AQA GCSE English Literature: A Christmas Carol

It’s completely fine if you’ve learned quotes and analyses different to these - these are just the ones I’m learning. They are from the YouTube channel DystopiaJunkie. Not necessarily aligned to the specification, because all the spec says is ‘A Christmas Carol’. I should probably add more. For cards whose terms are characters, the definitions are quotes for that character. For cards whose terms are quotes, the definitions are analysis for that quote.

Ghost of Christmas Past

'It was a strange figure - like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man'

‘The Ghost stopped at a certain warehouse door, and asked Scrooge if he knew it'

‘But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to observe what happened next.'

Ghost of Christmas Present

'The sight of these poor revellers appeared to interest the Spirit very much, for he [...] sprinkled incense on their dinners from his torch.'

'If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population'

('You are more worthless and less fit to live than millions')

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

'The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.'

'Spectre' and 'Phantom'

'The kind hand trembled'

The Cratchits

Bob: 'The clerk observed that it was only once a year'

Bob: ‘[Bob] had a momentary idea of [...] calling to the people in the court for help and a straight-waistcoat'

Tiny Tim: ‘He hoped the people saw him […] and […] remember […] who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.’

Tiny Tim: ‘God bless us everyone!’

Fred

'He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost'

‘A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, wherever he is!'

'It was a strange figure - like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man'

Contradictions: young and old, unfulfilled and fulfilled potential. Many examples (emphasising), but I don't have time for that. Could be anything - potential. Oxymoronic. Role: Scrooge was young - had potential. Ethereal/supernatural: power imbalance, Scrooge should learn from it.

'The Ghost stopped at a certain warehouse door, and asked Scrooge if he knew it'

Indefinite article 'a' instead of definite article 'the', therefore omniscient. Link to power imbalance

'But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to observe what happened next.'

Pinion: restrain, spirit exerts physical force to ensure Scrooge learns (didactic!). But pinion: remove joint therefore birds cannot fly - Scrooge is defenceless like a bird, Ghost is cruel

'The sight of these poor revellers appeared to interest the Spirit very much, for he [...] sprinkled incense on their dinners from his torch.'

Jolly, helping the poor message, Dickens showing how being generous is good because he is jolly. Link to Victorian and God. FOIL teaches

'If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population'

Spirit turns nasty, shows just how awful Scrooge's views are, link to misers and Malthusian theory. 'You are more worthless and less fit to live than millions' shows how money does not give his life value or meaning

'The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.'

'Point' means it is teaching Scrooge - didactic. Also Holy Spirit - brings Scrooge back to life

'Spectre' and 'Phantom'

First two are only for Jacob Marley and Ghost of YtC - particularly scary/ominous. Makes sense for Jacob as he is the first, but for YtC it must be because it is especially disturbing

'The kind hand trembled'

Happens when Scrooge questions if it is possible to change. 'Trembles' - weakness. Future version of Scrooge if he didn't change: the less possible it is to continue, the weaker the Ghost. Scrooge would have been cursed like Marley. This is why it does not reveal its identity

'The clerk observed that it was only once a year'

Bob has no voice, therefore meek and subservient (Also, the fact that he's asking for time off on Christmas Day is quite indicative...)

'[Bob] had a momentary idea of [...] calling to the people in the court for help and a straight-waistcoat'

Even when presented with an opportunity, he is still meek and subservient. Therefore maybe he believes social mobility is impossible? Link to Dickens' fluctuating social status

'He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost'

'Heated' shows Fred as a direct opposite to Scrooge - 'external heat and cold has little influence on him'. Antithesis, foil.

'A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, wherever he is!'

Further exemplifies Fred's kindness, as despite jokingly calling him an ass just before, he still genuinely wishes good on him.

Scrooge

'secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster'

'If they would rather die [...] they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population'

'Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him'

'Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror'

'I am as light as a feather'

'secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster'

Simile, triadic structure, sibilance (s) Each word points towards misanthropy Sibilance is eerie, oyster - unpleasant (bottom of the sea), but hidden pearl - potential for better, even from the start

'If they would rather die [...] they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population'

No sympathy (encourages), also 'surplus' - sees them as numbers not people, Malthusian theory (more people, more poverty), Dickens demonises this by Scrooge being bad. Also are there no prisons

'Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him'

Trembled - so fearful that he cannot control his body, showing redemption, or at least the chance of it. Also, 'silent' juxtaposes with him being happy to be alone in Stave 1. therefore also showing redemption.

'Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror'

Another example of redemption, as he is now shocked at people profiting off a dead man, when he did the same: 'solemnised it with an undoubted bargain'

‘I am as light as a feather’

Simile - the referent (the feather) is an extreme example, therefore even more joy. Juxtaposes with ‘the weight and length of [Marley’s] strong coil’

‘He hoped the people saw him […] and […] remember […] who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.’

‘God bless us everyone!’

He hopes his presence might bring others kindness and joy as he might remind them of Jesus. Tiny Tim is a good Christian, and Dickens suggests throughout the story that following Christian teachings leads to becoming a good person - TT is perhaps the purest character.

Tiny Tim’s disability makes him a symbol of poverty and class disparity.

‘Everyone’ - He wishes for his blessings to extend to the entirety of humanity, regardless of gender, age, class, wealth or level of kindness.

Although it is not explicitly mentioned, critics believe he suffered from a treatable condition (fatal if not treated). With enough money of course.