Student worksheet · Novella in five staves
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens · 1843 · 28,616 words
Name ________________________ Date ________________________
Answer in complete sentences. Give source lines, chapters, parts or staves with each response.
- How do the charity collectors’ visit and Marley’s chain expose different meanings of business? Identify a precise detail from each exchange.
- In Stave Two, contrast the economics of Fezziwig’s party with the parting between Belle and the younger Scrooge.
- Follow one material object at the Cratchits’ dinner. How does Dickens make the reader see both pleasure and shortage without canceling either?
- What is the order in which the last Spirit shows an unregretted death, the Cratchits’ grief and the grave? Why delay the name?
- In Stave Five, identify two acts of repair. How can a reader distinguish a practical act from a kindly intention?
Essay
What does Dickens make Scrooge learn about interpreting evidence before he can spend his money differently? Develop an argument across at least three staves and assess the limits of individual generosity.
Write at least 650 words on separate pages. Develop a thesis, interpret three located passages from different parts of the text, and address a serious counterreading.