3.1.2.2The novel at a glance
On Christmas Eve the miserly Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his partner Marley, who warns him of the fate awaiting him. Three spirits follow: Christmas Past shows him his lonely childhood and the love he lost; Christmas Present shows him the Cratchits and the children Ignorance and Want; Christmas Yet To Come shows him his own unmourned death. Scrooge wakes transformed and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim.
Published in 1843. The 1834 Poor Law had forced the destitute into workhouses, and Dickens had visited a Ragged School shortly before writing. Malthusian arguments held that helping the poor only increased their numbers, and Scrooge's 'decrease the surplus population' quotes that position directly.
- the workhouse
- an institution where the destitute were housed in return for labour, deliberately made harsh
- Malthusian
- following Malthus's argument that population growth should not be relieved by charity
- allegory
- a story in which characters and events stand for ideas, as Ignorance and Want do
3.1.2.2Characters
Scrooge is established completely before any change begins, which is why the opening portrait is so extended. His childhood explains rather than excuses him, and that is what keeps him redeemable.
The Cratchits are the argument in human form. They are not idealised as noble poor; they are poor, and happy despite it, which is a different and more pointed claim.
Marley is the warning example, shown before Scrooge can learn the lesson, and his chain is made of the instruments of his own business.
3.1.2.2Themes
Redemption is the novella's structure as well as its theme: past, present and future give the moral argument its shape.
Poverty is the target. Ignorance and Want make abstract social forces physically present, and the Ghost's warning that Ignorance is the greater danger identifies education as the remedy Dickens wants.
Social responsibility is stated outright by Marley, who redefines 'business' as mankind.
Common mistake
Treating the novella as a seasonal story about being nice. Dickens is attacking a named economic position, and Scrooge's early lines quote it almost verbatim.
3.1.2.2The writer's methods
The narrator addresses the reader directly, which is the voice of a fable rather than a novel. The five staves are named like the parts of a carol, and the exuberant comedy of Stave Five rewards the reader as well as Scrooge. Dickens's characteristic method is accumulation: lists of adjectives and present participles that make a quality continuous rather than occasional.
Worked example
Answer:
- The past, present and future structure carries the moral argument
- Ignorance and Want name education as the remedy
- Marley redefines business as mankind
- Dickens is attacking a specific economic argument
AO1-AO4How this text is examined
This text is examined in Paper 1, Section B. The question is worth 30 marks and an extract from the novel is printed, and the question asks you to start with that extract and then write about the novel as a whole. Allow about 50 minutes.
The marks are divided as AO1 12 marks, AO2 12 marks, AO3 6 marks. AO1 rewards a clear argument supported by well-chosen references. AO2 rewards analysis of how the writer achieves an effect, which means writing about choices rather than about events. AO3 rewards context used to deepen a reading of the text.
Common mistake
Retelling the plot. Narrative summary earns nothing under any assessment objective, however accurate it is. Every paragraph should be making a point about how or why, not about what happens.