while all the other boys are allowed home for the holidays? The answer is Ebenezer Scrooge's father. For reasons we cannot begin to...
A Christmas Carol
In Stave 1 why does marley jaw drop when the bandage was removed?
Scrooge has already told Marley that he doesn't really believe his senses because "'A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats.'" In other words, Scrooge thinks that Marley is just a trick...
A Christmas Carol
What is the main conflict in A Christmas Carol?
Ebenezer Scrooge, the central character in the novella, faces internal conflict that drives the plot. Although he used to enjoy friends and family and was even engaged to be married, Scrooge has...
A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol, what happens to Scrooge's belongings in Christmas Future? What does he learn from this?
After the Ghost of Christmas Future visits Scrooge, the old miser hears businessmen speaking of someone's death and the reference is made to "Old Scratch" being finally dead (Old Scratch is a name...
A Christmas Carol
Explain the main differences and similarities of the three spirits in A Christmas Carol.
You have asked quite a big question here, and the best way to answer it is to compare and contrast the way that the text introduces and describes the three ghosts. You are right in being aware of...
Showing 1-50 of 896