Kids Corner: “Intro to A Christmas Carol” (GCSE English)
You will be starting a new text in GCSE English classes soon in England. I will give you a little head start on “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, and help you look like a total bad ass in your English classes.
Why is it called a Christmas Carol?
You might notice that the story is named a “carol” which is a type of story telling song. Back in ye olde times Carols were written about all sorts of things, not just Christmas (even the battle of Agincourt!). No, it was never intended to be a song, but it was definitely intended to be read out loud and passed on as a Christmas tradition with a moral message. This tells us something about the tone of the story. Dickens begins by telling the reader not to live their life like the Character Scrooge does. So, this is a story for us all to tell each other out loud at Christmas to learn how to live our lives well.
Why are the chapters called “Staves”?
Staves are sections of songs. Calling the chapters staves continues the theme of this being a kind of folklore educational song that we should pass on to one another at Christmas time. At times Dickens will even speak directly to the reader and ask us to think about the morality of our actions.
As you go in to reading A Christmas Carol, think about the moral message Dickens wanted to pass on. How successful was Dickens at creating a Christmas tradition with a strong moral message? I think he did pretty well. We still listen to it and read it regularly a long time later. We even call people a “Scrooge” if they are not generous.
