A Christmas Carol - Context

A Christmas Carol was written in 1843 - what was the nickname for the decade of the 1840s?

• The hungry forties

• The angry forties

• The hangry forties

• The poor forties

When Dickens was 12, what happened to his father?

• He died in an accident in the workplace

• He lost his right arm in a duel

• He was sent to debtors' prison

• He left the family and was never seen again

To help pay his father's debts, young Charles had to get a job. What was it?

• Working in a cotton mill

• Working in a coal mine

• Working in a blacking factory

• Working as a chimney sweep

According to the article on SparkNotes, what was the intention of 'A Christmas Carol'?

• To warm people's hearts

• To draw readers' attentions to the plight of England's poor

• To make lots of money for Dickens

• To cheer everyone up at Christmas

Select all the Christmas traditions first introduced by the Victorians

• The yule log

• Christmas trees

• Christmas cards

• The Christmas number One

• Christmas crackers

What did Dickens believe was the true test of society's moral worth?

• How they treat the poor

• How they treat the elderly

• How they treat their families

• How they treat children

What did Dickens talk about during his trip to Manchester the month before he began writing 'A Christmas Carol'

• His idea of a perfect Christmas

• The terrible sights he had seen among London's poor children in jails and doss houses

• His favourite authors

• His commitment to always try to improve his writing with every new novel he wrote.

What idea did Thomas Robert Malthus have?

• He thought that over population would lead to a catastrophe

• He thought that wages were too low

• He thought that everyone should have a right to free healthcare

• He thought that people could achieve utopia if they worked together

What did the 1844 factories act do to make working life for children 'easier'

• They were not allowed to start work until they turned 14

• They could work from the age of five, but only for six hours a week

• 9-13-year-olds were only allowed to work nine hours a day, six days a week

• All children had to be given the whole weekend off

Where could a poor person go as a last resort if they had no job or money?

• Prison

• The workhouse

• A hostel

• A homeless shelter