FIDELitous in consistency.

So many good dictator puns.

Oliver: Further maths? More like FUHRER maths!

Thomas: The great thing about methods, we're all LENIN each other a hand. Let us strive to achieve equally, comrades!

Oliver: It doesn't matter how much help you get, you'll keep STALIN when it's homework time.

Thomas: Not true! We'll all pull our own weight together and get the MARX we need.

Oliver: I have no more dictator puns.

Thomas: You are weak. You make me feel KIM JONG IL.

Oliver: You should be ashamed of yourself.

Thomas: I feel as though this conversation has rather (napoleon )BONAPARTE.

Oliver: I think Napoleon Blownapart would be a good drag name.

Thomas: I agree with HU (JINTAO). Perhaps it is time to stop making these jokes MAO.

Oliver: The abstract nature of your puns increases as a linear progression.

Thomas: They've be-CROMWELL harder and harder to think of.

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Question 4: Who will be affected by the story and what does Dickens mean by 'something wonderful'?

Mr. Johnston explain in class his idea that the 'something wonderful' is the revelation of the reader in understanding the text, and that in that regard the reader is affected. But, well, no, no, that's not what the wonderful thing is at all. Certainly, Dickens hopes the story will affect the reader, as do most (if not all) authors; this comment is justified. But he really hasn't thought into the meaning of 'something wonderful' at all. We must first consider the context (that being the date in which A Christmas Carol was written) and understand the changing nature of the English lexicon. We can assume that the word wonderful has somewhat changed in meaning since the early 1800's, in exactly the same was that awesome has: it has broadened. I will take awesome as an example. It's quite clear that the original meaning of awesome is somewhat removed from the modern definition, which is really just a more powerful synonym for good. The meaning is in the morphology: awe-some. Awesome: inspiring awe. With this correct, if not archaic, meaning many modern situations seem almost bizarre: no, that coffee is not awesome, it does not humble you and simultaneously grant you a heightened appreciation for it's existence, it's just coffee. Skyscrapers are awesome. Redwood forests are awesome. The fucking universe is awesome. But that coffee is not. With that example of the broadening in meaning of common words, we'll take a look at wonderful. Wonder-ful: inspiring wonder. So what does wonder imply? It implies deep thought, perhaps in pursuit of understanding, understanding of something perhaps confusing. With this we can infer that the original meaning of wonderful is something not merely good, but something that defies understanding, something that makes you wonder.

Circling back, we see that the 'something wonderful' mentioned by Dickens refers to the fantastic events of that evening: Marley's face in the knocker, his ghost, the three spirits, all that. "It is important to remember [Marley's death], or else nothing wonderful will come of what happens next". Even in this we see that we must remember that Marley is dead for his visit to Scrooge's house to be wonderful, implying that should Marley be alive, there should be nothing so strange or paranormal about him paying Scrooge a visit. 'Something wonderful' is nothing to do with something pleasant that happens, it refers to the fantastical, ghostly events Scrooge endures.

Fuck off, Mr. Johnston.