Paper 2 Section a 19Th Century Fiction

Paper 2 Section A – 19 th Century Fiction

There are two parts to the question:

Part A: An extract from the novel where you must show your knowledge of the text and analyse the language.

Part B: A question on how an idea (eg poverty, setting, charity, isolation, family) in the extract is shown in other places in the novel.

Each section is worth 20 marks

You should spend about 1 hour.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ‘A CHRISTMAS CAROL’

Social Context

Dickens’ view of poverty and inequality:

Dickens had experienced poverty during his childhood and many events from Dickens’ background are shown in the novella. He had to work from the age of 12 when his father was sent prison for debt. Later, he worked as a court reporter and this allowed him to see the harsh justice system in action. This shaped his opinion on inequality in VICTORIAN society.

Poverty was a huge issue. Vast slums had built up where factory workers lived and many people lived in squalor with very poor sanitation. To deal with this, the government passed THE POOR LAW in 1834. This meant that any able-bodied, unemployed people would be supported only if they went to a WORKHOUSE which was deliberately harsh place to live and work in. Families were separated and the food was basic in order to discourage the ‘lazy poor’ from choosing to go there. DICKENS DISAPPROVED OF THIS LAW. He believed EDUCATION was a route out of poverty. He became involved in RAGGED SCHOOLS which provided poor children a basic education.

Christmas and The Family:

Dickens contrasts Scrooge’s ISOLATION with vibrant family gatherings for example The Cratchits, Fred’s family and The Fezziwigs. This is intended to show us the benefits of having a close and loving family and that you don’t need money to be happy. Dickens is often credited with inventing the Christmas we know today. The descriptions of shared family meals, turkey and stuffing and games have become the key features of a modern Christmas. The most important aspect Dickens has influenced was the idea of goodwill to all; in Victorian England many people including employers like Scrooge, did not do anything special for Christmas at all.

Plot and Action

The Preface:

Dickens speaks directly to the reader and tells them that his story has a message.

This shows that Dickens is the narrator and also introduces the theme of ghosts. Telling ghost stories at Christmas was a Victorian tradition.

Stave one: Marley’s Ghost:

 The reader is introduced to Ebenezer Scrooge who only cares about making money. It is Christmas Eve and he won’t pay to heat the office properly. His clerk, Bob Cratchit is cold but doesn’t complain.

 Scrooge has four Christmas visitors: his nephew Fred; ‘what reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.’ Two charity collectors ‘are there no prisons?’ and a carol singer who ‘fled in terror’. Scrooge makes it clear he wants to be alone ‘Bah humbug!’

 That night the Ghost of Jacob Marley, his dead business partner, appears. He tells Scrooge that his mean way of life will mean he will never be at peace in death and that three ghosts will visit him to show him the error of his ways.

Stave 2: The First of the Three Spirits:

 The Ghost of Christmas past shows Scrooge his unhappy, lonely childhood.

 They visit the home of Scrooge’s first employer, The Fezziwigs, who are holding a party for their employees and ‘shone in every part of the dance like moons’. Scrooge notices how people can be happy without money.  Scrooge sees himself as a young man with his fiancé Belle. She breaks off the engagement because she thinks he loves money more than hers.

Stave 3: The Second of the Three Spirits:

 The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to visit Christmas preparations at the Cratchits’ house. Scrooge learns that Tiny Tim will not survive unless the future changes. This upsets Scrooge.

 The Ghost takes Scrooge to see different groups of people enjoying themselves at Christmas. Scrooge sees his nephew Fred with his family. They are discussing Scrooge and Fred is full of pity for him.

 At the end of the night, the ghost shows Scrooge two children: a boy called IGNORANCE and a girl called WANT. The Ghost says they belong to Man and warns Scrooge to beware of them both, but especially the boy ‘for on his brow I see that written which is Doom’. When Scrooge asks ‘Have they no refuge or resource?’, the Ghost repeats Scrooge’s words from Stave One ‘Are there no prisons…Are there no workhouses?’.

Stave 4: The Last of the Spirits:

 The mysterious Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come takes Scrooge into the future to witness different conversations about a dead man. No-one cares that he has died and thieves have so little respect that they have stolen the clothes from his corpse.

 In contrast, the Ghost then takes Scrooge to see the Cratchits who are deeply upset because Tiny Tim has died.

 Finally, Scrooge is shown a gravestone with his own name on it. He realises the dead man whom the people were talking about. He promises to change his ways.

Stave 5: The End of It:

 Scrooge wakes up in his own bed back in the present. Scrooge is delighted to be given a second chance and makes Christmas happy for everyone. He sends a turkey to the Cratchits, gives money to the charity collectors and joins Fred for Christmas. The next day, he raises Bob’s wages ‘Make up the fires, and but another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!’. He promises to be ‘a second father’, to Tiny Tim ‘who did not die’.

 Scrooge’s REDEMPTION is complete ‘He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.’

CHARACTERS

Ebenezer Scrooge:

At the start of the novella, Scrooge is presented as a mean and miserable man who is described as ‘sharp as flint’. He only cares about making money. All of the action in the novella revolves around him. Dickens uses the Ghosts to gradually change Scrooge until he is finally transformed to a joyous man who needed ‘no further intercourse with Spirits.’ His purpose in the novel is to show how people can change.

Jacob Marley:

Marley was Scrooge’s business partner who Dickens humorously describes as ‘dead as a doornail’. He is tormented by his past miserly behaviour ‘No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse’ and acts as a WARNING to Scrooge not to repeat his mistakes. He longs for REDEMPTION saying ‘I wear the chain I forged in life…I made it link by link’.

The Ghosts of Christmas:

The Ghosts act as METAPHORS for Scrooge’s life. The represent what he has been, what he is and what he will become if he doesn’t change.

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST is a strange figure ‘like a child yet not so like a child as like an old man’ who shows how past experiences have influenced what Scrooge has become. These include his lonely childhood, his past relationships and a time when Scrooge was young and ambitious. He also shows him that his fiancé Belle married and had a happy life. THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT personifies GENEROSITY but despite his luxurious appearance he conceals the harsh realities of Victorian life in the form of IGNORANCE and WANT.

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS YET TO COME shows that the future is uncertain and depends on our current actions. He is a mysterious character that personifies death he is described as ‘shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form’. He is a ‘silent shape’ who forces Scrooge to see what the consequences of his behaviour could be.

Bob Cratchit:

Bob is Scrooge’s clerk and represents the WORKING CLASSES. He has to accept low wages and poor working conditions because he has a family to support. If he had no job he would be sent to a workhouse. He is the loving father that Scrooge never had and his family is happy despite being so poor.

Scrooge’s nephew, the only son of Scrooge’s sister Fan is a vehicle for Dickens’ views about Christmas. He is the opposite of Scrooge, demonstrating how we should behave towards each other. He personifies GENEROSITY ‘I’ll keep my Christmas humour to the last’. He welcomes Scrooge into his family’s Christmas without question.

YOU MUST KNOW THE NOVEL REALLY WELL SO THAT YOU CAN REFER TO SPECIFIC EVENTS TO SUPPORT WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT DICKENS’ IDEAS ABOUT VICTORIAN SOCIETY AND HOW HE USES LANGUAGE AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE NOVEL TO SHOW THEM.

Learn as many of these quotes as you can to SUPPORT your ideas and show you can analyse language using technical vocabulary!

Narrative Voice

Dickens creates an INTRUSIVE NARRATOR making sure he highlights his political opinion about the treatment of the poor ‘he poked the fire, and extinguished the last frail spark forever’. This also ensures the reader dislikes Scrooge from the beginning ‘Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, covetous old sinner!’ This is established in the preface when Dickens directly addresses the reader.

Characternym

Dickens often uses the characters’ names to reflect their personality. For example, THE CRATCHITS, their name links to them scratching out a living and only surviving through the support of each other, like a crutch.

Simile

Scrooge is described as being ‘solitary as an oyster’ implying his is closed and will only be opened by force. However, an oyster may contain a pearl so there could be good buried deep inside him.

Personification

The description of the bell at the start of the novella ‘always peeping slily down at Scrooge…became invisible.’ This suggests that Scrooge is becoming further from God and Christian morality which is a central idea in the novella.

Pathetic fallacy

Dickens gives human qualities to natural objects. When portraying the Cratchits preparing for Christmas he describes how the potatoes were ‘bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan lid to be let out and peeled’. This creates a humorous image of excitement and adds to the jolly atmosphere in The Cratchits’ home.

Sentence style

There are a range of sentences in the novel. Short exclamations are often used to show emotion both in narration and dialogue. For example, when Bob cries ‘My little, little child!’ in Stave 4 at Tiny Tim’s death. This helps to convey his distress and emphasises how he cannot speak fluently. Long compound sentences that include lists help to create a sense of plenty and fun at the Fezziwig’s party ‘There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances’ the repetition of ‘and’ implies a never ending list the narrator can only just keep up with what is happening. NOTE THIS IS A COMMON FEATURE OF 19TH CENTURY FICTION SO REMEMBER FOR YOUR LANGUAGE PAPER 1!!

Warm and Cold Imagery

Dickens uses dark and cold imagery to emphasise Scrooge’s miserable character ‘No warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him.’ In contrast, Fred is described as ‘all in a glow’ showing his kind character. There are many examples of wintery weather ‘The fog and darkness thickened’ and ‘The cold became intense’ to mirror the effects of the poverty whereas in Stave 3, when describing shopkeepers, the fruiters’ are described as ‘radiant in their glory’ reflecting their happiness at the prospect of Christmas.

REMEMBER YOU MUST BE ABLE TO SHOW YOU UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT DICKENS WAS TRYING TO CREATE.

Further revision resources can be found at: w ww.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_ literature www.thestudentroom.co.uk www. sparknotes .com

WWW. 9-1 Study guides for CGP and York Notes are available at around £5.00 from Amazon, Waterstones’ and WH Smiths.