1

Name:

Unit 1: Fairness

Lesson 1:

What was life like in Victorian England? Who was Charles Dickens? Why is his work seminal?

Do it nowLook at the two pictures below and answer the questions that follow.

1. What can you infer about the two families above? (What details have led you to make those inferences?)

2. What similarities exist between the two pictures?3. What differences exist between the two pictures?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2

New knowledge: What was life like in Victorian London?

Victorian London Rich versus poor

Industrial Revolution Factories

Urbanisation Population

Overcrowding Social hierarchy

3

Pen to paperBased upon what you have learnt, can you summarise why the differences between these two pictures might exist?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

New knowledge: Who was Charles Dickens? Why are his works considered to be so important?

Charles Dickens, the author of our novel for this term, was born into a comfortable household. His father was a clerk in a Naval Pay Office and this meant that Dickens was raised well and was afforded a private education.

HOWEVER, over the years, his father had racked up a level of debt and was sent to Marshalsea debtor’s prison. His wife and youngest children joined him there, which was normal at the time. Charles boarded with Elizbaeth Roylance, a family friend. To pay for his board and to help his family, Dickens was forced to leave school and work ten-hour days at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse where he earned six shillings a week. This was strenuous and hard work. Dickens felt bitter and sad at the loss of his childhood, remarking ‘how could I have been so easily cast away at such an age?’

Upon the death of his father’s mother, the family came into some money meaning that John Dickens was released from prison. As a result, Charles went back to live with his family. He attended school once again before taking a job as a junior clerk which eventually led him to the writing career he is famous for today.

Dickens was a social commentator.

His works were considered works of social commentary. He was a fierce critic of poverty and of the social divide / hierarchy stating that ‘Virtue shows quite well in rags and patches as she does in purple and fine linen.’

He used his novels to highlight his frustrations with the social hierarchy and the treatment of the poor, as a result. His written focus was on the lives of the forgotten poor and disadvantaged within society. He depicted the exploitation and the oppression of the poor and condemned the public

4

officials and institutions that not only allowed such abuses to exist, but flourished as a result. He also campaigned, as a journalist, about many issues but in particular about the conditions in workhouses.

Pen to paperThis term we are going to be focused on one of Dicken’s novels: A Christmas Carol. As you are watching the short video, consider the following questions.

1. What inspired Dickens to write a Christmas Carol?

2. What is the premise of the novel and how is this in-keeping with what we have learnt about Victorian England?

3. What are some of the key themes?

4. How long did it take Dickens to write ‘A Christmas Carol’? How was it received?

ReflectionA Christmas Carol was written in 1843, 176 years ago. It can’t possibly be relevant today, can it?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

5

Lesson 2

Why the title ‘A Christmas Carol’? What is the significance of the preface to ‘A Christmas Carol’? Who is Marley and why is his death significant?

Do it nowAnswer the following recap questions. You may use your notes to help you.

1. Why was the Industrial revolution significant in widening the gap between the rich and the poor?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. What were living conditions like for the poor?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. Why was Charles Dickens considered a social commentator?

______________________________________________________________________________

4. Why did Dickens have a particular interest in the poor and disadvantaged?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

5. In what year was A Christmas Carol was written? What era is this?

______________________________________________________________________________

New knowledge: Why the title ‘A Christmas Carol’?

Last lesson we learnt that it took Dickens four weeks to write A Christmas Carol. The novel was actually released on December 19th, which might account for the title ‘A Christmas Carol’ as it came out just before the Christmas period.

But why Carol? Carols are sung collectively and spread joy. Perhaps Dickens was hoping that his story might bring families together over the festive period and help to spread a little more joy to all.

Instead of using chapters, Dickens also uses staves. A stave is a musical term for a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch. Dickens uses staves in A Christmas Carol because each stave is a stand-alone story with its own distinctive mood. But when taken together, all five staves combine to form a harmonious whole.

However, the original title of the book was ‘A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas’ and before the first stave, this, the preface appears.

6

A preface is an introduction to a book and it deals with the ideas behind the book, the purpose of the book and its limitations.

Task: A copy of the preface to ‘A Christmas Carol’ is below. Annotate your copy of the preface with your ideas about what Dickens might be trying to tell us about the book before we have read it.

New knowledge: The opening to Stave One: Marley’s GhostWe are now going to read the opening to Stave One: Marley’s Ghost. The stave is entitled ‘Marley’s Ghost.’ What can we already predict from this?

______________________________________________________________________________

7

Let’s read the opening to the novella.

1 Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt 2 whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed3 by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief4 mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was 5 good upon ‘Change for anything he chose to put his hand6 to.’ Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

7 Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own 8 knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-9 nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-10 nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But11 the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my 12 unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s 13 done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, 14 emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

15 Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How 16 could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners17 for I don’t know how many years. Scrooge was his sole18 executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole19 residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And20 even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad 21 event, but that he was an excellent man of business on 22 the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an 23 undoubted bargain.

24 The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the 25 point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was 26 dead. This must be directly understood, or nothing 27 wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If28 we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s Father died29 before the play began, there would be nothing remarkable30 in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon 31 his own ramparts, than there would be in any other 32 middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a33 breezy spot – say Saint Paul’s Churchyard for instance -34 literally to astonish his son’s weak mind.

35 Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name. There it 36 stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: 37 Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and 38 Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called 39 Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he 40 answered to both names. It was all the same to him.

Pen to paper: Initial comprehensionThe opening to the novella begins with a narrator, not Scrooge, informing us of Marley’s death. Let’s begin by considering the following questions:

1. Who is Marley?

______________________________________________________________________________8

2. Why is it important for us to know clearly that Marley is dead? Think back to the title of the stave.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. Dickens refers to Hamlet in the opening to ‘A Christmas Carol’. In the story of Hamlet,

Hamlet’s father, the king of Denmark, dies before the play begins, but he appears to Hamlet as a ghost in Act 1 of the play.

The ghost reveals that he was killed by his brother, Hamlet’s uncle. Hamlet’s uncle now rules Denmark and is married to Hamlet’s mother. The ghost of Hamlet’s father is often shown appearing on the ramparts of his castle. This dramatic revelation affects everything that follows in the play.

Why do you think Dickens has used this reference to Hamlet?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

ReflectionMarley was Scrooge’s business partner and friend. But to what extent would you say Scrooge was affected by Marley’s death? Can you draw upon evidence from the text to support your viewpoint?

9

Lesson 3

What methods has Dickens employed to ensure the reader is clear Marley is dead?

Do it nowAnswer the following recap questions. You may use your notes to help you.

1. Why might Dickens have titled the novel ‘A Christmas Carol’?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the significance of the preface to ‘A Christmas Carol’?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. Who is Marley?

______________________________________________________________________________

4. Why is it important that the reader is clear Marley is dead?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

5. How does Dickens use allusion (where a brief reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance is mentioned within a literary text) in the opening of the novel?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

New knowledge: How does Dickens emphasise the death of Marley?Last lesson we learnt that Marley was dead at the start of the novel. Dickens needed to emphasise Marley’s death at the start of Stave 1 if we, as readers, are to make sense of events that happen later on in the novel. In order to emphasise his death, Dickens draws upon a range of language and structural techniques. He uses simile, lexical repetition, lists, short sentences, repetition and allusion to help him do this.

Pen to paper: What methods does Dickens employ to emphasise the death of Marley?The chart below identifies the techniques used by Dickens to draw attention to the fact that Marley is dead. Your task is to find where these techniques have been employed within the opening. Once you have found the correct textual reference, copy it into the chart below.

Simile to emphasise how dead Marley is.

Lexical repetition to 10

emphasise how in death Marley had no-one but Scrooge.List to emphasise the finality of Marley’s death.

Short sentence to shock the reader with the information that Marley is dead.Repetition to confirm Marley’s death.

Allusion to help the reader understand that Marley is dead and that this needs to be understood.

New knowledge: What? How? Why?We are now going to write a response to the following question: How does Dickens use language and structure to emphasise the death of Marley at the start of ‘A Christmas Carol’?

In order to do this, we need to follow a very basic structure of analysis:

What? WHAT do we learn about Marley?How? HOW has Dickens used language or structure to support his point about Marley?Why? WHY is the use of language or structure to present Marley in this way particularly

effective?

Pen to paper: Understanding What? How? Why?Look at the paragraph that has been written in response to the question: ‘How does Dickens use language and structure to emphasise the death of Marley at the start of ‘A Christmas Carol’?

At the start of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens we learn that Marley is dead. His death is

emphasised by Dickens when he uses the short sentence ‘Marley was dead to begin with.’ The

use of this short sentence to begin the novel creates a dramatic start to the narrative through the

announcement of a death so early on. As a result, many questions will be raised in the reader’s

mind as to how and why the character of Marley has died and why it is significant to the story but

the message that he is dead has been clearly communicated to the reader right from the outset.

.

Can you identify the separate parts of this analytical paragraph?11

Where is the WHAT addressed? Where is the HOW addressed? Where is the WHY addressed?Use three different highlighters to identify the different parts of my analytical paragraph.

Pen to paper: Writing a What? How? Why? ParagraphIn your exercise book, write the following title: How does Dickens use language and structure to emphasise the death of Marley at the start of ‘A Christmas Carol’?

Section of the

paragraph

What question are we answering? Things to consider

What? WHAT do we learn about Marley? You can use the opening sentence from the exemplar response.

How? HOW has Dickens used language or structure to support his point about Marley?

What technique has Dickens used?Where in the text has this technique been used?

Why? WHY is the use of language or structure to present Marley in this way particularly effective?

Why has Dickens used this particular technique?How does it help to emphasise his death?How does it create for an engaging opening?

ReflectionLet’s reflect on your writing. Swap your paragraph with the person sitting next to you. Ask them to read your work and, using three colours, identify where you have answered the WHAT? Where you have answered the HOW? And where you have answered the WHY?

Look at the following success criteria and ask them to check it off in your booklet:

Have I Yes or NOidentified that we learn that Marley is dead in the opening of the story?

identified a technique Dickens has used to present Marley as dead?

used the correct terminology?

chosen an appropriate textual reference that uses my chosen technique?

explained how the use of the technique emphasises Marley’s death?

explained how the use of the technique engages the reader in the narrative?

Target: ________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 412

How do I create an engaging opening to a narrative?

Do it nowRecap question:

1. Decide whether the following methods are linguistic or structural: simile, lexical repetition, lists, short sentence, repetition, allusion.

Linguistic Structural

2. Respond to the feedback in your booklet using your green pen.

New knowledgeLast lesson we were looking at how Dickens used language and structural techniques to emphasise the fact that Marley was dead at the start of the story. In announcing a death at the start of the story and in his use of a range of interesting techniques, Dickens successfully created an engaging opening to a story. He used

A short sentence for dramatic effect A list to emphasise the finality of the situation. Repetition to confirm a position. Lexical repetition to convey a message. Allusion to provide a further example to make his point clear to the reader. A simile to provide a further example to make his point clear to the reader.

In today’s lesson, your task will be to have a go at creating an engaging opening to a story using the techniques above. Let’s look at your stimulus.

Pen to paperIn pairs, consider and annotate the picture in response to the following:

What do you see? What can you infer? What would be the main idea you would wish to convey to your reader?

13

Pen to paperNow it’s your turn to thieve some ideas!

14

A short sentence to open the narrative.

A list. Repetition of an idea.

Lexical repetition. A simile. Allusion.

ReflectionYour task: create an engaging opening to a narrative using a range of interesting techniques.

Success criteria:

An opening that reflects the image you have been given Maximum two paragraphs A short sentence to begin the narrative in a dramatic way Repetition Lexical repetition A list Allusion A simile

Lesson 5

How do I create an engaging opening to a narrative?15

Your task: create an engaging opening to a narrative using a range of interesting techniques.

Success criteria:

An opening that reflects the image you have been given Maximum two paragraphs A short sentence to begin the narrative in a dramatic way Repetition Lexical repetition A list Allusion A simile

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

16

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

When you are happy with your draft, then1. Copy your best version into your assessment book.2. Identify and highlight where you have met the success criteria.3. Evaluate your choices. To do this consider the following questions:

How does my short sentence create a dramatic opening? How have I used repetition to reinforce an idea and create an engaging opening? How have I used lexical repetition to reinforce an idea and create an engaging

opening? How have I used a list to reinforce an idea and create an engaging opening? How has my use of allusion helped my reader with the main idea? How has my simile emphasised the point I want to make?

Lesson 6

17

Do it now

New knowledge

Pen to paper

Reflection

Lesson 7

Do it now

New knowledge

Pen to paper

Reflection

Lesson 8

Do it now

New knowledge

Pen to paper

Reflection

Lesson 9

Do it now

New knowledge

Pen to paper

ReflectionLesson 10

Do it now

New knowledge

18

Pen to paper

Reflection

19