 It's officially 30 days until the start of the first GCSE exam and if you're in 11, time is something that's quite precious to you at the moment. So what I wanted to do, guys, was to literally give you a bite-size video of everything you need to know when it comes to Christmas Carol. If you're sitting this as part of your set text for the English literature, paper one exam. Okay? So this video, what I wanted to do was to offer literally everything you need to know when it comes to context, theme and key quotes for the main characters within this novella by Charles Dickens. So as you can see behind me, basically I've created a mind map of sorts, okay? So it's kind of like a little bit of an elaborate mind map where I basically outline the main context points to remind and remember, okay? So if you forget everything else when it comes to context, and this is really important for AO3, literally just remember these main points and you're fine and you're covered for context. Of course, also what you need to remember if you forget everything when it comes to themes, these are the main themes to remember. And of course, when it comes to the main characters including Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, as well as the three ghosts, Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, the main quotations to memorize for all of these characters. Now guys, I actually created this and put this into like a little PDF file. So guys, if you want to download this and have this, a copy of this, just literally follow the link below and you can download it for free, okay? Well, what I want to do guys is to literally begin by going over the definitive context you need to know for Christmas Carol themes, as well as the main quotations that you can talk about. And then what I'm going to do is to go through a model answer that I've prepared for the 2020 paper. So let's begin with context. These are the main four context points to be aware of when it comes to Christmas Carol. Remember that Dickens, his own father went to a debtor's prison when he was just 12 years old. And as a result of going to debtor's prison, he had to be put to work at 12 years old. Okay. So Dickens was writing about, for example, the children ignorant someone from a place of experience. Okay. That's the first contextual factor to be aware of Dickens actually wasn't writing about all of these kids who worked as chimney sweepers and so on. And of course, in Christmas Carol ignorance and what he wasn't talking about it from a place of just ideas. He directly experienced what it was like to have to be put to work at a young age. Okay. Because his dad went to debtor's prison. So he had to work for a bit when he was 12 years old in order to try and provide for the family. That's the first context point you need to remember and to understand. Hence Dickens really empathized with the poor. The second context point to remember is of course the 1834 new poor law. It was basically a law that was passed, which basically stated that if you're poor and you're unable to look after yourself, the government can help you as long as you are willing to work for free in a workhouse, which is going to provide your accommodation in the accommodation that workhouses tend to provide was basically the cold factory floor. Okay. This obviously, this poor law was seen by Dickens is actually punishing the poor for their position and he was very critical of it. Of course, this poor law is alluded to and referred to by Scrooge when he says that they're no prisons or they're no workhouses. Okay. This is showing obviously how insensitive he was. The third context point is to remember is to do with a guy called Thomas Malthus. Thomas Malthus basically came up with a fairly harsh theory. What he said is overpopulation is one of the reasons why there's lots of poverty in Victorian England. And you know, there's just a problem of poverty. There's just way too many of us. And actually things like disease, pandemics and so on are actually quite good because they kill off quite a number of us and reduce of overpopulation. Now Dickens, when he read this theory was very, very critical of it. He saw it firstly as very insensitive. It's almost like saying that the poor deserve to die because of there being too many of them. And of course it also takes the pressure away from the government to do something to help the poor. Okay. So Dickens again talks about this and it lose to this when Scrooge refers to the surplus population, the better die and reduce the surplus population. It's a reference to Thomas Malthus who Dickens was quite critical of. The fourth context point to remember if you forget every other context point is to do of course with the industrial revolution. Dickens is a Victorian writer. He was there at the height of the industrial revolution. Whilst obviously it bought lots of progress when it came to factories and so on. Dickens was also highly critical of the fact that the industrial revolution created an even worse social divide. Okay. So the divisions between the very few factory owners who became quite rich versus the poor on whose backs the industrial revolution was built was something that Dickens was quite critical of. Those are the main context points. If you forget everything to do with context, if you're not sure, you know, you look at an extract and you're like, I literally do not remember everything. I've got a blank. Just remember these four context points and you are good for the upcoming English Literature Paper One exam. Now let's talk about themes. The main themes that you need to be aware of starting with Christmas. Now remember Dickens was writing for firstly a very religious audience. Okay. People were quite religious at this time and he wanted to use a Christmas Carol as a novella to remind them firstly of the importance of Christmas. Christmas was a time of being charitable and giving. Remember God gave his only son Jesus. Okay. He was born on Christmas day. But also, so not only was it a reminder to his readers that they need to be giving. Of course, it's also a reminder of the importance of spending Christmas time with the family and the loved ones. That's the first theme to remember and to obviously talk about if relevant to the question. The second theme to bear in mind is of course the theme of redemption. Dickens didn't want to use Scrooge to just scare his readers and say, Oh, look at, you know, how terrible he is. All the bad deeds he's done. He now deserves to go to hell. Actually Dickens wanted to use this story as a really positive story in the sense that it has a positive outcome if you genuinely change. Remember redemption is the idea of forgiveness. If you show that you're genuinely sorry, God gives you a second chance. As did the ghosts who gave Scrooge a second chance. Okay. As long as rich people, factory owners, business people change their ways, the kinder to poor people that pay the workers more fairly, actually they are capable of redemption. That's the main thing that Dickens was trying to illustrate through Christmas Carol. The third theme to remember and to be aware of is of course the theme of charity. The whole story is based on charity and the importance of giving to the poor. One of the things that Dickens wanted to do was to encourage his rich readers. Remember at this time, the people who tended in Victorian era to have the time and, you know, the leisure to read Dickens' stuff wasn't working class people who are busy working. He was writing usually for an upper class rich reader who was somebody of leisure. Therefore, he was writing to remind them of the importance of giving charitably to the poor, of being generous, of paying them higher wages. That's the next third theme to remember. The fourth theme is of course to do with social injustice. This novel criticizes the very massive gaps in Victorian England between the few rich who were like Scrooge who were very comfortable but also a little bit miserly that weren't paying the workers fairly versus the vast majority of poor people. Now Dickens, not only did he want to criticize his rich readers and obviously rich businessmen and so on but also Dickens was quite critical of the government because the government basically passed laws such as the 1834 Newport law as a way of protecting the rich rather than looking after the poor. So of course, he was also quite critical of the government in terms of helping out the rich and widening this gap. Poor people were not really looked after, they weren't really helped. If anything, they were just sent to prisons or workhouses whilst the rich were protected by the government. Dickens was both trying to trigger his wealthy readers to change but also he was criticizing how the government was in its approach towards the poor. The fifth and final theme to be aware of if you forget everything else is of course the theme of family and this is most clearly illustrated through Scrooge and Fred. Okay, so Fred illustrates the importance of family. Family offers you a source of support. It's also a source of strength through hardships. And Scrooge, unlike all the other characters who have families within this novel such as Fred and his family, Belle and her family as well as Bob Cratchit and his family, Scrooge is actually very isolated. Okay, so also Dickens wants to use this novel as a way to illustrate the importance of family in providing us comfort, in providing us companionship and also solace, a place to go to in times of hardship. This is something that Scrooge neglected and ultimately he was isolated as a result. Now let's look at the main quotations if you literally forget everything else with key characters. These are the main quotations to just commit to memory and remember. Let's start off with obviously the first main character which is Scrooge. Of course, this simile, solitary as an oyster encapsulates Scrooge as a character. It captures this essence of what Scrooge is like at the beginning of the novel. He's quite solitary, he's totally cut off and also his greed only makes him more miserable. If anything Dickens is trying to show that when he became more charitable, he was also around other people, people loved him and he was less solitary. That's the first quotation to remember necessarily. The second of course is when he says bar humbug, okay, when he's basically saying oh what rubbish. Again, what we can see here is he disdains Christmas and of course this changes. The third quotation is when he's directly alluding to the new poor laws are there no prisons, dot, dot, dot, workhouses. If you wanted to say, you know, you can add, are there no prisons, rhetorical question one, are there no workhouses. So it's two rhetorical questions and of course what this illustrates is how Scrooge at first is very, very uncharitable. He's very harsh towards the poor. He's quite miserly, quite greedy and he almost sees the poor as inhuman, okay. They are, you know, good enough to be thrown into prisons and workhouses and he doesn't see them as deserving of his charity. Of course he changes because this is illustrated when he gradually realizes when he's taken to see Fezgywig's old boss and the ghost of Christmas past mocks the party that Fezgywig threw for all of them and especially Scrooge as an apprentice and Scrooge says, what do you mean? You know, it's a small matter what Fezgywig did. He did such a positive thing for us and he had the power to make us happy or unhappy. Now Scrooge is speaking here using oxymoron, opposite words and what he's basically saying is employers, businessmen just like him have the power to really change the lives of their workers, okay. And it's up to them with what they're going to do with this power, okay. And of course what this novel is trying to illustrate to Dickens readers is that they need to think about this immense power that they have especially if they have employees in making their lives easier or harder. The final quotation which obviously illustrates Scrooge firstly being offered a chance at redemption, at redeeming himself, okay. So the ghost of Christmas yet to come basically gives him yet another chance so we can see he's forgiven and given a chance at redemption and of course he genuinely changes is when he says I will live in the past dot adopt present dot adopt future, okay. So past, present and future this is rule of three. Here we can see that Scrooge has completely transformed, he's changed and how he has changed is what Dickens wishes his wealthy readers would transform into, okay. So those are the main quotations to remember with Scrooge as well as the techniques that go with them. The second key character of course is Bob Cratchit he is a symbol of the poor, okay. Now in terms of Bob Cratchit these are the three main quotations to remember if you forget everything to do with Bob Cratchit or other poor characters mentioned in this novella, okay. The first quotation is when we learn how he's described, right. How withdrawn he is initially when we see him in Scrooge's office. We learn the clerk's fire was so very much smaller. So now here we can see this comparative adjective smaller as well as of course the noun fire. What does this illustrate? What this illustrates is how miserly, how mean Scrooge was but equally how Bob Cratchit like most poor people are very accustomed to being mistreated by their employers, okay. It symbolizes how lots of working class poor people in Victorian England were really accustomed that were used to be mistreated by their employers. The second quotation which is related to Bob Cratchit's character is during the Christmas meal. We can see that he's still really, really happy with the little his wife is able to cook for them but the narrator Dickens still admits it was a small pudding for a large family. Now what you want to emphasize here is the oxymoron small and large. It's illustrating how Scrooge underpain Bob Cratchit led him to not be able to provide very well for his family. They had such a small Christmas meal but then on the other hand even if they didn't have a great life they were still very happy because they were together as a unified family. The final quotation that illustrates Bob Cratchit's character is of course when Tiny Tim dies and Bob Cratchit is crying out my little little child which is an exclamatory sentence as well as the repetition of little. Here we can see the direct consequences the direct impact of Scrooge's behavior on the working class poor. He has indirectly led to the death of Bob Cratchit's own son. Now the other key character of course is the ghost of Christmas past. So of course it starts with past, present and future, all right. So let's have a look at the ghost of Christmas past. The first quotation is how he appears, okay. He seems like a child dot dot dot like an old man. This simile which juxtaposes how the ghost both looks like a child and an old man is really powerful because what this is illustrating is a symbolizing the child aspect is symbolizing the spirit taking Scrooge back to when he was a child. It came to remind him of his childhood and his innocence. And of course the old man symbolizes Scrooge in his current state as an older adult who's quite bitter and also whose innocence has been robbed through his greed and his selfishness. The second quotation for ghost of Christmas past is when the ghost sarcastically states when he's talking about Fezziwig's party a small matter dot dot dot to make these silly folks so full of gratitude. So of course the ghost is making fun of Fezziwig's party saying oh it's not really a big deal but of course Scrooge says no it's a massive deal. Fezziwig has the power to render us happy or unhappy. Of course what the ghost is doing is he's transforming Scrooge, is making Scrooge realize the power he had to make Bob Cratch's life easier. The final quotation for the ghost of Christmas past is when we learn once Scrooge is starting to absorb the lesson this is towards the end of that state okay. The ghost it's light was burning ellipsis bright and here we've got alliteration of the plosives B. We can see here that the spirit is starting to see that Scrooge is transforming. He's starting to internalize how he should change. Those are the quotations for the ghost of Christmas past. Now with the ghost of Christmas present the first quotation is how he's described as a jolly giant okay. Jolly which is an adjective actually contrasts our expectations as readers usually when we think about ghosts we think about them as being these scary evil malevolent forces but actually this ghost is almost a little bit like Santa Claus okay. The other quotation is of course when he presents the two children to Scrooge and these children symbolize the impact of poverty on young children okay. Young people the future generation it robs them of their innocence and this is illustrated through this list yellow meagre ragged okay. Yellow meagre ragged scowling wolfish if you wanted to also add those extra adjectives. Now what this listing is emphasizing is how people like Scrooge and rich readers actually caused the young children okay so the children of the people they employed to suffer. Their innocence was robbed they looked really unnatural okay and it was all down to people like Scrooge. The final quotation for ghost of Christmas present is this boy's ignorance this girl is what remember ignorance is used to represent children who never go and get an education right. They remain ignorant they don't get an education because they don't get an education they can't get jobs and they tend to turn to crime in order to find their lifestyles and that's why the ghost says beware most of this child okay because they're going to be a menace to society they're going to be a menace to people like Scrooge. The other of course symbol of the girl being want want just means lack of right wanting basic necessities like clothing and not wearing rags okay a lot of these children were ragged children that's why they even went to ragged squads okay because they literally wore rags wanting just basic housing and so on okay so the girl symbolizes just children who lacked just the bare minimum the bare basics and the best necessities. The final quotations and the final set of quotes to remember is of course to do with the ghost of Christmas future he's the most sinister ghost and the first quotation relates to how he is dressed in a deep black garment the adjective black emphasizes this sinister appearance but also it foreshadows the death of Scrooge. Remember the color black is related to coffins and death okay and of course its appearance foreshadows Scrooge's eventual death when he sees his gravestone. The second quotation is how the phantom pointed a litteration of pea hair illustrates that it's unyielding it's pointing and almost showing Scrooge that your fate is set you're going to become like Jacob Marley. However the final quotation which illustrates that the spirit decides to forgive him and gives Scrooge another chance is when we learn the kind hand trembled and of course kind which is an adjective illustrates that the ghost believes Scrooge can be redeemed he can be forgiven so he forgives him and gives him another chance. So as I mentioned if you literally forget everything else just remember this and you're absolutely fine when it comes to the upcoming exams and as I mentioned