Essential Questions
- Why do more people help others around Christmas and Thanksgiving than other times of the year? Are people any less needy at other times?
- Who in our society needs help?
- Who is ultimately responsible for the caring for those less fortunate?
- What is the best way to help people?
Reading Resources
This is a fairly difficult text to read. It might help to listen and read at the same time, or to watch the movie and then go back to the reading.
The Victorian Era
What is the Victorian Era? https://faculty.unlv.edu/kirschen/handouts/victorian.html
What were the downsides to the Industrial Revolution? http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution
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History of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
When did Charles Dickens write A Christmas Carol?
Dickens began writing the story in October, 1843. It was published just after Christmas of that same year. Why did Dickens write A Christmas Carol? "Although Charles Dickens was a major celebrity in Great Britain – easily identified in England and in Europe, virtually mobbed on his visits to the United States for reading tours, he was also a social reformer, deeply concerned with the harsh plight of the lower and working classes – a situation he sought to remedy through the use of his writing and the recognition that it brought him." http://www.gevatheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Why-did-Dickens-write-A-Christmas-Carol.pdf "He frequently took part in benefit engagements and charity events; his marathon walks throughout London, particularly its less prosperous neighborhoods, could be considered precursors of today’s fact-finding missions." http://www.gevatheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Why-did-Dickens-write-A-Christmas-Carol.pdf "Dickens was not alone in his desire to better mid-nineteenth century England. He was, however, able to reach a larger audience than most using his fame as a platform from which to publicize the deplorable conditions in which the poor and destitute lived and worked. He would continue this conversation with his audience until his death in 1870." http://www.gevatheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Why-did-Dickens-write-A-Christmas-Carol.pdf What was Dickens's role in reviving Christmas as a popular holiday?
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Connecting A Christmas Carol to Today
Why does poverty still exist today?
With all of our technological advancements, why do the same disparities in wealth still exist today as they did in the Victorian Era?
Ideas for Helping Others
The Question Around Giving
With all of our technological advancements, why do the same disparities in wealth still exist today as they did in the Victorian Era?
Ideas for Helping Others
- Giving shoes to another student: http://kfor.com/2014/12/23/act-of-kindness-student-sees-classmate-being-made-fun-of-gives-him-new-shoes/
- 12 Simple Ideas to Spread Holiday Cheer
- WSJ: Time to Spread Holiday Cheer Even When You’re Down
The Question Around Giving
- “There once was a poor man who walked around without shoes. His feet were covered in calluses. One day a rich man felt sorry for the poor man and bought him a pair of Nikes. The poor man was extremely grateful and wore the shoes constantly. Well after a year or so, the shoes fell apart. So the poor man had to go back to running around barefoot, only now all his calluses were gone and his feet got all cut up and soon the cuts became infected and the man got sick and eventually, after they cut off his legs, he died. I call that particular story "Love, Death & Nikes.” -Mark Z. Danielewski (House of Leaves)
- "Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime." -Author Unknown
- "if you give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, if you teach a man to fish he'll eat all the fish you may have caught for yourself" -Meg Cabot (Darkest Hour)