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| Illustration of Marley's ghost found on page 78 of your editions. |
In the "Preface" to A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens writes these famous lines:
I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.
Their faithful Friend and Servant,
C. D.
Dec. 1843. (5)
One of the great parts of your "Annotated" editions is that the editors show readers what Dickens meant to say to his readers, and how he interacted with his publishers, Chapman and Hall. What your annotations don't tell you is why he chose to capitalize certain nouns (e.g., "Ghostly," "Ghost," "Idea," "Friend," and "Servant").
In the comments section below pick one or two of the nouns Dickens chose to capitalize and make "proper." Then, answer the following questions.
1) Why do you think Dickens chose to capitalize these words?
2) How does the meaning of the word you picked change when it is capitalized?
3) What do you think Dickens means when he says, "Ghost of an Idea?"
4) Why does he describe A Christmas Carol as a "Ghostly little book?"
1. I think Dickens capitalized the words solely to emphasize them, and show that they have more meaning than the other words.
ReplyDelete2. The word I picked was "Friend." I think it was changed from being a simple closing, to a more personal meaning. Perhaps Dickens wanted to show that he cares for his readers.
3. I think he means that it is just a fun story that they may look back on and think of during the holidays.
4. I think that Dickens describes A Christmas Carol as "Ghostly" simply because it is a story filled with ghosts showing Scrooge the right way to go in life.
"Ghostly" and "Idea"
ReplyDelete1) I think Dickens chose to capitalize these words because they have a lot of meaning towards his book. He wanted to make them stand out more to give readers a heads up on what the book will be involving. Making "idea" capitalized shows that Christmas back then was more of an idea than a real holiday.
2) The words become more real and important when they're capitalized.
3) I think Dickens means that Christmas, an "idea," died and was almost completely forgotten about, like a "ghost."
4) The story includes the Scrooge getting haunted and involves many ghosts which is why Dickens describes "A Christmas Carol" as a "Ghostly little book."
"Ghost"
ReplyDelete1) I think Dickens did this in spite of the characters in the book (Ghost of Past/Present/Future). It was also common in the 1800s to capitalize improper nouns.
2) It goes from being a paranormal figment that a small population at that time believe in, to being an actual, real character in the story.
3) It means the idea was long forgotten, and died away with it's time. But it has been brought back by this story.
4) Most likely because the book not only has a consistent eerie theme to it, but more than half of it is Scrooge's encounters with his "Ghosts".
1. I think Dickens chose to capitalize those words because they are a very important to the theme in his story. Since there are many ghosts in his tale, it only seems natural to capitalize the word ghost. That, and the fact that the ghosts are sent to give Scrooge the idea to change his ways, which again seems reasonable to capitalize the word idea.
ReplyDelete2. The meaning changes by emphasizing the importance of those words. Such as a Ghost of an Idea because more of an idea that people will keep this book in hopes that it will arouse Christmas spirit in their homes. Not to mention, Scrooge is also visited by three ghosts in the story.
3. I think Dickens means he is trying to subtly implant the idea of celebrating Christmas in the heads of the people who read it.
4. He describes the story as "a Ghostly little book" for one of two reason. First, the plot of this story revolves around old Scrooge being haunted by three ghosts so he will change his views of Christmas. Second, this book is meant to serve the purpose of those three ghosts to anyone who reads it. It is meant to "haunt" someone with the idea that Christmas is a wonderful, celebratory time.
"I have endeavoured in this ghostly little book..."
ReplyDelete1. I believe Dickens chose to capitalize these words to add meaning to them and add a certain mood to the story.
2. The meaning of the word ghostly changes because I think the capitalization adds emphasis to the word.
3. I think Dickens means to add a certain tone and mood to the story because he's writing a story about ghosts.
4. He describes A Christmas Carol as a "Ghostly little book" because of the ghosts that we meet throughout the story. The word "little" implies that the story is not very long, which it is not. And "book" because it is obviously a book.
1) I think Dickens capitalized these words to show their importance to the story. "Ghost" and "Idea" are both a theme to the story.
ReplyDelete2) There is more emphasis to the word when you say/read it. I think it also is capitalized because it has more meaning than others.
3) The "Ghost of an Idea" Dickens is talking about is the advice that the ghosts give to scrooge in his story. He wants the readers to pay attention to the deeper meaning of what the ghosts are doing or saying, and connect his story to their own lives.
4) A Christmas Carol is only five staves long so it is pretty short, or little. I think he called it ghostly because of the ghosts and their importance to the story.
1. I think Dickens capitalized "Ghost" because it puts an emphasis on the supernatural aspect of the book.
ReplyDelete2. The meaning of the word ghost when capitalized makes it a proper noun referring to a specific ghost.
3. When Dickens says "Ghost of an idea" I believe he means the remnants of an idea because if it is a ghost it is still there but not completely whole.
4. I believe Dickens describes his book this way due to the fact that the story is very ghost centric, and that certain parts are very dark which makes it even more "Ghostly".
1. I think Dickens chose to capitalize these words because he wanted to show the importance of them.
ReplyDelete2. When it is capitalized it changes because it is no longer just a word in a sentence. It stands out to the reader by showing it's importance, so the reader knows the words are significant.
3. He could mean many things, for example: he could mean that the idea of the story and the events that take place are scary. "Ghost of an idea," or a scary idea.
4. He describes it as a "Ghostly little book" not only because many of the characters are ghosts, but also the tone. For most of the book, the tone is made by an extreme feeling of Scrooge. Frequently, Scrooge is scared, sad, regretful and sorrowful. A lot of things that a stereotypical ghost is. This makes a ghostly tone, or ghostly book.
1. I think its to put emphasis on the words. He can almost make the preface sound sort of enthusiastic by adding in these capital letters.
ReplyDelete2. It changes how the word is said. Instead of saying the words like normal it shows the importance of them because they are said with more enthusiasm.
3. I think what Dickens mean by "Ghost of an Idea" is that he turned his once little idea into a very powerful story with great meaning.
4. He calls his story a Ghostly little book because its a short book with an spooky tone to it.
1) Why do you think Dickens chose to capitalize these words?
ReplyDeleteI believe Dickens chose to capitalize "Ghostly" and "Ghost" because they pretty much make up "A Christmas Carol." Dickens is trying to emphasize what the story is about, besides it's a good-humored snippet.
2) How does the meaning of the word you picked change when it is capitalized?
It's more prominent in the text because an improper noun and an adjective is capitalized. The tone in the texts changes, making it pun worthy because Dickens is emphasizing "ghost" and "ghostly."
3) What do you think Dickens means when he says, "Ghost of an Idea?"
An idea that usually isn't thought about.
4) Why does he describe A Christmas Carol as a "Ghostly little book?"
Dickens describes A Chrismas Carol as a "Ghostly little book" because the ghosts pretty much take over the book. There are so many of them!
1) Dickens may have chose to capitalize these words to refer to them to have the same importance as a person.
ReplyDelete2) Friend- alters the significance to a higher meaning, saying that this isn't just a regular friend THE Friend.
3) "Ghost of an Idea" may be referring to an individual ghost that he met, and refers to him as Ghost because he doesn't know the ghost's name, and Ghost came from the idea of purgatory, which is why it would be capitalized because places are proper nouns.
4) Dickens describes The Christmas Carol as "a ghostly little book" because these little ghosts all have their own little purpose, but all together they work to change Scrooges life, and haunt him for the better.
1) At first I thought those five words were capitalize just because.But I think this to emphasize the important of the words.Like for example I think "Ghost" is capitalized because in the book Marley Scrooge's ghost.
ReplyDelete2)The reason I think he capitalized the words is to show how important they are to the book especially to the introduction."Ghost" is capitalized because Christmas wasn't celebrated anymore for a very long time before that and he wanted to bring back the "spirit" of Christmas.
3)When Dicken says "Ghost of an Idea" I think it means that he's talking about how ghost is because Christmas was more like a tale/ghost more than something people actually celebrated and the ghost in the book.
4)I think he say "Ghostly little book" because he's trying to talk about Christmas and in away brink it back and talk about the celebrating it.