Transcript A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol
By: Charles Dickens
Characters
• Ebenezer Scrooge: hard hearted, miserly
businessman
• Fred: Scrooge’s kindhearted nephew
• Bob Cratchit: Scrooge’s overworked and
underpaid clerk
• The Cratchit Family: comprises Bob, his wife,
and several children, including the crippled,
but always cheerful, Tiny Tim
• Marley’s Ghost: spirit of Scrooge’s former
business partner (Jacob)
• Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and
Christmas yet to Come
Setting
•
•
•
•
19th Century
London, England
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
Narrator
• The narrator of A Christmas Carol is
omniscient
• The narrator knows everything and
can tell the reader not only what the
characters are physically experiencing
but also what they are thinking.
• This type of character can read all of
the characters’ thoughts.
Themes
• Society’s evils are largely the work of
human beings, but each person has
the power to do the right thing
• Through three ghosts, Scrooge
discovers that money cannot buy true
happiness
• It is a privilege and our duty to make
the world a better place
Theme Continued…
• The Power to Choose…
– Although Scrooge has been miserly and
hardhearted for many years, when he
decides to change, he undergoes a
transformation. Convinced by Marley
and the Christmas Ghosts that his
indifference to others has almost ruined
his life, Scrooge chooses good over evil
and continues that path for the rest of
his life.
Themes Continued…
• Can Money Buy Happiness?
– Despite his wealth, Scrooge is a
profoundly unhappy man. He can afford
to live comfortably, but he deprives
himself of even such small pleasures as
light and heat. Meanwhile, others
characters demonstrate that satisfaction
in life does not arise solely from material
wealth.
Money Buying Happiness
Characters with
Money
• Mr. Fezziwig
• Scrooge’s nephew
• The portly
gentlemen
Characters without
Money
• Cratchits