A Christmas Carol - The Man and His
Book
Charles Dickens's book "A Christmas
Carol" is probably the most famous
of all Christmas stories. In the preface
he wrote:
"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.
December 1843."
Charles Dickens - The Man
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is
considered to be one of the greatest
English novelists of the Victorian
period. Dickens's works are
characterized by attacks on social
evils, injustice, and hypocrisy.
Charles John Huffam Dickens, the second
of seven children of John and Elizabeth
Dickens, was born in Landport on 7th
February 1812. His father worked as a
clerk at the Navy pay office in
Portsmouth. In 1814 Dickens moved to
London, and then to Chatham in 1817, for
Dickens, the happiest years of his
childhood (1817-22) were spent in
Chatham, a bustling port on England's
southeast coast, where he received some
education.
John Dickens had difficulty making ends
meet as his family grew. At ten
Charles's family moved to Camden Town in
London. John Dickens' debts had become
so severe that all the household goods
were sold. Still unable to satisfy his
creditors, John Dickens was arrested and
sent to Marshalsea Prison.
Charles, now twelve, was sent to work at
Warren's Blacking Factory, where he was
paid six shillings (shilling is equal to
1/20th of a pound) a week wrapping
shoeblack bottles to help support his
family. Six months after being sent to
Marshalsea, one of John Dickens's
relatives died. He was left enough money
in the will to pay off his debts and to
leave prison. Charles was allowed to
quite the job, against his mother's
better judgment. This became a sore spot
for Charles, that he remembers the rest
of his life.
Some of the inheritance was used to
educate Charles at a nearby private
school, Wellington House Academy. His
schooling was again interrupted and
ultimately ended when Dickens was forced
to return to work at age 15. He found
work as a clerk at the firm of Ellis
& Blackmore, Charles disliked the
work but he did enjoy walking the
streets in the evening observing the
people of London. He then became a
shorthand reporter in the courts, and
finally a parliamentary and newspaper
reporter.
Looking back on his own childhood,
Dickens saw himself as "a very
small and not
over-particularly-taken-care-of
boy." For as I had spoken before,
Dickens's childhood was a mixture of
both fond and unhappy memories. His
childhood poverty and feelings of
abandonment, although unknown to his
readers until after his death, would be
a heavy influence on Dickens' later
views on social reform and the world he
would create through his fiction.
But even though Dickens family was both
large and almost always hard-pressed,
Charles Dickens grew into a young man
who, through the sheer fertility of his
creative genius and an astonishing
amount of hard work, transformed himself
into the most famous writer of his age.
In the midst of his labors over Martin
Chuzzlewit, Dickens found time to write
the little tale that is unquestionably
his most beloved work, "A Christmas
Carol". Published on December 17,
1843, this tender fable of spiritual
renewal received a rapturous welcome
from the public. Readers were moved to
tears by the story of the delightfully
despicable Scrooge, a heartless old
miser who undergoes a miraculous rebirth
precisely at Christmas, the only time
"in the long calendar of the year,
when men and women seem by one consent
to open up their hearts freely."
A Christmas Carol - The Book
Millions of readers for over the past
hundred and sixty years have enjoyed
"A Christmas Carol". The penny
pinching, miser Ebenezer Scrooge has
become synonymous with a tight wad. Even
today a person who hoards his or her
money is nicknamed a
"Scrooge". Dickens' character
was a man whose cold personality equal
only to the winters of London, and the
comforts or fortunes of other was
unimportant to him.
Locking up his office on Christmas Eve,
Scrooge heads for his rooms, which once
belonged to Jacob Marley, his partner,
who died seven years ago. Arriving at
his door, the doorknocker is suddenly,
transformed into his dead partner's
face, staring at him. The vision passes,
and Scrooge bolts the door from the
inside. Sitting down in front of the
dying embers on the hearth, Ebenezer
Scrooge is subjected to the second
phenomena, the ringing of all the bells
in the house. Someone or something is
trying to get in touch with his frozen
soul.
It turns out it is Jacob Marley who has
been tying to contact him. Marley's
ghost dragging his chains explain his
present condition to the Scrooge; since
he himself lived on the same basic
principle as does Scrooge, explains what
the afterlife is like for one who has
never done a good deed to his fellow
man.
There is one way out of this misery for
Scrooge says Marley, and that is to mend
one's ways and cleanse one's conscience.
To amplify the message, his old partner
explains to Scrooge that three spirits
will visit shortly after midnight.
Having delivered his message and his
warning, Marley goes away, dragging his
chains behind him.
Strangely, Scrooge manages to fall
asleep, but is awakened when the clock
strikes midnight. Soon after the Ghost
of Christmas Past, an apparition with a
child's face visits him long, white
hair, and a full-grown body. It makes
Scrooge an offer he can't refuse: to go
on a sentimental journey to his own
past.
Riding through time and space
effortlessly, they arrive in time to see
the small boy Ebenezer, a lonesome child
with books for his only friends. Lost
love, lost comradeship, and lost chances
for happiness are shown in rapid
succession, and then the exhausted
Scrooge is dropped off at home, where he
dozes off.
Next follows the Ghost of Christmas
Present shows Ebenezer the merrymaking
of ordinary people. They spy on Bob
Cratchit, who makes the most of his
meager resources in the bosom of his
little family, carrying his son Tim, who
is weak of health, and lighting the
meager meal with his inner warmth and
generosity, demonstrated when he
proposes a toast to his mean employer,
though not appreciated by his wife.
The last ghost, Christmas of the Future,
arrives, to show him the emptiness of a
non-spiritual life. A peek into the
future shows thieves plundering his
belongings. He even gets a glimpse of
himself, lying dead, and retreats in
horror. The final blow is dealt to his
now weakened soul when he learns that
Tim Cratchit has died.
The vision of himself dead, his own
neglected grave, all this prompts
Ebenezer to beg for mercy. Waking as
from a nightmare, he finds that only one
night has pasted and it is now Christmas
morning, Scrooge thanks Jacob Marley's
ghost for this second chance, and he
really changes. He gets a huge turkey
for the Cratchit family, makes large
contributions to the poor, and turns up
at his nephew's a changed man, filled
with the merry spirit of Christmas.
The spirits of Christmas had served
their purpose, and Jacob Marley had done
his good deed. For the rest of his life,
Ebenezer Scrooge was a good generous
man, living the spirit of Christmas.
Chick here for more books by Charles
Dickens
_________________________________________________
Copyright © 2004 by David Fitzgerald
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