Key Terms

• Define 'allusion'

  An indirect reference to a concept or theme without explicit mention
• Define 'antithesis'

  Rhetorical device where contrasting concepts are placed together in a text, typically a sentence, to highlight how opposite they are.
• Define 'didactic'

  A moral message, meaning to give instructions.
• Define 'epitome'

  A perfect example or embodiment of a concept.
• Define 'moral imperative'

  An instruction on what is right and wrong, in A Christmas Carol, the Ghosts provide this.
• Define 'poetic justice'

  This is normally accompanied with some sort of irony, or when characters get what they deserve.
• Define 'altruistic attitude'

  Behaviour which is based on devotion to others.
• Define 'authorial voice'.

  An authoritative voice, which the Ghosts have in A Christmas Carol.
• Define 'dichotomy'

  Contrast of two beings that are opposed or distinctly different.
• Define 'Malthusian economics'

  Thomas Malthus was an economist in Victorian times and believed that London was overpopulated and so poverty would be inevitable as food supplies and housing would not be enough to sustain the growing city population.
• Define 'misanthropic'

  A person who dislikes other people
• Define 'philanthropy'

  An act of helping those less well off than yourself, especially involving donations of money.