Christmas From the Heart Part 3 - A Christmas Carol
By: Tonya from When It Was Cool (@wiwcool)
A Christmas Carol
Written by Charles Dickens and published in 1843. Dickens was inspired to write this novel due to his very own humiliating experiences of being poor as a child. His conflicting feelings about his father helped inspire the dual personalities of the tales antagonist Ebenezer Scrooge.
In 1824, Dickens' father went to prison. Dickens was left to fend for himself, pawn his book collection & quit attending school to take work in a factory. Dickens was just 12 years old.
He was very smart yet very uncomfortable working in the factory. He developed nervous fits. His dad was released from prison after three months but young Dickens was forced to remain working at the factory. The experience humiliated and grieved him devastating and wounding him psychologically.
His life was haunted with disturbing memories. Dickens loved BUT also hated his father and it was this conflict that was responsible for the two different Scrooges in the story. One being a bitter old miser, a covetous old sinner while the other was a gentler and more kind man with generosity and goodwill. Also during this time, Dickens witnessed families in impoverished areas and the social injustices they suffered.
Through these experiences A Christmas Carol was born. It begins on Christmas Eve in London several years after the death of Scrooge's business partner Jacob Marley. Scrooge hates Christmas calling it "humbug". He is greedy and bitter turning away the needy seeking donations for Christmas dinners for their families and an invitation to dinner by his nephew. It is this night that he's visited by the ghost of his former business partner who tells him if he doesn't change his ways he will forever be bound in chains wandering the earth with a restless spirit.
He then tells him he has one chance to avoid this fate and that he will be visited by three more ghosts - the ghost of Christmas past, present, and yet to come. The Ghost of Christmas Past takes him back to his youth where he was kinder and innocent. This stirs a gentler and more tender side within the old miser.
The second spirit is that of the Ghost of Christmas Present whom takes him to his nephew's Christmas dinner where the nephew is speaking of his Uncle Scrooge saying "because I am sorry for him, I couldn't be angry with him if I tried, who suffers by his ill whims? Himself always".
He is also taken to visit his worker Bob Cratchit and Bob's family where he first encounters Cratchit's youngest son, Tiny Tim, who is full of simple happiness despite being ill. The ghost informs Scrooge that Tiny Tim is to die soon, unless events change.
The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, takes Scrooge to the funeral of a man. There were very few in attendance at the funeral and those who were there seemed happy of this mans passing instead of sorrowful. He is also shown the Cratchit family mourning the death of Tiny Tim. Then he is shown the name of the man on the neglected grave. It is his own. He pleads with the ghost that he will change, in hopes that he may "sponge the writing from this stone".
When scrooge awakens, he does so with joy and love in his heart. He spends Christmas with his nephew and gives Mr. Cratchit a raise so that he can afford to take better care of Tiny Tim. Scrooge is a changed man and treats everyone with kindness and compassion and embodies the spirit of Christmas.
Some people laughed at this change they saw in Scrooge but he carelessly let them laugh, being wise enough to know that, on this globe, nothing ever happens for good at which some people don't have their fill of laughter. But his own heart was rejoicing & that was quite enough for him. & the story closes with the famous words of Tiny Tim "God Bless us, every one!"
God bless us everyone!
This should remind us to be thankful every single day for what we have and that it's very important and more rewarding to give rather than to receive.
