Stave 3Reading skills: identifying details

Literary devices: humor, hyperbole,

foreshadowing, juxtaposition, personification

Literary Devices

• Purpose: To make story more

enjoyable

• To help you understand the story

• To make the story more powerful,

interesting and memorable

• For fun!

Details: picture the scene

• Scrooge’s room

• Cratchit women clothes

• Do now: sketch in your notes what one of

these scenes looks like. Imagine the colors.

Hyperbole (exaggeration)Humor

• It was a million degrees outside!

• Everyone in the stadium noticed

giant streamer of toilet paper, like a

banner behind an airplane, hanging

off my shoe.

• Scrooge’s fear on p. 81

Foreshadowing: a hint of what’s to come

• Had I known then what I know now, I

wouldn’t have been able to face the

day.

• “Bob’s voice. . . Trembled more when

he said that Tiny Tim was growing

strong and hearty.”

Juxtaposition: two things side by side making them both clearer

• Two people.

• Red next to green makes both

sharper.

• Mean Scrooge and kind Fred.

Foil

• Foil: When two people are next to

each other to make a character trait

stand out.

Personification: inanimate object with feelings; give ideas human

form

• The moon smiled down on the lovers.

The dog slunk away with his tail between his legs. The dog slunk away guiltily.

Example of personification

from ACC?

Ignorance and Want as two bedraggled

children.

Ignorance and Want

• The boy is Ignorance; the girl is Want

– the boy is more dangerous

• Why does Dickens believe this?

• What did he do in his life to fix

ignorance?

Review – Literary Devices

– Details

– Hyperbole

– Juxtapositon

– Personification

– Forshadowing

– Foil

Stave 3 “Team Talk” Questions

• 1. How is Scrooge’s room

transformed by the arrival of the

Ghost of Christmas Present?

• 2. What is a “twice-turned” gown?

What does it mean that Mrs. Cratchit

and her daughter are “brave” in

ribbons? What do these details

convey?

Stave 3 “Team Talk” Questions continued…

• 3. The Spirit reveals that Tiny Tim will die

“if these shadows remain unaltered by the

Future.” Why is Scrooge “overcome with

penitence and grief”?

• 4. According to Scooge’s nephew, Fred,

who always suffers from Scrooge’s “ill

whims”?

Stave 3 “Team Talk” Questions continued…

• 5.Humor in writing taps into the human

disposition to laugh at the ridiculous, the

ludicrous, and the comical. Hyperbole is

exaggeration used for humorous effect. How

does dickens use humor and hyperbole to help

the reader understand how frightened Scrooge

is of the second Spirit? Give me some SPECIFIC

examples from the TEXT.

“Team Talk”

• 7. Foreshadowing is ahunt or a clue an

author gives to suggest something that

may happen later in the story. What might

Dickens be foreshadowing in this passage:

“Bob’s voice…trembled more when he said

that Tiny Tim was growing strong and

hearty”?

“Team Talk”

• 8. Juxtaposition is the act of placing two things

side by side in order to make characteristics of

the two things more distinct. For example, Dicksn

juxtaposes the setting of black house fronts,

furrowed streets, gloom, dingy mist, and soot

with the cheerfulness of the people in the houses,

emphasizing the contrast. Find another example

of juxtaposition in Stave 3.

“Team Talk”• 10. Personification gives human form

to abstractions. How does Dickens

personify ignorance and want

(poverty and oppression) in Stave

Three? Why do you think he chooses

to personify these abstractions as he

does?

“Team Talk”Digging Deeper…

• 11. Of the Cratchit’s Christmas celebration, the

narrator states:

“There was nothing of high mark in this…But they were

happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and

contented with the time…”

Despite having barely enough to fill everyone at a meal,

every Cratchit is thankful and refrains from even hinting

that the pudding is small. Why do you think that is?

“Team Talk”

• Read Philippians 4:12-13. What does

Paul say is the “secret” of being

“content in any and every situation”?

“Team Talk”• 12. The Spirit takes Scrooge from place to place and

to many homes. What personal qualities or traits are

demonstrated for Scrooge through these encounters?

• Read Galatians 5:22-23. What are the fruits of the

Spirit listed in this passage? Compare this list to the

list you made in the previous question. What are their

similarities and differences?

• To what extent can we cultivate these qualities in

ourselves, and to what extent are they gifts from

God?

Comic Strip - Model• To keep track of the many places (at least 8,

some people count 10) the characters visit,

draw each scene (stick figures are fine, but

each “scene” needs to have details).

• Include the setting and the characters

• Label the scene (maybe you’re not a great

artist and I won’t be able to tell!)

• Fold your paper to make nice squares, use

pencil or colored pencil. No pens or markers.