A Christmas Carol in Easy English: Story, Characters & How to Read It

What A Christmas Carol is about

A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens is one of the most retold stories in English. Ebenezer Scrooge is a rich, cold, greedy old businessman who hates Christmas — "Bah! Humbug!" is his famous reply to anyone who wishes him a merry one. He pays his clerk, Bob Cratchit, almost nothing, and turns away men collecting money for the poor.

On Christmas Eve, the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, appears in chains and warns him: three spirits will visit him that night. The Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come show Scrooge his lonely past, the happy but poor families around him, and a future where nobody mourns him. By morning, he is a changed man.

Why it is a good first classic

The book is short — five chapters, which Dickens called "staves", like the verses of a song — and the plot is simple and clear: one man, one night, three visits, one change. Most readers already know the shape of the story from films, which makes the English much easier to follow.

The language is richer than the plot. Dickens loves long lists, jokes and old words, so our retelling keeps his scenes and characters but writes them in clear B1 English.

The main characters

A small cast carries the whole story:

• Ebenezer Scrooge — a rich, lonely old man who cares only about money.
• Jacob Marley — Scrooge's partner, dead for seven years, who returns as a ghost in chains.
• Bob Cratchit — Scrooge's poor, patient clerk, and father of Tiny Tim.
• Tiny Tim — Bob's youngest son, small and ill but always cheerful.
• Fred — Scrooge's kind nephew, who invites him to Christmas dinner every year.
• Fan — Scrooge's little sister, Fred's mother, who died young.
• Mr. Fezziwig — the generous old master Scrooge worked for as a young man.
• Belle — the young woman Scrooge was once engaged to.

The whole story in five parts

Each part is a complete short reading with a sentence-by-sentence Korean translation and narrated audio:

• Part 1 — Marley's Ghost (Stave One): Scrooge's cold Christmas Eve, and the visitor in chains. Read part 1.
• Part 2 — The Ghost of Christmas Past (Stave Two): Scrooge sees himself as a lonely schoolboy, a happy apprentice at Fezziwig's party, and the young man who chose money over love. Read part 2.
• Part 3 — The Ghost of Christmas Present (Stave Three): the Cratchits' small, happy Christmas dinner, Tiny Tim's "God bless us every one!", Fred's party, and the two children called Ignorance and Want. Read part 3.
• Part 4 — The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Stave Four): a silent Phantom shows a death nobody mourns, a quiet Cratchit home, and a name on a neglected grave. Read part 4.
• Part 5 — The End of It (Stave Five): Christmas morning, the prize turkey, a visit to Fred, and a raise for Bob Cratchit. Read part 5.

Useful words from the story

Know these before you start:

• carol — a Christmas song; the book is shaped like one, in "staves" (verses).
• miser — a person who loves money and hates spending it. Scrooge is the most famous miser in English — his name now means one.
• clerk — an office worker who writes and keeps records.
• humbug — nonsense, a trick. "Bah! Humbug!" means "Christmas is nonsense!"
• apprentice — a young person learning a trade by working for a master.
• spirit — a ghost; the three visitors are called spirits.

For Korean readers: 크리스마스 캐럴

In Korean the book is 크리스마스 캐럴, and "스크루지" is used in Korean too for a stingy person. Every part of our retelling can be read in English, in Korean, or switched sentence by sentence, with audio in both languages. It is a good book to read in the weeks before Christmas — one part a week is an easy habit. See how to build a daily reading streak.

If you like A Christmas Carol

O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi is another short Christmas classic about giving. For more Christmas warmth, Little Women opens on Christmas morning. Browse more at your level on the classics shelf.