How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more like a climate?
A Christmas Carol
30 minutes total
ByCharles Dickens
Grade6-8
Time30 minutes
Essential question
How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more like a climate?
Marked passage
Passage location
Stave One
Start anchor
Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!
End anchor
To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call 'nuts' to Scrooge.
Passage focus
Scrooge described as a force of cold
Ways to teach it
Listening
Listen to the exact passage; visual following is optional. Same question and evidence demand.
Solo
Read the exact passage independently.
Supported
Use narration and sentence highlighting while reading the same passage.
Teacher guide
Close
Name the single detail that most changed or sharpened your interpretation, and explain why.
Evidence
Use one detail that could literally describe weather and one where that weather vocabulary is applied to Scrooge himself. The strongest evidence shows his coldness spreading outward into social space.
Mark
Circle every word that belongs to actual winter weather. Underline the places where Dickens transfers those weather words onto Scrooge himself. Put a star beside the comparison that makes Scrooge seem least human.
Instructional move
Read figurative language as characterization
Notice
• Which descriptions could literally describe the weather outside, and which are being used to describe Scrooge? • How does the repeated cold imagery change the way you imagine other people experiencing him? • Where does Dickens cross the line from describing Scrooge as cold to making him feel like a climate?
Strong answer
Dickens makes Scrooge seem like a climate by transferring literal winter language—cold, frost, fog, chill—onto his body and effect on other people. Scrooge becomes something others have to endure rather than merely a man with an unpleasant personality.
Think
Answer provisionally: How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more like a climate? Choose the strongest interpretation you can defend from this passage alone.
Watch for
Do not merely identify a simile or metaphor. Explain how repeated weather imagery changes the reader's sense of Scrooge as a human presence.
Why this passage
Dickens does not merely tell us that Scrooge is cold. He lets cold weather, frost, fog, and Scrooge’s own body seem to merge until the man feels like a force of weather. That gives students a concrete way to see figurative language doing the work of characterization.
Write
Write a short evidence-based response to: How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more like a climate? Use at least two details from the assigned passage and explain how they support your interpretation.
Student tasks
Mark
Circle every word that belongs to actual winter weather. Underline the places where Dickens transfers those weather words onto Scrooge himself. Put a star beside the comparison that makes Scrooge seem least human.
Notice
Which descriptions could literally describe the weather outside, and which are being used to describe Scrooge? How does the repeated cold imagery change the way you imagine other people experiencing him? Where does Dickens cross the line from describing Scrooge as cold to making him feel like a climate?
Think
Answer provisionally: How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more like a climate?
Write
Write a short response using at least two pieces of evidence from this passage. Use evidence from the assigned passage. Show what you noticed and how the text supports your interpretation.
Ready-to-teach lesson
TumbleTA 6-12 · TEXT-BASED LESSON
BATCH 01 · 6-8 · LESSON 11
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more
like a climate?
TOTAL TIME
PASSAGE
30 minutes
Scrooge described as a force of cold
FIND THE ANCHOR TEXT
Use the Anchor Text Table of Contents in the Enhanced Reader to open the START anchor. Then use the dropdown to select the END anchor.
SECTION / LOCATION
Stave One
START
Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!
END
To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call 'nuts' to Scrooge.
PASSAGE ID
sec-acc-01
THE MOVE
Read figurative language as characterization
WHY THIS PASSAGE
Dickens does not merely tell us that Scrooge is cold. He lets cold weather, frost, fog, and Scrooge’s own body seem to merge until the man feels like a force of weather. That gives students a concrete way to see figurative language doing the work of characterization.
MARK
Circle every word that belongs to actual winter weather. Underline the places where Dickens transfers those weather words onto Scrooge himself. Put a star beside the comparison that makes Scrooge seem least human.
page 1
NOTICE
Which descriptions could literally describe the weather outside, and which are being used to
describe Scrooge?
How does the repeated cold imagery change the way you imagine other people experiencing
him?
Where does Dickens cross the line from describing Scrooge as cold to making him feel like a
climate?
THINK
Answer provisionally: How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more like a climate? Choose the strongest interpretation you can defend from this passage alone.
WRITE
Write a short evidence-based response to: How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more like a climate? Use at least two details from the assigned passage and explain how they support your interpretation.
CLOSE
Name the single detail that most changed or sharpened your interpretation, and explain why.
STRONG ANSWER
Dickens makes Scrooge seem like a climate by transferring literal winter language—cold, frost, fog, chill—onto his body and effect on other people. Scrooge becomes something others have to endure rather than merely a man with an unpleasant personality.
EVIDENCE
Use one detail that could literally describe weather and one where that weather vocabulary is applied to Scrooge himself. The strongest evidence shows his coldness spreading outward into social space.
WATCH FOR
Do not merely identify a simile or metaphor. Explain how repeated weather imagery changes the reader's sense of Scrooge as a human presence.
SOLO
Read the exact passage independently.
SUPPORTED
Use narration and sentence highlighting while reading the same passage.
LISTENING
Listen to the exact passage; visual following is optional. Same question and evidence demand.
page 2
STUDENT PAGE · SAME PASSAGE, SAME THINKING
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and more
like a climate?
START ANCHOR
Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!
END ANCHOR
To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call 'nuts' to Scrooge.
Use the Anchor Text Table of Contents in the Enhanced Reader to open the START anchor. Then use the dropdown to select the END anchor.
OPEN THE MARKED PASSAGE IN TUMBLELIT
SOLO: read independently. SUPPORTED: use narration + highlighting. LISTENING: listen to the exact passage. The question and evidence task stay the same.
1.MARK - Circle every word that belongs to actual winter weather. Underline the places where
Dickens transfers those weather words onto Scrooge himself. Put a star beside the comparison that makes Scrooge seem least human.
2.NOTICE - Which descriptions could literally describe the weather outside, and which are being
used to describe Scrooge? How does the repeated cold imagery change the way you imagine other people experiencing him? Where does Dickens cross the line from describing Scrooge as cold to making him feel like a climate?
3.THINK - Answer provisionally: How does Dickens make Scrooge seem less like a person and
more like a climate?
4.WRITE - Write a short response using at least two pieces of evidence from this passage.
Use evidence from the assigned passage. Show what you noticed and how the text supports your interpretation.
page 3
Original printable PDF
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