A Christmas Carol LAQs

General:
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

Ebenezer Scrooge is a grumpy old man who doesn’t think much of Chrismas. “A covetous old sinner” who isn’t very nice to the people around him. One night when he gets home his old friend Jacob Marley’s ghost comes to him telling him to change his ways and to warn him that he will be visited by three ghosts that night. Past Present Future. By the end of the story Scrooge is so shaken by the horrors of what he has become that he turns into a lovely chap who saves Tiny Tim from death.



2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel.
When you are mean to people it isn’t good for you. Especially during Christmas season. Try to love people more than loath them.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
Dickens is always rather peppy. He’ll actually use words we would say to describe things. His voice is very definitively jolly when it needs to be and serious when the mood flips. His tone is one of “hey I have a great story here, so give it a listen if you fancy a good read on this cold winter’s night.”

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. Foreshadowing: "Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went; and following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, EBENEZER SCROOGE." The ghost of Christmas yet to come shows Scrooge his grave.

Concrete Language: "Holding up his hands in a last prayer to have his fate reversed, he saw an alteration in the Phantom’s hood and dress. It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost." This quote is telling us what happened, instead of talking about an idea or belief.
Simile: "Every time he resolved within himself, after mature inquiry, that it was all a dream, his mind flew back again, like a strong spring released, to its first position, and presented the same problem to be worked all through, 'Was it a dream or not?'" (The First of the Three Spirits)
Aphorism: "But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."
Amplification:
 “Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are!” said Mrs. Cratchit, kissing her a dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonnet for her with officious zeal." I think this was meant to show just how jolly the Cratchits are, even though their circumstances are not ideal.
Foil: Scrooge's nephew is his foil. They are exact opposites when the story begins. One loves Christmas and the other hates it. In the end however, Scrooge conforms and approaches the day with a happy heart.
Repetition: "Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and thought, and thought it over and over and over, and could make nothing of it." (The First of Three Spirits)
Syntax: “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."
Allusion: "For they were a musical family, and knew what they were about, when they sung a Glee or Catch." Glee and Catch was a new form of music at the time.
Caricature: “Oh!  But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” (Marley's Ghost)

CHARACTERIZATION 



1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?


“Oh!  But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” (Marley's Ghost)

This quote is a direct characterization that tells the reader just how mean Mr. Scrooge was. An Indirect example is at his nephew's party where everyone is insulting Scrooge while he is looking in with the ghost of Christmas present. Some loath him, but his nephew is the only one that takes pity on Scrooge.

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?




Yes, for example when Scrooge is talking he uses many exclamation marks to let the reader know he is a grumpy old chap that needs a good kick in the backside. Whilst the many of the other characters don't exclaim things unless it's to wish someone a Merry Christmas. 
3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.
Scrooge is definitely a dynamic character. He went from screaming "Humbug!" all the time to helping Tiny Tim and making peace with his nephew and wife and giving to the poor. All because of his visitations from the spirits.
4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? 
I felt like I came out of the book with a lesson, but I did like the sentimentality of going back to Scrooge's past and finding pity for him. It was a bit generic. Be righted or get smited.