Download dickens christmas carol

A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
About the Author
Charles Dickens
• 1812-1870
• Famous author and social campaigner
• At 12 began working full days at a
warehouse
• Work conditions and cruel treatment
influenced Dickens’ later writings
Birth/ Early Life
• One of eight children
• Favorite pastime when young was reading
• Photographic memory of people he met and
things he read
• Raised in a middle class family
--Family debt forced young
Dickens to begin working
--Father placed in debtor’s
prison
In Victorian England, poor people usually did
not get much help.
Even young children, sick people, and the elderly
went without assistance from the government or
charities.
As a young man, Charles Dickens witnessed a decline in the
traditional celebration of Christmas in England.
Because of the Industrial Revolution, many employers
wouldn’t even give their employees Christmas Day off.
More about the author
Writing
•Wrote most of his stories in short installments for newspapers
•Used cliffhangers- story pauses, leaving character in an
exciting or difficult situation
•Paid by the page– contributes to the length of his stories
Important Works
•
•
•
•
Great Expectations
A Tale of Two Cities
Oliver Twist
A Christmas Carol
•David Copperfield
•Pictures from Italy
•A Trial for Murder
Death
• Died of a stroke after working on his last
novel Edwin Drode
• Died exactly 5 years after being in a train
accident
Dickens’ writings
Social Commentary
• Disliked the division
between social classes
in Victorian England
• Felt that the poor were
treated unfairly
• Advocate for charity
Victorian Christmas Traditions
• Many Christmas
traditions celebrated
today were introduced
during Dickens’ time
•Decorating Christmas trees
•Christmas cards
•Gift giving from parents to children
•Traditional Christmas carols
•Christmas stories
Charles Dickens had experienced poverty as a child,
and he was very concerned about the poor people
of England.
• He raised money
to help people in
need by reading
A Christmas
Carol at charity
events.
Scrooge’s story brought about
other changes too. For example,
because of the book,
• a home for
• a factory owner
disabled children
began closing
was started
his factory every
Christmas and
giving turkeys to
of all his
employees
Discussion Starters
• Dickens believed
that human beings
were largely
responsible for
society’s ills, such
as poverty, hunger,
and suffering.
• How much
responsibility does
each individual have
to help others in
need?
• How can one person
help make the world a
better place?
Theatre Terms
•Dialogue– words spoken by characters. Preceded by
characters’ names in plays
•Dramatic monologue– speaker in play addresses a silent
listener
•Gesture– physical movement of a character during a play
•Props– articles or objects that appear onstage during a
play
More theatre terms
• Soliloquy– character reveals thoughts by talking aloud to himself;
not meant to be heard by anyone else onstage
• Aside– actor speaks directly to audience; is not heard by others
onstage
• Monologue– only one character speaks; others onstage can hear
him
• Playwright– author of a play
More theatre terms
• Stage directions– comments given by the author to describe
dialogue, setting, and action of a play
• Staging—position of actors on stage, backdrops, costumes, props,
and lighting
• Blocking– movement and position of actors on stage within a scene
• Theme– unifying subject or idea of story
• Symbol– object that stands for something other than itself
• Characterization- The act of creating and
developing a character
• Direct Character- A writer states the characters’
traits or characteristics
• Indirect Character- A writer depends on the
reader to draw conclusions about the character
traits