Stave One - A Christmas Carol

Stave One - A Christmas Carol

1. Sets the atmosphere

   • Pathetic fallacy

2. Scrooge = in his counting-house

   • Clerk = Bob Cratchit
   • Nephew = Fred
     • Carol Philosophy

3. How Dickens engages at the start

   • "Marley was dead: to begin with
     • Unusual statement to open novel with = need to understand he was dead before story starts
   • "as dead as a door-nail"
     • Has to reinforce that Marley is definitely dead
   • "mind! I don't mean to say that I know"
     • Direct address to reader
   • "dead" "deadest" "as dead as a door-nail"
     • Repetition. Takes focus off plot = builds anticipation
   • "sole" x 6
     • Repetition = Marley was isolated/alone = wonder why
   • "Hamlet's Father"
     • Mentioning Hamlet suggests ACC will be a ghost story. Dickens establishes that Marley is dead before story begins = he will be a ghost

4. How Dickens builds tension

   • "saw in the knocker" "not a knocker, but Marley's face"
     • First hint of Marley's Ghost
       • "Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy about him as any man in the city of London"
         • Must be real
   • "the sound resounded through the house like thunder"
     • Scrooge is alone = ominous
   • "a locomotive hearse"
     • Arrival of Ghost
   • "double-locked himself in"
     • Paranoid, not usual habit
   • "as he looked, he saw the bell begin to swing"
     • Alerting Scrooge / Warning him about what is about to come
   • "the cellar-door flew open with a booming sound"
     • Someone / Something is approaching
   • "the dying flame leaped up"
     • The fire is aware