"The Christmas Ghost" by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman Close Reading Analysis Worksheet

Bring rigorous, skills-based literary analysis into the high school ELA classroom with this close reading worksheet for Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s holiday-themed short story “The Christmas Ghost.” Whether planning a December literature unit or updating an American Literature curriculum, this activity helps students make evidence-based inferences, explore narrative structure and symbolism, analyze characterization, and articulate elements of Gothic fiction. An answer key is included.

Plot summary: “The Christmas Ghost,” a story of reconciliation, centers on a solitary woman with a long-held grudge who is unexpectedly aided during a time of need by a mysterious “Christmas Ghost,” who turns out to be an important figure from the protagonist’s past.

Through carefully scaffolded close reading questions, students will:

• Identify key elements of Gothic literature (e.g., the isolated setting and emotionally intense phrasing).
• Consider how the author builds suspense (e.g., ambiguous phrasing, misdirection, etc.).
• Interpret the symbolism of the Atlantic waves, connecting their turbulent motion to aspects of the protagonist’s life.
• Infer meanings of historical or archaic expressions (e.g., “love-cracked”).
• Recognize literary devices in a complex text (e.g., ambiguity, metaphor, oxymoron, red herring, and more).
• Analyze the author’s use of foreshadowing (e.g., Thomas’s disappearance).
• Draw logical inferences about characters (e.g., Jane’s psychological state).