A+Christmas+Carol-+Chapter+3

A Christmas Carol (Pages 102-159) -Chapter 3- By Rachelle

In Chapter three Scrooge awakens at one, about 20 minutes or so before the approximated appearing time for the ghost. He is glad to be awake slightly earlier so he is not as frightened/surprised, oddly it does not come on time, so Scrooge leaves his room to go and investigate. Scrooge finds the second ghost there waiting for him, they converse and then the ghost takes Scrooge away on the next journey. First the ghost takes him to the middle of the city, where the shops, and people are busy preparing for Christmas, yet they are still cheerful to one another. The spirit then takes Scrooge to the residence of Bob Cratchit, his employee. Scrooge sees how poor the family is, but yet how happy they are as well. They are pretty poor and it is a little bit upsetting to Scrooge, all they have for Christmas dinner is a goose, potatoes, apple sauce, and plum pudding, Bobs son is wearing a hand me down shirt, and tiny Tim is on crutches. Scrooge asks if tiny Tim will survive, and the ghost tells him sadly that he will not. The ghost also takes him to see some other Christmas gatherings, one with some poor miners, and another with some people who are on a ship. The ghost also takes Scrooge to Fred (his nephews) Christmas party which he had missed out on, Scrooge regrets not going he has a wonderful time there even though he is invisible to the rest of the guests. In conclusion to the trip, the ghost shows Scrooge two children which stay with the ghost under his cape, ignorance and want. Scrooge feels bad for them, and asks if there is anything that could be done to help them, the ghost just quotes Scrooge, and disappears. It is now midnight in the story, and Scrooge sees a ghost wearing a black hooded cape coming towards him.

None of the characters are really telling the story, although if it had to be someone the author would be the narrator, but I think it is just an omniscient narrator/third person. This type of narration is common with fiction, they are all knowing they can also describe two things happening at the same time occurring at different places. The whole story is very structured with the narration, I think it helps a lot. With the narration you get a sense of what will happen next, foreshadowing. This also makes the book a lot clearer for easy reading, there is lots of good imagery. This keeps your thoughts on the book, and what had happened clear as well, at any moment you know where the characters are, what is happening, and which characters are included. You are also able to look into some of the characters minds to see what they think of each other, their predictions for things, their feelings, and you can also read their conversations. So basically in summary this makes the book easier to read, and it helps you guess what happens next, which i think is good and bad, since this makes the book very predictable.
 * Who is telling the story? How does this person’s perspective effect the way the story is told?**

I think my novel study book, A Christmas Carol is aimed towards adults, or young adults. The book was written in the time near the factory age, many families could not support themselves unless their children worked, so that is what they had to do. A very low percentage of children were schooled at that time in London, most at that time had jobs, unless they came from families of privilege with significant wealth. Charles Dickens was well educated, and was well off, so he used that sort of language in the book, which children would not be able to understand. Young children would be able to read I think most of the book, but they would have trouble with a few words, like "blithe" for example. Most adults and young adults with reading and writing abilities could read this book. After about 1850 schooling was becoming more popular, along with education, therefore more people could read the book. This made the book a very popular one, it has never been out of print once in its entire history.
 * To what age group is the novel aimed? Support your answer with evidence. **

The main theme in the book is Christmas spirit. Christmas is about charity, friendship, family, selflessness, and celebration. It is a time where you take a break from everything else like stress, feuds, work, selfishness, etc. These traits are shown in the characters of the book. For example Mr. Fezziwig is a good friend to scrooge, and his employees, he is also generous. Tiny Tim is a good example of selflessness, and good additude, although he is injured he is still cheerful for example at the table he says "god bless us, every one of them." Another part of this theme is how Scrooge is cold hearted and greedy, he is the opposite of Christmas spirit. He puts a damper on everyone else's mood, and with his selfishness makes others suffer. Throughout the book he is taught a lesson by the three ghost on how his ignorance is wrong. Scrooges bad personality traits make you think about having good spirit as well, I think it highlights the theme.
 * Is there a message or main theme emerging in the book? How is it shown? **