A Christmas Carol Week 2

How does Dickens introduce Scrooge? Language techniques explained

Last session we looked at Dickens and the world he lived in. In this session, we finally meet Scrooge. You’ll read the first half of Stave 1 and learn the techniques Dickens uses to make Scrooge one of the most famous characters in English literature. Then you’ll practise writing about them.

Study book: Starter (page 7, 5 minutes) Before you start reading, answer the starter question about the first line: “Marley was dead: to begin with.”

Reading Stave 1

If you find long texts hard going, watch this summary by Course Hero first. It will help you follow the story as you read.

Study book: Read Stave 1 (part 1), pages 7–12 Hard words are explained in the margin. The paragraph numbers help you find quotations later.

Study book: Check your understanding (pages 12–13, 15

minutes)

Assessment Objective 2

Last session we learned about AO3, which is about context. This session is about AO2: analysing the language, form and structure a writer uses to create meanings and effects.

In simple terms, AO2 asks:

• What has the writer done? This is the technique.

• Why have they done it? This is the effect on the reader.

  
  

Just naming a technique gets you very few marks. “Dickens uses a simile” tells the examiner nothing. The marks come from explaining what the technique shows and how it makes the reader feel.

10 Language & Structure Techniques You’ll Find in Any GCSE English Exam (First Rate Tutors). As you watch, make a glossary: write down each technique, what it means and one example.

How it Links to the Novella

Dickens uses lots of techniques to introduce Scrooge. Here are the most important ones.

The narrator - The story is told by a chatty narrator who talks straight to us, as if he’s telling the story by the fire: “Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail.” Talking directly to the reader like this is called direct address. It makes us trust the narrator and want to listen.

Listing - “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” Seven words pile up, one after another, with no “and” between them. The list feels as relentless as Scrooge’s greed. Every verb is about holding on tightly to things. The list ends with “sinner”, a religious word. It hints that Scrooge’s real problem is moral, and that he might still be saved.

Similes - “Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire”Flint was struck with steel to make sparks for a fire. Nobody has ever got a spark of warmth or generosity out of Scrooge.

“secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster”. An oyster shuts itself tightly away from the world. But some oysters hide a pearl inside. Perhaps there’s something precious hidden inside Scrooge too. Notice the repeated “s” sounds (sibilance), which give the line a cold, hissing feel.

Cold imagery - “The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek”. Scrooge’s coldness comes from within. It isn’t the weather; it’s who he is. Dickens even says Scrooge “iced his office in the dog-days” (the hottest days of summer) “and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.” Keep an eye on this imagery. As Scrooge changes, the cold will start to “thaw”.

Showing, not telling - Dickens doesn’t only tell us what Scrooge is like. He also shows us through how other people react to him: “Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways.” Even dogs avoid Scrooge. That’s how isolated he is.

Ebenezer Scrooge: Character Analysis (Mr Bruff)

Study book: Zoom in on Scrooge (page 13, 20 minutes). For each quotation, name the technique and then zoom in on one word. What

does that word suggest?

Fred: Scrooge’s Foil

A foil is a character who is the opposite of another character, so the contrast makes the first character’s qualities stand out. Fred, Scrooge’s nephew, is Scrooge’s foil.

Where Scrooge is cold, Fred arrives “all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.” Scrooge calls Christmas “Humbug!”. Fred calls it “a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time.” Fred is everything Scrooge could be, if only he would change.

Fred Scrooge Character Analysis (Mr Bruff)

Study book: Scrooge and Fred (pages 13–14, 15 minutes)

How it Links to Context

Remember the 1834 Poor Law and Thomas Malthus from last session? Dickens puts those ideas into Scrooge’s mouth when the charity collectors visit. Scrooge says the poor should go to the prisons and workhouses, and that if they would rather die, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Dickens wants readers to be shocked by how cruel this sounds. Many wealthy Victorians held the same views, so in a way Dickens is holding up a mirror to his own readers.

Study book: Context link: the charity collectors (page 14, 10 minutes)

Embedding Quotations

The best answers use short quotations woven into your own sentence. This is called embedding. It’s quicker than copying out long quotations, and it lets you zoom in on the words that matter.

✗ Dickens describes Scrooge. “Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire.” This shows he is mean.

✓ Dickens describes Scrooge as “Hard and sharp as flint”, suggesting that nothing can strike a spark of kindness from him.

PEEL Paragraph: Worked Example

Here’s a PEEL paragraph about Fred, so you can see how it all fits together.

Point: Dickens presents Fred as a warm and cheerful character who is the opposite of Scrooge.Evidence: When Fred arrives, he is “all in a glow” and “his eyes sparkled”.Explain: The words “glow” and “sparkled” suggest light and warmth, which contrasts sharply with the cold imagery used to describe Scrooge, who “iced his office”. Link: By making Fred a foil to Scrooge, Dickens shows readers that kindness and generosity bring happiness, and that Scrooge’s coldness is his own choice.

Study book: Exam focus (page 14, 25 minutes).

Now write two PEEL paragraphs answering:

How does Dickens present Scrooge as a cold and isolated character in Stave 1?

Use one paragraph for “cold” and one for “isolated”. Embed your quotations, and try to include at least one link to context.

Tick-list (page 15). Finish by ticking off what you can now do.

Check your learning: Name two techniques Dickens uses to describe Scrooge, and explain the effect of one of them.