Mr. Chase
English 7
A Christmas Carol:
Ebenezer Scrooge Characterization Essay
Due Date: Wednesday, December 21st!
Assignment: As we have read A Christmas Carol by Israel Horovitz, we have seen Scrooge change in
many ways. I would like you to write an essay in which you tell 1) what Scrooge was like before he
changed, 2) what made Mr. Scrooge change, and 3) the effects of his change. This essay will count as a
test grade, and it must be typed and uploaded to turnitin.com! We will have an in-class writing
workshop Friday, December 16th, and a peer editing session Monday, December 19th.
The Essay Structure:
Intro: Start your essay identifying the author, title of the play, and character of Ebenezer Scrooge. Your
thesis will be the last sentence of your intro and it should describe Scrooge’s transformation.
Paragraph Two: Tell what Scrooge was like before he changed. Use specific examples and quotes from
the play to describe his character.
Paragraph Three: Tell what characters and experiences made Mr. Scrooge change. Again, give specific
examples and quotes from the play to describe his change.
Paragraph Four: Explain the effects of Scrooge’s change for him and those around him. Again, give
specific examples and quotes from the play to describe the effects of his change.
Conclusion: Write a conclusion in which you restate your main ideas and connect them to one (or
multiple) life lesson(s).
Grading Rubric:
 Introduction with title, author, character, thesis
 Three body paragraphs with specific examples and quotes
 Conclusion summarizes essay and connects to life lesson
 Final Grade:
+
=
out of 20 points
out of 60 points
out of 20 points
out of 100 points
Grammar & Formatting Checklist:
 I have not used improper personal pronouns (I, me, my, you, your, we, our, etc.). (NPP!)
 I have not used any contractions (won’t, can’t, don’t, etc.) in my essay. (NC!)
 I have read my final paper out loud to catch typos and grammar mistakes. (ROL?)
 I have stated my one-sentence thesis as the last sentence of my intro. (TS?)
 My topic sentences describe my argument for each body paragraph. (CTS!)
 I have quotes from the play in each body paragraph to support my examples. (QUOTES?)
 My quotes are properly introduced and punctuated. (IQ! or PQ!)
 I have used proper MLA Format like the sample essay. (MLA!)
 I have typed and uploaded my essay to turnitin.com! (NO UPLOAD!)
 I have signed and attached this checklist to my essay. (NO CHECKLIST!)
Signature:
TURN OVER FOR EXCERPTS OF A SAMPLE ESSAY!
Jeff Smith
Mr. Chase
English 7
19 December 2011
Smith 1
Holling Hoodhood: Daring to Choose a Happy Ending
In Gary Schmidt’s novel The Wednesday Wars, the first day of seventh grade goes rather
poorly for Holling Hoodhood. He is the only Presbyterian in a class of Italian Catholic and
Jewish students, and he is pretty sure that his teacher, Mrs. Baker, already hates him. When he
returns home from school on that first day with his tale of woe, his mom does not seem attentive,
his dad only cares about architecture contracts, and his sister says that she also “hates his guts”
(Schmidt 8). Holling certainly has his share of friendship and family difficulties, but he
undergoes an amazing transformation throughout the course of the book. In The Wednesday
Wars, Holling Hoodhood goes from being an insecure boy to a young man who dares to choose
his own happy ending.
At the beginning of the novel, Holling is only a timid seventh grader and “the Son Who Is
Going to Inherit Hoodhood and Associates” (Schmidt 9). Holling’s father, Mr. Hoodhood, has
essentially planned out Holling’s entire life and career for him, yet he never really listens to his
son. Holling is afraid of his father, and he asks his sister in the beginning of the story why she
rebels against Mr. Hoodhood. She replies, “To let him know that I don’t like being told who I
am, and who I’m going to be” (Schmidt 37). Before Holling fully understands her response, he
feels trapped by his father’s ambitions, like the tragic character Shylock in The Merchant of
Venice. To make matters worse, his relationships with his teacher and classmates do not seem
much more promising in the first few chapters. Holling thinks his teacher, Mrs. Baker, is
constantly plotting his demise; however, in reality, she is just worried about her husband in
Vietnam and frustrated because she has to keep Holling busy on Wednesday afternoons.
Holling’s closest friends, Danny Hupfer, Meryl Lee, and Mai Thi, give him “death threats” over
cream puffs and often act like they hate him. Holling summarizes these middle-school, love-hate
relationships well when he says, “Love and hate in seventh grade are not that far apart, let me tell
you” (Schmidt 11). Throughout much of the book, these conflicts look like they will force
Holling into a tragic mold where he will become what “everyone expected him to become”
(Schmidt 154).
***
By the end of the book, Holling becomes a man who sacrifices for others and makes his
own decisions. After telling his father at Temple Beth-El that he was going to “choose for
himself” who he would become, Holling’s life switched courses from a tragedy to a comedy
(Schmidt 262). At the end of the story, Mrs. Baker offers a definition of a comedy that describes
Holling’s life thereafter: “A comedy is about characters who dare to know that they may choose
a happy ending after all” (Schmidt 262). Through both his struggles and triumphs, Holling learns
two valuable lessons: life is about making personal decisions and sacrificing for others!
Works Cited
Schmidt, Gary. The Wednesday Wars. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.