key terms

• alliteration

  repitition of the same sound, usually letters in close succession
• allusion

  an indirect reference to a concept or theme without explicit mention

  • [Scrooge uses Biblical allusion as he believes the Ghost of Christmas Present is God or at least related to Him in some way, “It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your family”]
• anaphora

  a word which refers to a previously used word
• antithesis

  rhetorical device where contrasting concepts are placed together in a text, typically a sentence, to highlight how opposite they are

  • [when Fred is introduced having a 'cheerful voice' straight after Scrooge's wickedness is described]
• asyndetic listing

  a list broken up with commas rather than conjunctions like 'and'
• auditory imagery

  language which appeals to the reader's hearing
• biblical

  relating to the bible: religious connotations
• catalyst

  a dramatic tool used to speed up the plot
• colloquialism

  an informal phrase common at its time of utterance
• connotation

  using text to create implied meaning without explicitally referring to said meaning
• didactic

  a moral message, meaning to give instructions
• dramatic irony

  when the audience knows information which the character does not know
• epitome

  a perfect example of embodiment of a concep
• foreboding

  apprehension that a bad event will occur
• foreshadowing

  an indication that an event will occur later in the narrative

  • [Fan says that her father is much “kinder” than before which Scrooge’s change]
• hyperbole

  use of exaggerated statements
• interjection

  sudden remark, used often as an interruption or aside in the text

  • ["bah humbug"]
• irony

  embedding a meaning by using language typically implying the opposite of what the writer is intending to express, often for a humorous effect.
• juxtaposition

  comparing two concepts, characters, or clauses, in close proximity in a passage for the effect of contrast
• moral imperative

  an instruction on what is right and wrong, the ghosts provide this
• olfactory imagery

  appeals to the reader's sense of smell
• oxymoron

  two opposing terms that are placed next to each other
• pathetic fallacy

  attributing human qualities to nonhuman things
• poetic justice

  this is normally accompanied with some sort of irony, or when characters get what they deserve

  • [as a child, Scrooge was 'neglected' and then in the prolepsis, his grave stone is also 'neglected']
• polysyndetic listing

  listing using conjunctions such as 'and'
• prolepsis

  a flash forward

  • [the scenes that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge]
• satire

  critisising people through the use of humour or irony

  • [Scrooge says “every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart"]
• semantic field

  a writer using words that a linked by a theme or topic throughout a text or passage
• sibilance

  the repitition of an 's' sound in a word, sentence or section of text
• stave

  in musical notation, a 'stave' is a set of five horizontal lines where music is written and each often represents a different musical pitch
• syntactic

  relating to the arrangement of words within a sentence within text
• symbolism

  using an object or character to represent a wider concept running throughout the novel

  • [Scrooge symbolises the attitudes of the upper class]
• superlative

  an adjective describing the highest degree of what it is

  • [the Ghost of Christmas Past has clothing of the 'purest' white]
• temporal deixis

  language which references or manipulates time
• tricolon

  three parallel phrases/words are placed in succession within a text, without interruption
• altruistic attitude

  behaviour which is based on devotion to others
• authorial voice

  an authoritative voice, which the Ghosts have
• dichotomy

  contrast of two beings which are opposed or distinctly different
• foil

  a character which serves to contrast another, to emphasise certain characteristics of the other character

  • [Fred is a foil to Scrooge]
• idealisation

  imagining something better than it is in reality

  • [it can be argued that the character of Bob Cratchit is idealised]