Name: ______________________________
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – Final Work
Please answer the following questions in complete sentences or in chart form when necessary. Your responses
should show understanding and insight. Question one must be answered – then choose four of the remaining
questions to address.
1. *This story is an allegory – “a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden
meaning, typically a moral or political one.” How does A Christmas Carol fit that definition?
What life lesson does it teach? Is this lesson relevant today?
2. Create a chart or write an essay in which you compare and contrast the appearance, behavior,
and character of the three Spirits, as you remember how they were described in the book.
3. Why do you think this story is considered a classic? (What is a classic?) Why do you think this
story is still read today? Why has it been copied so many times?
4. Explain Dickens’s Preface message now that you’ve read the book: I have endeavored in the is
Ghostly little book, to rise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with
themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their house pleasantly, and no one
wish to lay it. Include examples from the novel and from your life in your response.
5. Dickens’s character Scrooge is a round and dynamic character. What does that mean? How
does Dickens do this?
6. When A Christmas Carol was first published, the last two sections of the book were combined.
Dickens later separated "The End of It." Why do you think Dickens originally placed the visit of
the third Spirit and Christmas morning together? Do you think separating the events was a good
idea?
7. A Christmas Carol is filled with symbolism, metaphors, similes, and numerous other literary
techniques. Why do you think Dickens did this? Name and comment on a few that stand out in
your mind.
8. Sometimes we all forget what is really important. Imagine you were visited by three ghosts –
what might they show to you and what might you learn from their visits?
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9.
Read the last few pages of Chapter XXVIII and all of Chapter XXIX of Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick
Papers. Describe the parallels between the story of Gabriel Grub and the goblins and the story of
Ebenezer Scrooge and the Spirits. What is significant about the title of the song Mr. Wardle sang before
he told his story? Why do you think Dickens returned to this earlier story when casting about for ideas for
a Christmas story?
10. Read (watch) Oliver Twist, also by Charles Dickens. Do you notice any similarities in the writing style?
Theme? Plot? Characters?