Xmas Carol

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

PLOT SUMMARY

Charles
Dickens

CHAPTER 1: THE KNOCKER

❖ On Christmas Eve, Scrooge, a mean, unfriendly miser, works in his dark

and cold office, while keeping an eye on his clerk, a small man
named Bob Cratchit.

❖ Scrooge's nephew wishes Scrooge a Merry Christmas, but Scrooge

answers him with a disdainful "Bah! Humbug!"

❖He believes Christmas is the same as any day of the year, a day in

which one must still work and pay bills. However, Fred thinks of Christmas
as a "kind, forgiving and charitable holiday."

❖ He invites Scrooge to dine with him and his family on Christmas day,

but his uncle rejects the offer., saying he prefers to “cancel Christmas
and make everyone work twice as hard.”

❖A well-dressed older gentleman enters and ask Scrooge for charity for

the poor. Scrooge believes that the poor and dying deserve their fate,
and he dismisses him.

❖Next, a young boy tries to sing Christmas carols at Scrooge's door, but

the old man slams the door shut in his face.

❖Scrooge then closes up the office and goes back to his dreary house.

❖Scrooge sees the knocker of his door suddenly change into the face of

his long-dead partner – Jacob Marley! Scrooge is temporarily
frightened, but calms down when the face changes back to the knocker.

CHAPTER 2: THE GHOST OF JACOB

MARLEY

❖Scrooge immediately goes to his bedroom, changed his clothes and gets

ready to make his dinner. A bell in the room starts to ring, and soon all the
other bells in the house do. After some time, the bells stop, and Scrooge hears
the cellar-door open.

❖His bedroom door opens and the ghost of Jacob Marley, his partner who had

died 7 years ago, walks in. Marley's ghost is all dressed in white and long
chains are wrapped around his legs.

❖Marley says his spirit has been wandering since he died as punishment for

being consumed with business and not with people while alive. He has come to
warn Scrooge and perhaps save him from the same fate. He tells him Three
Spirits will come to him over the next three nights.

❖Marley’s ghost then disappears and Scrooge finally falls asleep.

Open Ended

Look for examples of how mean Scrooge is from Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 3: THE GHOST OF

CHRISTMAS PAST
❖ Scrooge wakes up, and hears the bell of a neighborhood church. At midnight, a flash of

light comes in the room, his bed-curtains are drawn aside, and the figure of a small old man
appears. The old man introduces himself as the Ghost of Christmas Past and has come to
show Scrooge how he used to be.

❖ He tells Scrooge to follow him and they walk through the bedroom wall. They instantly

reappear on a wintry country road around Scrooge's childhood home. Scrooge is deeply
affected by the memory, and he walks with the Ghost to the town.

❖ They see several people wishing Merry Christmas to each other. The Ghost explains that the

people cannot see or hear him and Scrooge. The Ghost reminds Scrooge that one boy,
ignored by the others, remains in school alone, and Scrooge weeps.

❖T hey walk into the rundown schoolhouse and see the young Scrooge reading alone by a

small fire. The older Scrooge cries again, and says he wishes he had given something to the
boy caroling at his door last night.

CHAPTER 4: MORE MEMORIES

❖ The Ghost and Scrooge are inside a carriage and sit opposite a young man and girl,

who is Scrooge’s younger sister.

❖ She joyfully announces she is bringing him home for Christmas, as their father is much

kinder than he used to be. The Ghost reminds Scrooge that his sister died after having
had Scrooge's nephew. Scrooge is reminded of Fred and his invitation for Christmas
dinner.

❖ The Ghost and Scrooge travel to the shop where Scrooge first worked, and he sees

his boss Fezzwig, an old, jolly man. The place is decorated for a Christmas party.
Scrooge enjoys himself immensely until the party ends, when he remembers he is
merely revisiting the scene with the Ghost.

❖ Scrooge tells the Ghost that Fezziwig's gift of happiness to his friends and workers

far outweighs the money he spent on the party. He mentions he would like to say
something to his clerk, Bob Cratchit.

❖ They next walk to a bridge where Scrooge now sees an older version of himself in

the prime of life. The younger Scrooge is talking to a crying girl, whose name is Belle.

CHAPTER 5: SCROOGE’S FIRST LOVE

❖ Belle breaks off their romance, scolding him for replacing his love for her with

the pursuit of money. “There was a time when I thought your heart and mind was
mine…It’s not like that now. You have another love.”

❖ Scrooge seems to have no regrets, “Belle, you know I love you. But things are

different now. It’s time for me to make money so that we can be happy
together.”

❖ The scene changes and Belle is now the mother of a noisy, affectionate brood

of children. Her husband comes home and tells her he saw Scrooge sitting alone
in his office, working alone on Christmas morning.

❖ Scrooge begs the Ghost to take him back to his own time, and eventually falls

into his own bed out of exhaustion.

CHAPTER 6: BOB CRATCHIT’S HOUSE

❖ Scrooge awakes when the bell strikes one, and is immediately prepared for

the second Ghost's arrival. He’s so afraid that he’s covering his eyes and
shaking.

❖ Then hears someone call his name and opens his eyes. The curtains around his

bed open and he sees his room has been decked out with Christmas decorations
and a feast.

❖ A giant ghost, wearing a green robe, introduces himself as the Ghost of

Christmas Present and tells Scrooge to touch his robe.

❖ When he does, they are transported to the streets on Christmas morning

where, despite the gloomy weather, people frolic joyously in the snow as
shopkeepers pass out delicious food.

❖ The Ghost transports Scrooge to a much poorer part of London, where the

modest house of Bob Cratchit is. His family, dressed in their best clothes, waits
for Bob to return from church before they eat dinner.

❖ He comes in, carrying his small, crippled youngest son, Tiny Tim. Despite, his

illness, Tim is a cheerful boy and excited over Christmas. Bob and his wife
discuss Tiny Tim's good heart and his growing strength, then the whole family
has a simple but wonderful dinner.

❖ When Scrooge asks, the Ghost informs him that, unless the family can find the

money to cure him, Tiny Tim will die. Scrooge feels genuinely sorry about that
news.

❖ At the dinner, Mrs. Cratchit curses Scrooge, but her husband reminds her that

it is Christmas and they should give thanks to Scrooge for having given him
salary to buy the food.

CHAPTER 7: SCROOGE’S NEPHEW

❖ The Ghost brings Scrooge to his nephew Fred's house, where there is a Christmas

party going on.

❖ Fred tells his pretty wife and his sisters he feels sorry for Scrooge, since his miserly,

hateful nature deprives him of pleasure in life. His wife agrees, ‘That’s the sad
part…he feels no goodness in his heart. He has all that money, and he doesn’t share
it with anyone.”

❖ Scrooge's niece plays a tune on the harp, which softens Scrooge's heart. Scrooge

even joins in for some of their games, though they are not aware of his ghostly
presence. Fred still cheerily wishes Scrooge, “…wherever you are, Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!”

❖ The bell strikes twelve, the Ghost disappears, and Scrooge sees a new ghost,

solemn and dressed in a long, black robe. The Ghost of Christmas Past points his
bony fingers at Scrooge who was filled with fear.

CHAPTER 8: TINY TIM

❖ The Ghost of Christmas Future solemnly approaches Scrooge in its black garment. It

responds to Scrooge's questions with silence and motions for him to follow.

❖ They are transported to the future house of Bob Cratchit. In the Cratchit home, Bob

and his family are still mourning for Tiny Tim, who has recently died.

❖ Bob tells his family about the kindness of Scrooge's nephew, Fred. Scrooge’s nephew

had offered to help Peter, Bob’s eldest son, find a job.

❖ Scrooge feels very guilty when he learns that he did not help the Cratchits when they

needed it – and that Tiny Tim was dead as a result of his meanness.

❖ His mind was filled with ‘sad and painful thoughts’ as they left the Cratchit home for

another part of London in the future.

CHAPTER 9: IT CAN’T END THIS WAY

❖ Scrooge and the Ghost instantly appear in the city and listen in on some

businessmen who casually and jokingly discuss someone's death. Scrooge wonders
why the Ghost is showing him these conversations and what bearing they have on his
future self. However, he does not see himself among the crowds.

❖ The ghost takes him to an abandoned building, where they see an old woman

trying to sell some possessions (old clothes, curtains, cutlery) she stole from a man
who has also recently died.

❖Scrooge discovers that that woman is a cleaner who works for him and those things

belong to him! He tells the Ghost that the dead man must have been him and asks,
“Is this how it’s going to end? People laughing at me and selling my clothes?”

❖ The ghost doesn’t answer him and Scrooge runs out of the house crying, “No, no! I

won’t let it happen!”

❖ The Ghost takes Scrooge to a cemetery, filled with countless graves of all

sizes and shapes. Scrooge is very frightened at what he thinks he will see.

❖ He points Scrooge toward a specific grave, which looks very old and all

covered in dirt. Scrooge clears away the dirt and sees his own name on the
gravestone! He realizes he was the dead man from before and that this was
his destiny, if he didn’t change his ways.

❖ Scrooge covers his face in his hands, crying, “Oh no! Tell me it’s not going to

end this way! What did I do to deserve this?” The Ghost of Christmas Future
disappears without answering this question.

❖ Scrooge collapses in the snow, crying…

CHAPTER 10: CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

❖ Scrooge wakes up in his bedroom and joyfully repeats his vow to live from the

lessons of the three ghosts, “No! No! I won’t let it happen!”

❖He hears church bells ring and asks a young boy downstairs what the day was.

The boy tells him it is Christmas Day, and Scrooge realizes that the ghosts visited
him all in one night. Scrooge dresses in his best clothing and walks in the crowds
with a smile.

❖Scrooge buys the biggest prize turkey from the butcher and puts it into in a hired

horse and carriage.

❖He wishes everyone Merry Christmas from the carriage and stops to gives a great

deal of money to the old gentleman who had asked him for a charitable donation
yesterday (Chapter 1).

❖ Scrooge continues until he gets to Bob’s house, where he drops off the turkey. He

also gives Bob two days off and promises to raise his salary by three times!

❖ Scrooge also promises to be like a second father to Tiny Tim and get him a good

doctor to cure his illness. The whole Cratchit family thanks Scrooge and Tiny Tim
hugs him tightly. Scrooge is filled with tears of happiness, but syas he still needs to
go to one more place.

❖ Scrooge’s last stop was his nephew Fred’s house. He tells a very surprised Fred that

he accepts the invitation to have Christmas lunch with his family and friends.
Scrooge apologizes for not having been a good and close uncle, and promises to
change his ways.

❖ The story ends with Scrooge reunited with his family and replacing his former ‘Bah

Humbug’ saying with the words of Tiny Tim, “Merry Christmas, everyone!”