A CHRISTMAS

CAROL
BY:
FREDDY ORTEGA ARENAS

JULIÁN ANDRÉS MARTÍNEZ QUINTERO

11-5

LITERATURE PROJECT

TEACHER:
DIANA M. GARCÍA

INSTITUCIÓN EDUCATIVA JOSEFINA MUÑOZ GONZÁLEZ

RIONEGRO

2018
 SUMMARY OF EACH CHAPTER
STAVE ONE
A Christmas Carol opens on a bleak, cold Christmas Eve in London, seven years after the
death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser,
dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred—the son of Fan,
Scrooge's dead sister. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him to provide
food and heating for the poor, and only grudgingly allows his overworked,
underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom.
That night Scrooge is visited at home by Marley's ghost, who wanders the Earth entwined
by heavy chains and money boxes forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley
tells Scrooge that he has a single chance to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three
spirits and must listen or be cursed to carry much heavier chains of his own.

STAVE TWO
The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of
Scrooge's boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The scenes
reveal Scrooge's lonely childhood at boarding school, his relationship with his beloved
sister Fan, and a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr. Fezziwig, who treated
him like a son. Scrooge's neglected fiancée Belle is shown ending their relationship, as she
realizes that he will never love her as much as he loves money. Finally, they visit a now-
married Belle with her large, happy family on the Christmas Eve that Marley died. Scrooge,
upset by hearing Belle's description of the man that he has become, demands that the ghost
remove him from the house.

STAVE THREE
The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to a joyous market with
people buying the makings of Christmas dinner and to celebrations of Christmas in a
miner's cottage and in a lighthouse. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred's Christmas party.
A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit's family feast and introduces his
youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that
Tiny Tim will die unless the course of events changes. Before disappearing, the spirit
shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and Want. He tells
Scrooge to beware the former above all and mocks Scrooge's concern for their welfare.
STAVE FOUR
The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge attending a Christmas
Day in the future. The silent ghost reveals scenes involving the death of a disliked man
whose funeral is attended by local businessmen only on condition that lunch is provided.
His charwoman, laundress and the local undertaker steal his possessions to sell to a fence.
When he asks the spirit to show a single person who feels sorrow over his death, he is only
given the pleasure of a poor couple who rejoice that his death gives them more time to put
their finances in order. When Scrooge asks to see tenderness connected with any death, the
ghost shows him Bob Cratchit and his family mourning the death of Tiny Tim. The ghost
then allows Scrooge to see a neglected grave, with a tombstone bearing Scrooge's name.
Sobbing, Scrooge pledges to change his ways.

STAVE FIVE
Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He spends the afternoon with
Fred's family and anonymously sends a large turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas
dinner. The following day he gives Cratchit an increase in pay and becomes a father figure
to Tiny Tim. From then on Scrooge begins to treat everyone with kindness, generosity and
compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas.
 DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERS
PRINCIPALS CHARACTERS
● Ebenezer Scrooge
A miserly London based moneylender, described in the story as "a squeezing,
wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner and one a cold, stingy
and greedy semi-recluse.

● Jacob Marley
He is Ebenezer Scrooge’s deceased business partner, now a chained and tormented
ghost, doomed to wander the earth forever as punishment for his greed and selfishness
when he was alive. Marley roams restlessly, witnessing the hardships others suffer and
lamenting that he has forever lost his chance to help them. Marley arranges for the three
spirits to visit Scrooge and gives his friend an opportunity for redemption, which
Marley tells him was "...a chance and hope of my procuring."

● Ghost of Christmas Past

The Ghost of Christmas Past is the first of the three spirits (after the visitation by Jacob
Marley, his former business partner) to haunt Ebenezer Scrooge. This angelic spirit
shows Scrooge scenes from his past that occurred on or around Christmas, in order to
demonstrate to him the necessity of changing his ways, as well as to show the reader
how Scrooge came to be a bitter, cold-hearted miser.

● Ghost of Christmas Present

The Ghost of Christmas Present is the second of the three spirits (after the visitations
by Jacob Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Past) that haunt the miser Ebenezer
Scrooge, in order to prompt him to repent. When he first appears before Scrooge, he
invites him to "come in and know me better, man." According to Dickens' novel, the
Ghost of Christmas Present appears to Scrooge as "a jolly giant" with dark brown curls.
He wears a fur-lined green robe and on his head a holly wreath set with shining icicles.
He carries a large torch, made to resemble a cornucopia, and appears accompanied by a
great feast. He states that he has had "more than eighteen hundred" brothers and later
reveals the ability to change his size to fit into any space. He also bears a scabbard with
no sword in it, a representation of peace on Earth and good will toward men.
● Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come, also known as The Ghost of Christmas Future,
sometimes The Spirit of Christmas Future or The Spirit of Christmas Yet-to-
Come or The Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Be
Scrooge finds the Ghost of Christmas Future the most fearsome of the Spirits; it
appears to Scrooge as a figure entirely muffled in to a black hooded cloak, except for a
single spectral hand with which it points. Although the character never speaks in the
story, communicating entirely by pointing, Scrooge understands it, usually through
assumptions from his previous experiences and rhetorical questions. It is remarkable
that, even in satires and parodies of the tale, this spirit retains its original look. It looks
the way it does because it represents what the future holds for Scrooge if it does not
change his ways.

SECONDARY CHARACTERS
● Fred: Scrooge's nephew.
● Mr. Fezziwig: Former chief of Scrooge.
● Ms. Fezziwig: Mr. Fezziwig's wife.
● Belle: Scrooge's old bride.
● Family Cratchit: Martha, Peter ...
● Tiny Tim: Son of Bob Cratchit.
● Mrs. Dilber: Servant of Scrooge.
● Joe Miller: Buyer of seized objects.
● Caroline: The wife of a Scrooge debtor).
● Bob Cratchit: Scrooge employee.

GLOSSARY
CAROL: A special song which people sing at christmas.

CHEERFUL: Looking or sounding happy.

CHRISTMAS EVE: Twenty-Fourth December, the day before Christmas Day.

CLERK: Someone who works in an office, writing letters, etc.

DELIGHTED: Very pleased and happy.

EXTINGUISHER: A thing shaped like a tall hat, which you put on a candle to stop it
burning.

DELIGHT: A pleased and happy feeling.

FOG: A thick mist that stops you seeing clearly.

FOGGY: Very misty.

FROST: A thin white cover of ice on the ground in very cold weather;(on page 2,
scrooge’s white hair and cold heart).

GOD BLESS YOU?: People used to say this when they liked someone or were grateful to
them.

HAMBURG: Nonsense, silly ideas; dishonest or untrue words kiss to touch who owns a
business with your lips.

MERRY: Happy, cheerful.

PARTNER: Someone who owns a business with another person.

POINT: To show with your finger or arm where something is.

PRESENT: The time now (not past , not future).

SHILLING: A coin in old British money (equal to five pence today).

SPIRIT: The ghost of a dead person, or a kind of “Person” without a living body.

STARE: To look hard at something or someone for a long time.

STRIKE: (Past tense struck) (of a clock) to tell the hour, half hour or quarter hour by
sounding a bell.

TINY: Very small.

 BIOGRAPHY ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Charles John Huffman Dickens (1812-70) was born in portsmouth, in England. His family
were bad at managing their money, and they were very poor. The worst time for Dickens
was when his father went to prison, because he could not play back money he had
borrowed, and Dickens was sent aged only 12, to work in a factory, He remembered this
terrible time all his life, and wrote about it in his novel David Copperfield twenty-five years
later. He became a newspaper reporter, and wrote his first novel , The Pickwick Papers
(1837), wich was very popular. In the next four years, he wrote three more novels, Oliver
Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and loved A Christmas Carol when it appeared in 1843. In A
Tale of Two Cities, a story about the French Revolution, he showed his interest in history,
and in Great Expectations, he wrote about the differences between the rich and the poor,
which he had known himself in his own early life.
He spent long hours a t his writing desk, but he also had time for his large circle of family
and friends, and for helping people. he thought that all people should be free, and have
enough money to live a comfortable life. As he grew older, he worked harder than ever,
giving public readings of his works in Britain and America, and continuing to write novels.
There have been hundreds of books, films and plays about Dickens’ stories. Many people
think he is the greatest English novelist of all time.

TWO ACTIVITIES
1. The title of this story introduction on the first page of the book. Do you think it
is going to be about...

A. Christmas music? C. Changes in someone’s life?

 B. A party in winter? D. A baby girl?

2. This is a ghost story. What do you think about ghosts?

A. What time of day or night do ghosts usually appear?
R/: Usually ghosts appear in the night.

B. Are ghosts always frightening?

R/: No, depend of the kind of ghost.

C. What do you expect a ghost to look like?

R/: They’re very frightening, because they’re die people.

D. What kinds of message do ghosts often bring?

R/: They bring messages about their past lives, their families even their bring
messages about how they died.

E. Do you believe in ghosts?

R/: Yes, I believe.

F. Have you ever seen a ghost?

R/: Yes, I have seen a ghost.

G. Do you know anyone who has seen a ghost?

R/: Yes, I know, my cousin.