A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
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1812-1870
Born and lived in
London, England
Writer
16 Major Novels
Revolutionized novel
writing
A civil rights leader
for the poor
Debtors Prison
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Son of John and
Elizabeth Dickens
Father went into debt
Parents sent to
debtors prison
Charles removed from
school
Forced to work at
blacking factory to
pay off parents debt
Words Used in Time
Overnight Bestseller
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Published December 19, 1843
Sold 8,000 copies in first week
Many people were illiterate
People either read it or had it read to them
Known as “the little book”
Instant success
Today more copies than any other book except
the Bible
1843 London
Dickens London
Ebenezer Scrooge
Marley the Ghost
Not this Marley
Ghost of Christmas Past
Ghost of Christmas Present
Ghost of Christmas Future..
(yet to come)
Stave = Chapter
Carol as in a song… think
Christmas Carolers
 Stave is a section of
music
 Chapters called Stave
1,2,3,4, and 5
 Each stave is for a
different ghost
 Stave 1 is the exposition
 Stave 5 is the resolution
 According to Ms. Garvin
it’s very symphonic…
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Long Lasting Effects
Made people want and learn to read
 Created social awareness of poverty
 Created social awareness of child labor
 Created social awareness of orphans
 People reacted
 Social classicism was identified
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Influence on Christmas
Not a novel about religion
or Christmas, but ended
up revolutionizing the
holiday
 Christmas celebration in
decline before novel
 Industrial revolution
(work) allowed little time
for workers to celebrate
 Dickens and his novel had
more influence on
Christmas than any other
person except one
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Oh, and…Santa Claus
Dickens says…
“The holidays are 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 other
people below them as if they really were fellowpassengers to the grave, and not another race
of creatures bound on other journeys".
 This was what Dickens described for the rest of
his life as the "Carol Philosophy".
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Father Christmas
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Dickens' name had
become so synonymous
with Christmas that on
hearing of his death in
1870 a little
costermonger's girl in
London asked, "Mr.
Dickens dead?
Then will Father
Christmas die
too?"