A Christmas Carol 5
Study Guide Questions: Stave 3, pg. 39-52
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Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
What was Scrooge not prepared for? (pg. 39-40)
What was in the room with the Ghost of Christmas Present when he appeared? (pg. 40-41)
What does the Ghost of Christmas Present look like? Describe his unique features. (pg. 41)
What are some examples Dickens gives of Christmas cheer throughout the city? (pg. 42-44)
What made the spirit’s torch “a very uncommon kind of torch”? (pg. 44)
“Notwithstanding his gigantic size” what was the ghost able to do? (pg. 45)
Besides being out and about in town, where was the first specific place to which the ghost led Scrooge? (pg. 46)
What trick did the Cratchit family play on Bob? (pg. 47)
Why did Tiny Tim hope people saw him at church? (pg. 47)
What food and drink made up the Cratchit family’s Christmas feast? (pg. 48-50)
What would have been “flat heresy” to suggest? (pg. 49)
What does the Spirit say when Scrooge asks him “if Tiny Tim will live”? (pg. 50)
To whom does Bob offer a toast and how does his family react? (pg. 51)
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
Compare the time of the coming of the first ghost in Stave 2 (pg. 22) to the time of the coming of the second ghost in Stave 3 (pg. 39). What is going on with the time?
The Ghost of Christmas Present commands Scrooge, “Look upon me!” (pg. 41) Why did he insist upon Scrooge looking upon him properly?
Why does the Ghost of Christmas Present have an empty, rusty scabbard on his belt? (pg. 41)
The Ghost of Christmas Present said he has “more than eighteen hundred” brothers. (pg. 41) Why that many? What is the implication of that statement?
Compare Scrooge’s reception of the Ghost of Christmas Present (pg. 41-42) to his initial reception of the Ghost of Christmas Past (pg. 23-24). What is different?
What is Dickens trying to say in the conversation between the Ghost of Christmas Past and Scrooge concerning “the seventh day” and the poor people’s ability to “dine”? (pg. 45)
Why does Peter Cratchit long “to show his linen in the fashionable parks”? (pg. 46)
Why did the Ghost of Christmas Past quote Scrooge’s words back to him about “the surplus population” at this point? (pg. 50)
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
Why do we have “feasts” ? What is their purpose?
What do you believe to be the primary “great idea” in this reading and why?
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Read Exodus 20:8-11. How does this passage relate to our reading?
Read Matthew 12:1-14. How does this passage further guide a Christian response to the concern Dickens expressed about the “seventh day” practices in London in his own day?
Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)
Light vs. Darkness, Joy, Family, Faith, Love