Introduction to A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens’

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

CHARLES DICKENS

Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England on February 7, 1812.

Dickens’ birthplace

His most notable creation is Ebenezer Scrooge.

DEBTORS’ PRISON These were terrible places during Dickens’ time. People who could not pay their debts were sent to these prisons where they could starve to death or die from the elements if no one they knew could bring them food or blankets. Dickens’ father was sent to Debtors’ Prison when he was 12 years old. During the year that his father was in prison, Dickens worked at Warren’s Blacking, a shoe polishing factory. The work was grueling and left a deep impression on Dickens.

THE STAVE IN MUSIC

“A musical term, which comes from the word staff .”

“It indicates an individual group of five lines and four spaces on paper upon which notes of a song are written.”

Each of the chapters are referred to as staves.

Typical English Door Knocker

Plum Pudding

British Tavern of the 1800’s

Bedlam was an institution for the mentally insane in London, England during the 1800’s. It became famous for its cruelty toward the insane. The word Bedlam is derived from this name which today means anyplace of uproar.

“The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue ….”