ESSAY – ENGLISH YEAR 12 - EXAMPLE
. A Christmas Carol

The opening of 'A Christmas Carol' starts off dramatic and mournful.
The opening set the scene of the winding streets of Victorian London.
Dickens uses the first stave to establish the main characters through vivid descriptions and introduce us to the novel and how it unfolds.
The opening scene is vital to intrigue the reader into the novel.
Dickens uses the advantage that the story has a moral ending to get the reader involved in the novel.

Dickens describes the character of Scrooge as a 'covetous old sinner- tight fisted.' In stave one Scrooge is met with the demise of his old friend and business partner Jacob Marley. The affects Scrooge, making him cold and heartless towards people near Christmas. Bob Cratchit,
Scrooge's faithful employee, who is poorly treated by Scrooge. We gain sympathy for him as he is badly treated. We are also briefly introduced to Scrooge's young nephew, who is a complete contrast in character to Scrooge. Dickens establishes Scrooge as a character that is cold and remorseful and due to the death of his friend has grown crueller. Dickens does this so that the novel unfolds and that we see
Scrooge how his character changes through the novel.

Dickens uses narrative language to involve the reader into the novel.
'The mention of Marley's funeral brings me back to the point I started

from.' Dickens does this in a personal way and makes the reader a part of the novel. This is used such as a basic form of story telling when a person is telling the story to you. Dickens uses this also to involve the reader with the themes and feelings in the novel.

The setting in 'A Christmas Carol' almost reflects the character
Scrooge at the opening stave. The setting is a dark London street scene which is cold and foggy 'foggier yet and colder, piercing, searching, biting cold.' The setting of the novel gives us an insight into the harsh and dreary conditions that Scroooge works in. It gives a bit of sympathy towards him. It is important for Dickens to set the scene to show the audience that it is set in a cold winter Christmas.

Dickens uses language to engage the reader towards the novel and to emphasize feelings, emotions or situations. Dickens uses onomatopoeia to give a emphasis on the emotions and sounds 'Clash, clang.' Dickens also uses similes to give the reader a sense of the situation 'Old
Marley was dead as a door nail.' Dickens also uses imagery to involve the reader, and to give the reader a sense of the setting and emotions. Dickens' use of adjectives are greatly used in the opening stave to give sense of character and environment and to bring it out to the reader. Dickens complex vocabulary is used to set out feelings or situations in the novel.

The opening dialogue in the novel shows Scrooge as a sinister and cold character, 'I don't make merry myself at Christmas.' It also shows his attitudes towards people, when the carol singer is asking for a penny towards his song and Scrooge shunts him away harshly. He also shows his attitude towards money and work, when he is not willing to give to charity. The dialogue shows that Scrooge is almost feared in society and that