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Do you understand the text in A Christmas Carol?

A Christmas Carol - Understanding the Text

This Literature quiz is called 'A Christmas Carol - Understanding the Text' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at high school. Playing educational quizzes is a user-friendly way to learn if you are in the 9th or 10th grade - aged 14 to 16.

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This high school English Literature quiz challenges you on understanding the text of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Before you can analyze or write about a text, you need to understand it. Although this seems obvious, it is not always easy. After all, if authors merely had a simple message to convey, it would not take them thousands of words to do so! Reading a text from long ago, or from another country, or even one written in a strong dialect can make the task more difficult. It often takes a little time to get used to how a particular author writes.

Authors use many methods in order to convey meaning.

They do not often state what they mean directly. Instead they communicate through character, setting, plot, theme and dialog. Consider each of these elements closely in order to help your understanding of the text. Re-reading can often be a big help, especially if you realize that you might not have understood everything. If you find yourself having to re-read sections, or even the entire book, don’t worry! This happens to everyone and just shows that you have been paying attention!

When reading a text, your comprehension works on several levels simultaneously. You should consider how context and setting relate to events and think about the relationship between different events. Create a timeline or a plot summary: these are very useful methods for understanding a text. Since A Christmas Carol involves a form of time-travel, at least in visions, you will probably not need reminding that events in texts are not always revealed in the order in which they occur chronologically. Chapter summaries can help with your revision, since they enable you to visualize the structure of the text, especially when that differs from the chronological timeline.

Analyzing beginnings and endings is a fantastic way to revise. Why do you think the text begins as it does? How do you find out about a character’s past? Of course, this probably seems obvious in A Christmas Carol, but you might need to look a little deeper. Is anything understated, or left for you to work out for yourself, rather than being told directly? Are future events foreshadowed? How? Analyze individual chapters in the same way, considering the significance of their beginnings and endings. Undertaking careful and detailed analysis of this sort will really improve your knowledge and understanding of the text!

Read the questions below on A Christmas Carol and test your knowledge and understanding of the text.

Why is the novella divided into five staves rather than five chapters?

The word "stave" is related to "staff" and reminds the reader of Scrooge's travels

Each "stave" represents a verse of the Christmas Carol of the title

The word "stave" reminds the reader of Scrooge's miserly behavior

A "stave" is an old-fashioned name for a chapter

A stave is a verse, so this Christmas Carol has five verses. Can you imagine the final stave as the last verse of a carol being sung loudly and joyfully?

Why does Scrooge object to giving Bob Cratchit Christmas Day off?

He is worried that they will have to work twice as hard on the day after Christmas

He is worried that he will not be able to cope with the workload by himself

He worries that he will not have the money to pay Bob's wages

He believes he is being cheated by having to pay Bob holiday wages

Scrooge feels himself to be pickpocketed by the requirement that he pay Bob money to take Christmas Day off

What is Scrooge's reason for refusing to give charitably to the two "portly" gentlemen?

He does not have much money

He already supports prisons and workhouses through paying rates

He believes that Christmas is not the best time to give charitably

He does not believe that anyone is actually poor enough to need financial help

Scrooge believes that the poor are idle and also that their welfare is none of his business. The poor should take themselves to prison or to the workhouse, in his view

The Ghost of Christmas Present hides two children beneath his robes. These are allegorical figures for which of the following?

Ignorance and Want

Hunger and Strife

Poverty and Sickness

Loneliness and Fear

Scrooge is horrified at the sight of these terrible offspring of humankind's neglect and is mortified by the Spirit repeating his own cruel words back to him: "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"

The visit of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is concerned with which of the following?

Plenty

Work

Death

Gratitude

Scrooge sees that no one mourns his own death and sees as well the contrast with the way that Tiny Tim is remembered after his death

How does the Ghost of Christmas Present appear to Scrooge?

As a figure of empty pleasure

As a figure of sweet regret

As a figure of plenty

As a figure of carelessness

The Spirit of Christmas Present is surrounded by plenteous foods: meat, fruits, cakes and punch. He is dressed luxuriously in a furred robe and is characterized by an open hand and a magical torch with which to season the celebrations of poor people

Where does Scrooge spend Christmas Day once the visits of the various spirits have passed?

At the home of the Cratchits

At a local inn

At his own home

At his nephew Fred's home

Scrooge anonymously sends a turkey to the Cratchits and unexpectedly accepts Fred's annual invitation to Christmas dinner

Where is the first place which the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge?

Mr Fezziwig's Christmas party

Belle's sitting room

His school

The place where he and Belle broke off their engagement

Scrooge feels pity at the sight of his younger self abandoned by all the other boys returning home for Christmas

What is the first clue that A Christmas Carol is a ghost story?

The title

The door knocker's transformation into Marley's face

The sudden ringing of all the bells in the house

Jacob Marley's apparition

The full title of the novella is A Christmas Carol [in Prose] Being a Ghost Story of Christmas

10.

The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge his past self taking comfort in books, his sister Fan, his beloved former boss Fezziwig, and Belle and her family. What do these scenes have in common?

They represent the necessary stages in Scrooge's growth into a good businessman

They represent all that Scrooge has lost in life

They represent the good choices Scrooge has made in life

All of the above

Scrooge has lost love and simple joys as his worship of gold has grown

Author: Sheri Smith