Name:_____________________________________ Section:_____________________ Date:__________
A Christmas Carol
Stave One notes
Summary: In Stave One of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, we meet the grumpy, old miser Ebenezer
Scrooge. Scrooge hates Christmas, is very cheap, does not well-wish strangers, and has a cold
personality. At his place of business, we see Scrooge interact with his nephew Fred, his employee Bob
Cratchit, and two gentlemen looking for charitable donations for the holidays. Scrooge treats all of them
with hostility. After grudgingly allowing Cratchit to take off Christmas day, Scrooge returns home only to
be greeted by the ghost of his former business partner and sole friend: Jacob Marley. Marley tells
Scrooge that he will be doomed in the afterlife if he does not change his ways, and that Marley has
secured an opportunity for Scrooge to do just that…if he’s willing to be visited by three ghosts!
The Character
The beginning of the tale wherein we meet
Ebenezer Scrooge
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Ironically makes fun of Cratchit’s wages.
“Are there no prisons?”
Reluctantly gives Cratchit Christmas Day off
Says he “retire to Bedlam,” a mental
institution, because everyone loves Xmas
Sees ghostly image of Marley’s face in the door
knocker, but doesn’t believe his eyes.
Blames Marley’s ghost on undigested food
Has a chain of sins longer than Marley’s
Gets a shot at redemption thanks to Marley
“But you were always a good man of business”
Essential Questions and Notes
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Scrooge’s nephew, Fred
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“I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so
resolute.”
“There are many things from which I might
have derived good by which I have not
profited.”
“What reason have you to be dismal? What
reason have you to be morose? You’re rich
enough.”
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What is Scrooge like? How is he described?
Scrooge is a mean, stingy, old miser
He is cold-hearted, has a cold personality
“No wind that blew is bitterer than he.”
“Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping,
covetous, old sinner.”
None stop Scrooge to ask the
time/directions/how he is; he likes it that way.
Hates his nephew for some reason.
“Bah! Humbug!”
Thinks love is the only thing in the world more
ridiculous than Christmas.
Thinks the poor should die and decrease the
surplus population.
Mean to Bob Cratchit, his employee
Doesn’t give money to charity
How do Scrooge and Fred contrast?
Why is Scrooge so angry with Fred?
Fred and Scrooge are related but seem
completely different.
Fred loves Christmas and has a positive
outlook; invites Scrooge for dinner
Scrooge says to him, “every idiot who goes
about with Merry Christmas on his lips should
be boiled in his own pudding, and buried with
a stake of holly through his heart!”
Fred doesn’t understand why Scrooge hates
him, thinks they’ve never had a fight.
Scrooge says he’d rather see Fred in [heck]
before he’d have dinner with him.
Despite Scrooge’s insults, Fred leaves with his
positivity intact
Name:_____________________________________ Section:_____________________ Date:__________
Scrooge’s employee, Bob Cratchit
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Cratchit is characterized as playful, youthful,
and fun-loving when he goes down ice slides
and runs home to play games with his family
Cratchit cannot afford a coat
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How does Cratchit compare to Fred and
contrast with Scrooge?
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Like Fred, Cratchit has a positive attitude
toward life and Christmas.
Cratchit makes low wages and takes abuse
from Scrooge.
Cratchit claps after Fred’s speech; Scrooge
threatens to fire Bob for it.
Cratchit wants Xmas day off but Scrooge gives
him a hard time about it.
Cratchit only has one line in Stave One of the
novel. “If quite convenient, sir.”
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Two gentlemen looking for
a charitable donation
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In what ways do the men seeking charity
help characterize Scrooge?
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Scrooge is characterized by not giving a
donation to the men. He says the destitute
should die or go to prison.
“Many thousands are in want of common
necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in
want of common comforts, sir.”
It is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly
felt, and Abundance rejoices.”
Scrooge shows sarcasm toward the men.
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After work, Scrooge heads home and finds…
JACOB MARLEY’S GHOST!
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“In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.”
“Man of the worldly mind! Do you believe in
me or not?”
“I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link
by link, and yard by yard.”
“Would you know the weight and length of the
strong coil you bear yourself? It was as heavy
and long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You
have labored on it since. It is a ponderous
chain!”
“Business! Mankind was my business. The
common welfare was my business; charity,
mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all
my business.”
“I am here tonight to warn you, that you have
yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate.”
You will be haunted by Three Spirits.”
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How would you describe Marley?
Why is Marley helping Scrooge?
What is Scrooge’s reaction to Marley’s
ghost and his offer of help?
Marley is Scrooge’s old business partner who
died seven years ago, Christmas Eve. It is vital
for the reader to understand that Marley is
dead (as a doornail!)
Marley first shows as a ghostly image of his
face on Scrooge’s door.
Marley is fettered, transparent, a ghost!
Marley is doomed to wander the earth in the
afterlife, unable to help those in need, and
faces “incessant torture of remorse.”
The links of Marley’s chain represent each bad
thing he did in life.
Attached to the chains Marley wears are items
(money boxes, ledgers, etc.) that symbolize the
source of Marley’s sins.
Scrooge was Marley’s only friend in life (is this
why he helps Scrooge? Or is it because he
doesn’t want to see any go through the
afterlife like him?)
Marley tells Scrooge he has gotten him a shot
at redemption.
Name:_____________________________________ Section:_____________________ Date:__________