AQA GCSE English Literature: A Christmas Carol Key Terms

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound, usually letters in close succession.

Allusion

An indirect reference to a concept or theme without explicit mention.

Anaphora

A word which refers to a previously used word.

Antithesis

Rhetorical device where contrasting concepts are placed together in a text, typically a sentence, to highlight how opposite they are.

Asyndetic Listing

A list broken up by commas rather than conjunctions like 'and'.

Auditory Imagery

Language which appeals to the reader's hearing.

Biblical

Relating to the bible; religious connotations.

Catalyst

A dramatic tool which is used to speed up the plot.

Colloquialism

An informal phrase common at its time of utterance.

Connotation

Using text to create implied meaning without explicitly referring to said meaning.

Didactic

A moral message, meaning to give instructions.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience knows information which the character does not know.

Epitome

A perfect example or embodiment of a concept.

Foreboding

Apprehension that a bad event will occur.

Foreshadowing

An indication that an event will occur later in the narrative.

Hyperbole

Use of exaggerated statements.

Interjection

Sudden remark, used often as an interruption or aside in the text.

Irony

Embedding a meaning by using language typically implying the opposite of what the writer is intending to express, often for a humorous effect.

Juxtaposition

Comparing two concepts, characters, or clauses, in close proximity in a passage for the effect of contrast.

Moral Imperative

An instruction on what is right and wrong.

Olfactory Imagery

Appeals to the reader's sense of smell.

Oxymoron

Two opposing terms are placed next to each other.

Pathetic Fallacy

Attributing human qualities to nonhuman things.

Poetic Justice

This is normally accompanied with some sort of irony, or when characters get what they deserve.

Polysyndetic Listing

Listing using conjunctions such as 'and'.

Prolepsis

A flash forward.

Satire

Criticising people through the use of humour or irony.

Semantic Field

A writer uses words which are linked by a theme or topic throughout a text or passage.

Sibilance

The repetition of an "s" sound in a word, sentence, or section of text.

Stave

In musical notation, a 'stave' is a set of five horizontal lines where music is written.

Syntactic

Relating to the arrangement of words within a sentence within a text.

Symbolism

Using one object or character to represent a wider concept running throughout the novel.

Superlative

An adjective describing the highest degree of what it is.

Temporal Deixis

Language which references or manipulates time.

Tricolon

Three parallel phrases/words are placed in succession within a text, without interruption.

Altruistic Attitude

Behaviour which is based on devotion to others.

Authorial Voice

An authoritative voice, which the Ghosts have in A Christmas Carol.

Dichotomy

Contrast of two beings that are opposed or distinctly different.

Foil

A character which serves to contrast another, to emphasise certain characteristics of the other character.

Idealisation

Imagining something better than it is in reality.

Intrusive Narrator

A narrator who sometimes interrupts the story to give commentary.

Metamorphosis

A transformation or change.

Narrative Arc

The storyline of the novel.

Novella

A short novel roughly 20,000 - 40,000 words.

Omniscient Narrator

A narrator who is all-knowing.

Archetype

The traditional / typical idea of a concept.

Blue Laws

Laws prohibiting leisure on Sundays.

Bob

During the Victorian era, the word 'bob' was often used as a slang word for 'shilling'.

Catharsis

Relief derived from releasing repressed emotions.

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership.

Counting House

Similar to an accountant's office.

Covetous

Synonymous with jealousy.

Debtors Prison

A prison someone goes to when they owe money.

Deviant

Someone who breaks social norms and values.

Humbug

An expression of distaste.

Industrial Revolution

This was when the means of production of Britain switched from agriculture to industry.

Malthusian Economics

Thomas Malthus was an economist in Victorian times and believed that London was overpopulated.

Misanthropic

A person who dislikes other people.

Moral

Awareness of the principles of right and wrong conduct.

Ostracised

Cut off from society.

Parliamentary Journalist

Someone who reports on governmental issues.

Philanthropy

An act of helping those less well off than yourself, especially involving donations of money.

Phrenology

A Victorian science which studied bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.

Purgatory

A Medieval Christian belief which is a prison, a sort of limbo between hell and life.

Ragged Schools

Schools which provided basic education and provided for children who lived in poverty.

Sabbatarianism

A religious belief that it is a sin to work on Sunday.

Socialism

An economic system based on shared ownership.

Transmorphism

A transformation from one thing to another.

Treadmill

This was a means of production in which was used to produce flour.

Union Workhouses

These were apart of the Gilbert Act which allowed parishes to join together to become responsible for the workhouses.

1834 Poor Law

A system of welfare which introduced workhouses.

1833 Factory Act on Child Labour

Children have to be 9 years old to work and had to have basic education.