A Christmas Carol (Dickens) practice questions and exam guide

Scrooge's nephew Fred is the son of his late sister:

1. Belle
2. Fan
3. Martha
4. Mrs. Cratchit

Answer: B — Fan

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — Fan + Scrooge's relationship is one of the warmest in his past; Fred inherits her warmth + invites Scrooge each year.

Mrs. Cratchit's reaction to Bob's toast to Scrooge is:

1. Delight
2. She refuses entirely
3. Indifference
4. Reluctant agreement only for Bob's sake, calling Scrooge 'odious'

Answer: D — Reluctant agreement only for Bob's sake, calling Scrooge 'odious'

A/B) Wrong. C) Wrong. D) Correct — she drinks for Bob's sake while naming Scrooge's cruelty.

On the street, Scrooge meets one of the charity collectors and:

1. Insults him again
2. Refuses to recognize him
3. Walks past him
4. Whispers a very large donation and promises arrears

Answer: D — Whispers a very large donation and promises arrears

A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — the reversal of his earlier refusal is precise and material.

Stave 5 begins with Scrooge:

1. Mourning
2. Hiring servants
3. Visiting Marley's grave
4. Laughing, weeping, and tumbling about his room in joy at being alive and able to change

Answer: D — Laughing, weeping, and tumbling about his room in joy at being alive and able to change

A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — the giddy reversal opens the redemption stave.

At Fred's party, the guests amuse themselves with:

1. Charades
2. Reciting Shakespeare
3. Cards alone
4. A game in which players try to guess what Fred is thinking — an animal that growls and grunts and lives in London

Answer: D — A game in which players try to guess what Fred is thinking — an animal that growls and grunts and lives in London

A) Often confused. B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — the punchline is 'Uncle Scrooge.'

How many spirits does Marley say will visit Scrooge?

1. Two
2. Three
3. Four
4. Five

Answer: B — Three

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — three: Past, Present, Yet to Come. Scrooge initially asks if all three could come at once; Marley says no.

What discovery on the headstone shocks Scrooge?

1. Tim's name
2. His own name
3. Marley's name
4. Fred's name

Answer: B — His own name

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — Scrooge sees 'EBENEZER SCROOGE' on the neglected grave + falls to his knees, promising change.

Scrooge tells the boy to go to the poulterer's and bring back:

1. The prize turkey hanging in the window
2. The largest goose
3. A pudding
4. Beef

Answer: A — The prize turkey hanging in the window

B/C/D) Wrong. A) Correct — the prize turkey, sent anonymously, is his first generous act.

What change can be observed in Scrooge's posture across Stave 3?

1. He grows more defiant
2. He becomes silent
3. He stays unchanged
4. He moves from curiosity to grief and shame

Answer: D — He moves from curiosity to grief and shame

A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — feeling deepens through each scene, preparing Stave 4's terror.

What is the function of the Fezziwig sequence in the larger structure?

1. A counter-model of generous employment that judges Scrooge's treatment of Bob
2. Comic relief only
3. To introduce Belle
4. To explain Christmas

Answer: A — A counter-model of generous employment that judges Scrooge's treatment of Bob

B/C/D) Wrong. A) Correct — it is moral mirror, not just nostalgia.

Capitalism's effects in the novella are dramatized through:

1. Bank failures
2. Stock prices
3. Foreign trade routes
4. Scrooge's counting-house, Bob's wage, the workhouse line, and Marley's chain

Answer: D — Scrooge's counting-house, Bob's wage, the workhouse line, and Marley's chain

A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — Dickens uses ordinary economic facts to make a moral case.

The first scene the future Spirit shows is:

1. Businessmen on the Exchange discussing the death of an unnamed man
2. The Cratchits
3. A funeral procession
4. Scrooge's nephew

Answer: A — Businessmen on the Exchange discussing the death of an unnamed man

B/C/D) Wrong. A) Correct — the cold gossip on the Exchange is the entry into the stave.

Stave V: The End of It — Scrooge's actions?

Wakes Christmas morning. Sends a giant prize turkey to the Cratchits. Donates to the charity collectors. Goes to Fred's for dinner. Raises Bob's salary + becomes a 'second father' to Tiny Tim.

Major theme: time + memory.

Three ghosts representing past, present, future force Scrooge to inhabit his own life across time. The structure makes time itself a moral instrument.

Who is Fan?

Scrooge's loving younger sister, now deceased. Mother of Fred. Comes to school to bring young Scrooge home.

Stave II: scenes shown?

Young Scrooge alone at boarding school; Fan fetching him home; Fezziwig's Christmas party; Belle ending the engagement; older Belle with her happy family.

Stave III: Ghost of Christmas Present — appearance?

A jolly giant in a green robe trimmed with white fur, holding a torch shaped like a horn of plenty. Surrounded by feast.

Who is Belle?

Scrooge's former fiancée. Breaks the engagement after his obsession with money displaces her in his heart.