A Christmas Carol Extract Question Model Answer (OCR GCSE English Literature)

A Christmas Carol Extract Question Model Answer

Component 1, Section B of your OCR GCSE offers you a choice of two questions about a 19th-century prose work. You will write an essay on one of the following options:

• Question 1 is based on an extract from the novel or novella you have studied

• Question 2 is a “discursive” essay question and doesn’t contain an extract

You can find a model answer for the discursive essay by following this link. This page provides a model answer for the extract-based question.

What is an extract-based question?

The extract-based question asks you to write an essay based on a printed extract, which you will use as a starting point. The extract will be around 20 lines long and the question will ask you to link it with other parts of the novella that address the same theme or aspect of A Christmas Carol.

How am I assessed?

You will have 50 minutes to answer the question, and your essay will be awarded a maximum of 40 marks. This table shows how the marks are divided:

How long should I spend annotating the extract?

You will have 50 minutes to plan, write and check your essay, so your best strategy is to annotate the extract at the same time as planning your answer. That way, you can link the specific details in the extract to other events, characters and contexts in the novella. Aim to spend around 10 minutes on your essay plan to ensure your argument has a strong structure that focuses on the question throughout. Take a look at our How to Write a Grade 9 A Christmas Carol Essay page for more suggestions on planning your answer.

A Christmas Carol extract question model answer

Below is a model answer for an OCR GCSE extract essay question on A Christmas Carol. The annotations show how the assessment objectives (AOs) have been met. Here is the question:

Grade 9 model answer

While Dickens is keen to foreground issues such as poverty and social inequality (AO1), his depiction of Scrooge’s transformation revolves around Scrooge’s gradual acceptance of the importance of family and friends (AO1). In his most famous Christmas story, Dickens presents family and friends as central to human happiness and wellbeing (AO1). 

Scrooge’s progression from gloom to enlightenment is punctuated by scenes that evoke the value of family and friends (AO1). Some of these scenes are described by the narrator, but many of them are witnessed by Scrooge in the company of the spirits that visit him. One such scene is his visit to the miners’ Christmas celebrations. Dickens’ description of the bleak, deserted landscape in which the miners live echoes the description of Scrooge’s lodgings in Stave 1 (AO2). Just as the frost imprisons the water on the moor, Scrooge’s misanthropy holds him prisoner in his dark, gloomy chambers, with his single candle and “low fire”. Dickens links the darkness of Scrooge’s home with the metaphorical darkness of his ignorance and lack of fellow-feeling (AO2). Unlike the miners, who celebrate Christmas in “cheerful company”, Scrooge’s heart is filled with “misanthropic ice”, which makes him reject his nephew’s friendly invitation to dine with him. Scrooge’s “wish to be left alone” at the beginning of A Christmas Carol characterises his rejection of the importance of family and friends (AO1).

The “cheerful company” of the miners’ family celebrations is anticipated by Scrooge’s visit to Fezziwig’s Christmas party with The Ghost of Christmas Past in Stave 2 (AO1). Just as the “very old song” sung by the old man represents a traditional aspect of Christmas, Fezziwig’s party illustrates traditions of goodwill and fellowship. Fezziwig’s generosity in throwing a party for his employees, family, friends and neighbours – and Scrooge’s joy in reliving it – symbolise the value of sharing festivities with family and friends (AO1). Scrooge’s happy memories make him reflect on a time when he was truly happy with his fellow apprentice and benevolent employer, surrounded by the good-natured company of friends. When the Ghost of Christmas Past suggests that it is “a small matter” to make people grateful with a cheap party, Scrooge insists that the power to give other people happiness is worth “a fortune” (AO1). Scrooge’s response illustrates his realisation that the important things in life are not based on their monetary value, but on more enduring things like friendship, a central theme in the novella (AO2). 

Dickens’ concern with the twin evils of poverty and social inequality is matched by his emphasis on the comforts of familial love (AO3). Despite the miners’ inhospitable environment, their poor dwelling with its “wall of mud and stone” and their hard labour “in the bowels of the earth”, they too gather, “decked out gaily in their holiday attire”, to celebrate Christmas with several generations of their family. The Ghost of Christmas Present’s assertion that “they know me. See!” implies that this family gathering embodies the true spirit of Christmas. Dickens echoes this in his depiction of the Cratchits in Stave 3 (AO2). Their Christmas celebrations centre on their home, meagre as it is, and their joy and togetherness as a family. The Cratchits are “happy, grateful, pleased with one another”, which makes Scrooge feel “an interest he had never felt before” and suggests the beginning of a thaw in his icy heart. When Tiny Tim declares, “God bless us every one!”, the idea of family is expanded to include “every one”, meaning all people in the wider human family. 

The Christian concept of humanity as one family is central to A Christmas Carol. Dickens’ sympathy for the plight of the London poor, who suffered high infant mortality rates, a “want of common necessities” and an absence of social support systems (AO3), is balanced by depictions of people who have very little money enjoying the riches of companionship. Dickens often signifies this enjoyment with singing: the lighthouse-keepers, the miners, the sailors and the Cratchits all sing heartily to celebrate the season. 

Ultimately, like the old man in the mining community whose voice becomes louder when his family joins in, Scrooge finally rediscovers the “vigour” that comes from joining with family and friends in celebration of Christmas, goodwill and each other (AO1).

Sources

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings, Penguin, 2003