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