A Christmas Carol Connecting to Text and to Self

Cause and Effect with Connections to Text and to Self In A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge changes much as he ages. Once a loving, caring young man, Scrooge grows callous and crotchety as he ages. Loss in his life leads him to feel sorry for himself and he soon starts making decisions that he feels will keep him from feeling pain. These choices often lead to a lifestyle that precludes him from having friends and relationships. After the death of his business partner, Marley, who was also governed by greed in his life, Scrooge is visited by Marley and the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future. These ghosts show Scrooge how his life has unfolded, with his decisions driving how he would manage relationships, or more precisely, avoid having any. Scrooge realizes how empty his life is and decides that it is never too late to make changes. He awakes on Christmas morning, a new man. Because of the things which the ghosts have shown him, he changes how he relates to people. Students should take this opportunity to figure out one of the things in Scrooge's past that caused him to act the way he does. (Identify the underlying cause and the effect- being stingy and greedy, not showing care for anyone, etc.) They should then figure out how something in their past has caused them to act in a particular way. Maybe they were stung by a bee when they were young, so now they have an overwhelming fear of bees. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.9 Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).