Home Preparation for In-Class Discussion Questions for 23-25 December 2008

SCROOGE
(US title: A Christmas Carol)
Discussion Questions
December 23-25

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1. What do you think a doornail is? (Use another word for "doornail." Or bring in a picture.)
2. Whose name was always good on the London Exchange?
3. What, according to Scrooge, does Christmas have a (bad) habit of doing?
4. According to one businessman what is it in the nature of ants to do?
   
5. What is it in the nature of grasshoppers to do?
6. What doesn't Scrooge do in the teeth of inclement weather?
7. How much does the debtor, Samuel Wilson (the man who pleads with Scrooge outside the London Exchange), owe Scrooge?
8. What does Mr. Wilson ask of Scrooge?
9. Where does the debtor, Mr. Wilson, say he cannot take his wife to?
   
10. According to Scrooge, Mr. Wilson is not in the position to repay his debt even if it was on a bank holiday in which month?
11. When does Scrooge say Marley died?
12. Who do the two charity men want to make provisions for?
13. When, according to these men, is want most keenly felt?
14. What does Scrooge tell the two men he wishes for?
15. What does Scrooge say  occupies him constantly?
16. Which character says he neither wishes to borrow money from Scrooge nor beg a mortgage?
17. Discuss the word "mortgage." Discuss its etymology (word origin). Discuss its pronunciation. Which letter is silent?
    
18. What does Scrooge say was the ruin of his nephew, Fred?
19. What does Fred want Scrooge to do on the morrow?
20. What did Fred do against Scrooge's wishes?
21. What reason does Fred give for doing it?
22. Who does Scrooge say is as penniless as his nephew?
23. In what spirit does Fred say he came to see Scrooge?
24. What does Bob Cratchit tell Fred that Cratchit's family is eager for?
    
25. Who is the lame boy?
26. How big does the lame boy's mother say is the goose she just bought for Christmas?
27. Where does the boy like to ride?
28. How long does the mother say that Scrooge will keep her husband, Bob Cratchit, working?
29. What does Scrooge say is not convenient and fair?
30. Who does Cratchit say put their hearts into Xmas?
31. What position does Cratchit hold in Scrooge's office? (British pronunciation of this word is different from American pronunciation, though it's the same word.)
32. How much does Cratchit make a week?
33. In disgust, where does Scrooge say he'll retire to (the name of a famous institution for crazy people)?
34. Research the word and discuss its corruption from another word.
    
35. Why does Scrooge say he doubts his senses when he sees Marley's ghost?
    
36. What does Scrooge say that, if he swallowed, he would be tortured by a legion of hobgoblins (demons)?
37. What does Marley's ghost ask "the man of the worldly mind" (Scrooge)?
    
38. What does Marley say when Scrooge compliments him for being a good man of business? (Note the British pronunciation of "business": "busy-ness," which shows the etymology of the word better than the American pronunciation.)
    
39. What does Marley's ghost say is required of every man when alive?
    
40. Who does Marley say made his chain?
41. What does Scrooge say Marley has aroused in him?
42. In one word, how does Marley describe Scrooge's chain (not yet felt or visible)?
43. Where does Marley say his spirit was when alive?
44. When does Marley say he suffers most?
45. For what reason did Marley come to warn Scrooge?
46. What does the Ghost of Christmas Past assure Scrooge will happen if he touches his hand?
47. What does Scrooge see in the past that he says looks lonely and deserted?
48. Who is the solitary boy there, deserted by his friends?
49. Who suddenly visits him?
50. For what reason?
51. Who does she say Scrooge must forgive?
52. Who does the ghost say had a large heart?
53. Why did Scrooge's father never forgive Scrooge?
54. How much does the ghost say Fizziwig's party cost?
55. Which clerk does Scrooge say he would like to have a word with as he views the spectacle of Fezziwig's dance?
56. What does Scrooge's sweetheart think may change in Scrooge?
57. What does Fezziwig tell Jorkin (the man who wishes to buy out Fezziwig's business) that he (Fezziwig) must be loyal to?
58. What is the saying about tide and time?
59. What does Jorkin tell Scrooge cannot be taught an old goat?
60. How much more salary does Jorkin offer Scrooge as a clerk in Jorkin's new company?
61. What does Scrooge say isn't everything?
62. What does Scrooge's sister, Fanny, ask Scrooge to do?
    
63. What does Scrooge's new boss tell him he must control in order to control the world?
64. What did Fezziwig tell Scrooge when Scrooge announced he was quitting his job?
65. Who is Scrooge's new co-worker?
66. According to the co-worker, what is the world on the verge of? ("On the verge" is an idiom for what may happen soon: "She's on the verge of leaving him." "I was on the verge of quitting my job.")
    
67. What does Scrooge say one must do in order to survive the world, which he calls hard and cruel?
68. Who does the ghost say is not changed by the harshness of the world?
69. What idol has replaced the love of his sweetheart in Scrooge's heart?
    
70. What does Alice say Scrooge fears too much?
71. What does Mr. Jorkin say all businessmen are beneath their fancy linen?
72. What would arise among the share holders if Jorkin were to be prosecuted?
73. What percent shares of the company does Scrooge (and Marley) want to buy?
74. Who does the housekeeper tell Bob Cratchit is breathing "very queer"?
75. When does Scrooge's office close?
76. In one word, how does the undertaker characterize his profession?
    
77. What does Scrooge tell Marley on his deathbed when Marley says the word, "wrong"?
78. What are Marley's final two words?
79. How many years did Marley work at Scrooge's side?
80. What did Scrooge take from Marley after his death?
81. Why does Scrooge tell the Ghost of Christmas Present that he's beyond hope?
82. How many days in the year do the Christmas Spirits live?
83. Which people labor in the bowels of the earth?
84. What does Cratchit's daughter, Martha, say she cannot bear?
85. What is sitting in the Cratchit cupboard that the children wish to see?
86. Who does Bob Cratchit say behaved in church as good as gold?
87. Who is wearing one of Bob Cratchit's own collars?
88. Who does Cratchit toast as the founder of the feast?
89. What does Mrs. Cratchit say she would give Scrooge if he were there?
90. What kind of dinner does Fred (Scrooge's nephew) say Scrooge has cheated himself out of?
91. What does Fred say he hasn't much faith in?
92. Why does the Ghost of Christmas Present say the two children under his cloak cling to him?
93. What doesn't Mrs. Cratchit want her husband to see in her face when he comes home?
94. What does Cratchit say he felt slip into his hand when he visited Tiny Tim's grave?
95. What did Cratchit say he felt at the graveside?
96. In one word, how does Cratchit describe how Tim probably feels now?
97. Who does the buyer of Scrooge's belongings say are all suitable to their calling?
98. What does one of the woman sellers say everyone has a right to?
99. How does one woman answer her own question, "Who's the worse for the loss of a few things like these?"
100. What does the woman say Scrooge would have had when he died if he had been amiable?
101. What six items from Scrooge's belongings does one seller offer the buyer?
     
102. What does the buyer say he will regret if the woman asks for another penny?
103. What did one of the sellers (Scrooge's cleaning woman) take down while Scrooge lay dying?
104. What is the buyer afraid of in handling Scrooge's items?
105. What does one seller say the seller won't find in a piece of cloth if he looked till his eyes hurt?
106. One of the men in the group says, "He frightened everybody away from him when he was alive and now he benefits us when he's dead!" In one word, what kind of justice does he say this is?
107. What is it supposed that Scrooge did with all his money after he died?
     
108. How much will his funeral cost?
109. According to one of the businessmen, how many people will go to Scrooge's funeral?
110. According to Scrooge, who is missing from under the clock while the two businessmen speak?
111. What question does Scrooge ask the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come before he looks at the burial stone?
112. What does Scrooge say will change if the deeds change?
113. After seeing his name on the gravestone, what does Scrooge beg the Spirit to tell him?
114. On what day does Scrooge wake up?
115. What does Scrooge answer when the charwoman (cleaning lady) asks him if he is quite himself?
116. What shadows does Scrooge say can still be dispelled?
117. How "light" (weightless) does Scrooge feel?
118. How happy?
119. How merry?
120. How giddy?
121. Scrooge says he never did know anything. But what does he know now?
122. What does the cleaning woman say Scrooge will force her to do (an old British word not used by Americans)?
123. How much money does Scrooge give the woman?
124. Why does the woman think Scrooge gave her the money?
125. For what reason does Scrooge say he gave her the money?
126. How much does Scrooge pay her?
127. How much does Scrooge promise to pay her from now on?
128. Who does the woman suggest Scrooge may wish to see?
129. How much does Scrooge offer to give the boy who buys the turkey if the boy comes back with the butcher?
130. How much will Scrooge give the boy if he comes back in under five minutes?
131. Who does Tiny Tim say he thinks sent the turkey?
132. What does the nephew say when Scrooge asks him if it's too late to accept his invitation to dinner?
133. Who does Scrooge call a pig-headed old fool who had no eyes to see with and no ears to hear with?
134. Scrooge tells Bob Cratchit he will not beat around the bush. Discuss this well-known idiom.
135. What does Scrooge say is his only alternative, since Cratchit came in late?
136. What does Scrooge say he wants to help Bob Cratchit do with his family?
137. What bowl of drink does Scrooge say they can drink while talking over Cratchit's family problems.
138. What does Scrooge ask Cratchit to put on the fire?
139. What kind of scuttle does Scrooge ask Cratchit to buy?
140. What does Scrooge say he doesn't deserve?
141. Who became a second father to Tiny Tim?
142. What was it always said of Scrooge?
143. What words of Tiny Tim does the narrator quote at the end of the film?

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