A Christmas Carol Flashcards
All 111 cards in this deck
On which night of the year does the novel begin?
Christmas Eve, in Scrooge’s counting-house (Stave 1).
How long has Marley been dead when the novel begins?
Seven years, to the night: he died on Christmas Eve.
What does Scrooge’s nephew invite him to in Stave 1?
Christmas dinner the next day. Scrooge refuses.
What do the two portly gentlemen ask Scrooge for in Stave 1?
A donation to buy the poor meat, drink and warmth at Christmas. He gives nothing.
Where does Scrooge first see Marley’s face?
In the knocker on his front door (Stave 1).
What is Marley’s chain made of?
Cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy purses wrought in steel.
How many spirits does Marley say will visit Scrooge?
Three, the first when the bell tolls One.
Where does the Ghost of Christmas Past first take Scrooge?
To the countryside where he grew up, then his old school (Stave 2).
Who comes to the school to bring the young Scrooge home?
His little sister, Fan.
Whose Christmas Eve ball does the Ghost of Christmas Past show Scrooge?
Fezziwig’s, at the warehouse where Scrooge was apprenticed.
Who breaks off her engagement to Scrooge in Stave 2?
Belle, because a “golden” idol, money, has replaced her.
How does Scrooge end the visit of the Ghost of Christmas Past?
He presses its extinguisher-cap down over it, but cannot hide the light.
Whose Christmas dinner does the Ghost of Christmas Present show Scrooge first?
The Cratchits’ (Stave 3).
What do the Cratchits eat for Christmas dinner?
A goose with apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, then a Christmas pudding.
Which three remote places does the Ghost of Christmas Present visit after the Cratchits?
A miners’ hut on a moor, a lighthouse, and a ship at sea.
What game at Fred’s party has the answer “Uncle Scrooge”?
Yes and No: the plump sister guesses it.
Which two children does the Ghost of Christmas Present reveal under its robe?
Ignorance (a boy) and Want (a girl), at the end of Stave 3.
Where do the charwoman, laundress and undertaker’s man sell the dead man’s things?
At Old Joe’s shop, in a poor, crime-ridden part of London (Stave 4).
Which couple are relieved by the dead man’s death in Stave 4?
Caroline and her husband, who owed him money.
What does Scrooge read on the neglected gravestone?
His own name: EBENEZER SCROOGE (Stave 4).
What does the last spirit shrink into at the end of Stave 4?
Scrooge’s own bedpost.
What does Scrooge send anonymously to the Cratchits on Christmas morning?
The prize turkey from the poulterer’s, “twice the size of Tiny Tim”.
Where does Scrooge eat Christmas dinner in Stave 5?
At his nephew Fred’s house.
What does Scrooge do when Bob arrives late on Boxing Day?
Pretends to be angry, then raises his salary.
What is Scrooge’s first name?
Ebenezer.
What was Jacob Marley’s relationship to Scrooge?
His business partner; the firm is “Scrooge and Marley”.
What is Bob Cratchit’s job?
Scrooge’s clerk, working in a cold “Tank” next to Scrooge’s office.
How much does Scrooge pay Bob Cratchit?
Fifteen shillings a week.
What is the name of Scrooge’s nephew?
Fred.
Who was Fred’s mother?
Fan, Scrooge’s sister, who died as a young woman.
Which Cratchit uses a crutch and has his limbs supported by an iron frame?
Tiny Tim.
Which Cratchit daughter is a poor apprentice at a milliner’s?
Martha, the eldest daughter.
Which Cratchit son wears his father’s monstrous shirt collar?
Master Peter Cratchit.
Who is Fezziwig?
The kind old merchant to whom the young Scrooge was apprenticed.
Who was Scrooge’s fellow apprentice at Fezziwig’s?
Dick Wilkins.
Why does Belle call herself a “dowerless” girl?
She is poor: she has no dowry to bring to a marriage.
Which guest at Fred’s party chases the plump sister at blind-man’s buff?
Topper, a bachelor friend.
Who is Old Joe?
A grey-haired dealer who buys stolen goods in a filthy shop (Stave 4).
What is Mrs Dilber’s job?
Laundress.
What does the Ghost of Christmas Past look like?
Like a child yet an old man, with light shining from its head.
What does the Ghost of Christmas Present wear?
A green robe bordered with white fur, and a holly wreath on its head.
What is empty in the Ghost of Christmas Present’s rusty scabbard?
It holds no sword.
How does the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come communicate?
It never speaks; it only points with one outstretched hand.
What does the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come wear?
A deep black hooded garment that hides all but one hand.
Poverty: what does Scrooge suggest the poor should do if they would rather die than enter workhouses?
Die, and “decrease the surplus population” (Stave 1).
Social responsibility: which ghost says “Mankind was my business”?
Marley’s Ghost (Stave 1).
Social responsibility: whose words does the Ghost of Christmas Present quote back at Scrooge?
Scrooge’s own: “surplus population” and “Are there no prisons?”
Poverty: which two children represent the effects of neglecting the poor?
Ignorance and Want (Stave 3).
Poverty: which of the two children does the Ghost say to beware “most of all”?
The boy, Ignorance.
Greed: what “idol” does Belle say has displaced her?
“A golden one”: money.
Greed: what does Belle call Scrooge’s “master-passion”?
Gain.
Generosity: whose torch sprinkles good humour onto poor people’s dinners?
The Ghost of Christmas Present’s (Stave 3).
Christmas spirit: which employer throws a Christmas Eve ball for his workers?
Fezziwig (Stave 2).
Christmas spirit: which character keeps inviting Scrooge to dinner every year despite his refusals?
His nephew, Fred.
Family: which family is poor but “happy, grateful, pleased with one another”?
The Cratchits (Stave 3).
Isolation: who is “Quite alone in the world” when Belle’s husband sees him on Christmas Eve?
Scrooge, as Marley lies dying (Stave 2).
Death: who are the only people to show emotion at the dead man’s death in Stave 4?
Caroline and her husband, and the emotion is pleasure.
Religion: which Bible verse does Peter Cratchit read after Tiny Tim’s death?
“And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them.”
Redemption: what does Scrooge become to Tiny Tim at the end?
“a second father”.
When was A Christmas Carol published?
December 1843.
When did Charles Dickens live?
1812 to 1870.
Which monarch was on the throne when the novel was published?
Queen Victoria (reigned 1837–1901).
Where was Dickens’s father imprisoned for debt in 1824?
The Marshalsea debtors’ prison in London.
Where did Dickens work aged 12, while his father was in prison?
Warren’s Blacking factory, pasting labels on pots of boot polish.
Which 1834 law set up the Victorian workhouse system?
The Poor Law Amendment Act.
Which economist’s ideas are echoed in Scrooge’s “surplus population”?
Thomas Malthus.
Which charity schools for poor children did Dickens visit in 1843?
The Ragged Schools, including Field Lane in London.
Which 1843 government report on child labour shocked Dickens?
The Children’s Employment Commission report.
In which part of London does Bob Cratchit live?
Camden Town, where Dickens lived as a boy.
What punishment machine does Scrooge ask about, alongside the Poor Law?
The Treadmill, used in prisons.
What two words does Scrooge reply to Fred’s “A merry Christmas, uncle!”?
“Bah!” and “Humbug!” (Stave 1).
Complete the quotation: “secret, and self-contained, and solitary …”
“… as an oyster.” The narrator on Scrooge (Stave 1).
Complete the quotation: “Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out …”
“… generous fire.” The narrator on Scrooge (Stave 1).
Complete the quotation: “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, …”
“… old sinner!” The narrator on Scrooge (Stave 1).
Complete the quotation: “Darkness is cheap, …”
“… and Scrooge liked it.” The narrator (Stave 1).
Who says “every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding”?
Scrooge, to Fred (Stave 1).
Who describes people as “fellow-passengers to the grave” at Christmas?
Fred, defending Christmas to Scrooge (Stave 1).
Who asks “Are there no prisons?”
Scrooge, to the charity collectors (Stave 1); the Ghost of Christmas Present repeats it (Stave 3).
Complete the quotation: “If they would rather die, … they had better do it, and …”
“… decrease the surplus population.” Scrooge (Stave 1).
Who says “I wear the chain I forged in life”?
Marley’s Ghost (Stave 1).
Complete the quotation: “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was …”
“… my business.” Marley’s Ghost (Stave 1).
Who says “A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still”?
The Ghost of Christmas Past, at the school (Stave 2).
Who says “Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like Heaven!”?
Fan, fetching Scrooge from school (Stave 2).
Complete the quotation: “The happiness he gives, is quite as great as …”
“… if it cost a fortune.” Scrooge, about Fezziwig (Stave 2).
Who says “Another idol has displaced me”?
Belle, to the young Scrooge (Stave 2).
Who says “Come in! and know me better, man!”?
The Ghost of Christmas Present (Stave 3).
Who says “God bless us every one!”?
Tiny Tim, at the Cratchits’ Christmas dinner (Stave 3).
Complete the quotation: “I see a vacant seat … in the poor chimney-corner, and …”
“… a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved.” The Ghost of Christmas Present (Stave 3).
Which ghost calls Scrooge “the Insect on the leaf”?
The Ghost of Christmas Present (Stave 3).
Who toasts Scrooge as “the Founder of the Feast”?
Bob Cratchit (Stave 3).
Who calls Scrooge an “odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man”?
Mrs Cratchit (Stave 3).
Complete the quotation: “This boy is Ignorance. …”
“… This girl is Want.” The Ghost of Christmas Present (Stave 3).
Complete the quotation: “Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, …”
“… wolfish.” The narrator describing Ignorance and Want (Stave 3).
Who says “Old Scratch has got his own at last, hey?”
A wealthy businessman, about the dead man (Stave 4).
Who says “He frightened every one away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead!”?
The charwoman, in Old Joe’s shop (Stave 4).
Complete the quotation: “plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, …”
“… uncared for.” The dead man’s body (Stave 4).
Complete the quotation: “I am not the man I was. …”
“… I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse.” Scrooge (Stave 4).
Complete the quotation: “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and …”
“… try to keep it all the year.” Scrooge (Stave 4).
Complete the quotation: “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, …”
“… I am as merry as a schoolboy.” Scrooge (Stave 5).
Complete the quotation: “he knew how to keep Christmas well, if …”
“… any man alive possessed the knowledge.” The narrator (Stave 5).
What form is A Christmas Carol?
A novella.
What are the five chapters of A Christmas Carol called?
Staves: a stave is a verse of a song or carol.
What subtitle did Dickens give A Christmas Carol?
A Ghost Story of Christmas.
What is the novel’s opening sentence?
“Marley was dead: to begin with.”
What kind of narrator tells the story?
An intrusive first-person narrator, who speaks directly to the reader.
Which simile compares Scrooge to a shellfish?
“solitary as an oyster” (Stave 1).
What weather surrounds Scrooge’s counting-house in Stave 1?
Fog and bitter cold: pathetic fallacy.
What weather greets Scrooge from his window in Stave 5?
“No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold”.
Which two characters are personified ideas, making the scene an allegory?
Ignorance and Want (Stave 3).
What structural device repeats Scrooge’s own Stave 1 words back at him?
Cyclical structure: the Ghost of Christmas Present quotes “surplus population” and “Are there no prisons?”
What line ends the novel?
“God bless Us, Every One!”, as Tiny Tim observed.