Key quotations

• ‘Slowly, gravely, silently’

  Embedded and contextualised example: When the Ghost of Christmas Future first enters in Stave 4, he is said to do so “slowly, gravely, silently.”

  Reasons for learning it:

  • Easy to learn
  • Triad of adverbs which are each symbolic of the future itself, which the ghost is a symbol of - the future approaches us slowly, it is scary - evocative of death - and we don’t see (or hear) it coming - it is stealthy and unknowable

  Relevant characters and themes: Scrooge, redemption, the supernatural
• ‘Plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, uncared for’

  Embedded and contextualised example: When Scrooge sees the body of the dead man (himself, as it turns out), the body is said to be “plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, uncared for”.

  Reasons for learning it:

  • A list of adjectives, each of which can be zoomed into for further analysis:
  • “plundered” = greedy people are treated in death as they behaved in life;
  • “bereft” = we lose everything when we die;
  • “unwatched” = nobody to mourn;
  • “unwept” = nobody is sad;
  • “uncared for” = nobody to look after the body or the things it has left behind
  • List ends with a triad of compound adjectives with prefix un-: emphasises what the body (and the person it once was) doesn’t have - this is all about loss and inadequacy

  Relevant characters and themes: Scrooge, family, poverty and the poor, redemption, greed and generosity, the supernatural
• ‘Quiet. Very quiet.’

  Embedded and contextualised example: When Scrooge revisits the Cratchits in Stave 4, after the death of Tiny Tim, the house is “quiet. Very quiet.”

  Reasons for learning it:

  • Very short and easy to learn
  • Structural echo of the first visit to the Cratchits - emphasises the difference the death of Tiny Tim has had
  • Repetition of adjective “quiet” - emphasis of the fact the life has gone out of the household
  • Two short, minor sentences - creates a sense of certainty and definitiveness - there is nothing else to say - no words to express the mournful atmosphere in the house - also creates a sense of emptiness, of something being missing (like the rest of the words in the sentences)

  Relevant characters and themes: The Cratchits, family, poverty and the poor, greed and generosity
• ‘I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future’

  Embedded and contextualised example: Before the Ghost of Christmas Future leaves, Scrooge vows to change, claiming he will “live in the Past, the Present, and the Future” from now on.

  Reasons for learning it:

  • It’s one of the key messages of the entire novel
  • You can analyse the symbolism of the three proper nouns in the triad: the Past, the Present and the Future as represented by the lessons of the three spirits
  • You can analyse the modal verb “will” in terms of its certainty

  Relevant characters and themes: Scrooge, redemption, greed and generosity, the supernatural