Marin Iulia Lavinia

Prof. Mazilu Simona

Clasa a XI-a M1

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009)

Film Viewing Follow-up

1. Beyond Dickens’s personal reasons for writing "A Christmas Carol," ( His most recent novel
"Martin Chuzzlewit."- was not selling well, and Dickens feared his success had peaked.), he felt
a strong need to comment on the enormous gap between the rich and poor in Victorian Britain.
On the night of October 5, 1843, Dickens gave a speech in Manchester, England, at a benefit to
raise money for the Manchester Athenaeum, an organization which brought education and
culture to the working masses. Dickens, who was 31 at the time, shared the stage with Benjamin
Disraeli, a novelist who would later become Britain's prime minister. Addressing the working-
class residents of Manchester affected Dickens deeply. Following his speech he took a long
walk, and while thinking of the plight of exploited child workers he conceived the idea for "A
Christmas Carol."
2. In many ways Charles Dickens helped create a modern idea of Christmas. Christmas was of
course an established tradition when he wrote his story, but it was a much smaller festival than
the one celebrated in the English-‐speaking world today. For a start it largely consisted of a
single day – Scrooge was expected to allow Bob the day off – but no more than that. Christmas
Day was a religious holiday – another Sunday in effect.
Dickens helped change this public act of duty into what historian Ronald Hutton calls ‘a family-‐
centered festival of generosity’. A Christmas Carol created a new approach to Christmas based
on:
 Family Celebration
 Food (Christmas Dinner)
 Charity – giving money to good causes at Christmas
 Christmas greetings – (‘Merry Christmas!)
 Generosity of spirit ‐ (the opposite of ‘Bah Humbug!’)
3. The most obvious thing that the ghosts all represent is choices. Throughout his travels in the
spirit world, Scrooge is confronted with choices he has made and the consequences of those
choices. Some choices, such as the ones in the past, Scrooge has tried to forget. Choices in the
present and future are just as important, but Scrooge has given little thought to them.
Specifically, the Ghost of Christmas Past represents events that shaped Scrooge’s life. He
shows Scrooge himself as a boy, as an apprentice, and as a young man. The person he has
become is shaped through this progression of sad, happy, and sad again. Scrooge comes to
realize that his choices in the past made him who he is. “Spirit!” said Scrooge, “show me no
more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me?” (Stave 2, p. 26) Thus, Scrooge
goes from being just a mean old miser to a man who is tortured by his past, and perhaps does
not even realize it. Scrooge has shut himself up away from everything, even his emotions. When
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 Scrooge says, “I don't wish to see it,” he is vocalizing how he does not want to face his past. In
the present, Scrooge is shown people enjoying themselves. Scrooge never enjoys himself, and
he realizes that Christmas Present symbolizes happiness and joy found in togetherness. All of
the people are poor, yet “content to be so” and happy to have each other. Scrooge is stunned to
see that his clerk has a crippled son. “Spirit,” said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt
before, “tell me if Tiny Tim will live.” (Stave 3, p. 34) Scrooge has never felt affection or interest
in anyone, but Tiny Tim’s gentle, pious manner has influenced him. The spirit reminds him that
Tiny Tim is a member of the “surplus population” and Scrooge regrets not having taken interest
in the poor before. The Present also represents what Scrooge can have. He cannot change the
past, but he can become a part of the present. The Present is basically the future, because it is
about to happen but has not happened yet. Scrooge can relive the positive events, such as
Fred’s party, with instant gratification the very next day. He is thrilled when he learns this. The
true future is very bleak for Scrooge, as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows him that he
will die alone and his deathbed will be looted by less than savory characters. Scrooge is in
complete denial until he realizes that the dead man whose life he is seeing is himself. “Men's
courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge.
“But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change…” (Stave 4, p. 50) Scrooge has clearly
decided to reform. He wants to live the life he saw in Christmas Present. This is what Dickens
means when he says: “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will
live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.” (Stave 4, p. 51)
4. In my opinion, in order to come to a conclusion about the theme of wealth, we should have a
closer look at Scrooge. At the start of the book Scrooge was like Marley, but by the end he
became more like Fezziwig. Dickens recognized that it is common human behavior to hoard
wealth and created the character to warn readers to resist their miserly tendencies.
When you work hard for your money it can be tempting to hold onto it by all means. The amount
you make can be considered a measure of your success, and some people may reach for higher
income by taking advantage of others. This narrow thinking may bring results in the short term,
but as Marley and Scrooge showed, it carries with it a dubious quality of life.
The reformed Scrooge no longer saw wealth as a goal in itself, but as a way to do good in the
world. At the conclusion of his story, Dickens says Scrooge “became as good a friend, as good
a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.” Maybe the saying “You’re a Scrooge”
should be used as a compliment!
5. I think that one aspect of Victorian society that Dickens criticizes is the idea of upper classes
and wealth being so important. Dickens offers a fairly elemental argument in that value and
wealth are not necessarily one in the same. Scrooge is wealthy. Yet, he comes to realize that
his wealth has little value. The Cratchit family is not as wealthy, and yet, they have more in way
of value. In Victorian society, the upper elite, individuals who wielded the most amount of power,
were wealthy. Through Scrooge, Dickens is making the argument that these individuals might
have wealth, but that does not automatically guarantee that they have value. Scrooge does not
have real value until the end of the novel. Scrooge's money does not possess a true sense of
worth until the novel's conclusion. In this, there is a criticism being offered in how Victorian
society is constituted and what defines value within it. I think that another aspect of Victorian
society that is also critiqued is the notion of Christmas. Victorian Christmas represented a point
in which the holiday was gaining popularity in England. However, Dickens must have seen that
this acceptance is not consistent with the true meaning of a holiday that celebrates the birth of
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 Christ. In the traditions that became part of Victorian Christmas such as decorating the tree,
there is little that represents a true spirit of the day. This hollowness is embodied in Scrooge,
who rejects the day, as a whole. Scrooge comes to embrace the full meaning of the holiday
when he transforms his life. The idea that Scrooge becomes one who gives away his wealth is
very Christian. Scrooge recognizes something larger than what is temporal and in this, he
embraces the spirit of the day. Dickens might be criticizing the social notion of Christmas as
lacking true spiritual meaning, which becomes Dickens' motivation behind why Scrooge
embodies it. Finally, I think that Dickens' work questions the social configuration of Victorian
society. Any society that openly permits and accepts the presence of impoverished people as
part of its social order cannot be seen as necessarily good. Dickens' work is questioning the
value of a society where such stratification is evident. The presence of obsecenly rich people
like Scrooge and others who are very poor and economically challenged is a social condition
that the novel illuminates. Dickens' construction of Scrooge at the end is one in which there is a
call to change this order. Scrooge becomes the agent of change in a social configuration that is
predicated upon the acceptability of very wealthy people at its summit and very, very poor people
at its large base. This social configuration is something that the work calls into question.
6. With the arrival of A Christmas Carol in the literary world came a new definition and meaning to
what Christmas should be. Dickens was a strong advocate for the poor and disadvantaged.
Through his writings he let out his frustrations over the manner in which the impoverished were
treated, and the conditions in which they worked and lived. The scenes in which he depicted this
level of suffering inspired him to reconstruct the holiday of Christmas to focus primarily on those
who dearly needed the generosity that came with the holiday season; the need to appreciate
family, friends, and life, no matter how much, or how little people had. This reinterpretation of
the true meaning of Christmas is evident in the scene that depicts the Cratchit’s Christmas as
seen by Scrooge when he visits with the Ghost of Christmas Present. Dickens writes, “They
were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-
proof; their clothes were scanty; and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of
a pawnbroker’s. But, they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with
the time…”. Here, Dickens brings forth the idea that Christmas is a time to simply enjoy the
presence of loved ones and forget one’s troubles – at least for that day. It is obvious to the
readers that the Cratchits have very little, but by simply observing their actions one would not
know this. Instead, they embody the spirit of Christmas that Dickens was such a proponent of.
That is, one of joyfulness, good cheer and appreciation for those you love most.
However, Dickens is not referred to as “the father of Christmas” simply because of the ideas and
concepts he revitalized with the holiday. Rather, it also has to do with the cultural aspects that
he brought back into play, such as sending Christmas cards and caroling at people’s doors.
Dickens also created the “scene” that one may call to mind when picturing the ideal Christmas.
This scene may include, but is not limited to, large spreads of indulgent foods (replacing the
often bony Christmas goose with a plump turkey), Christmas trees and the giving of gifts,
normally only to children.
7. What A Christmas Carol taught me is that Christmas is much more than we think. “The only time
I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open
their shut-up hearts freely.” (Scrooge’s nephew, Fred). When you think about it, it’s odd that the
world selects a particular time of year when everyone is supposed to be nice to everyone else.
The unspoken inference is that you should feel no particular responsibility toward others the rest
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 of the year. Oh, sure, children might be told their Christmas cache is dependent on whether
they’ve been naughty or nice all year long, but the overriding message is that this is a special
season of kindness. Dickens was particularly fond of the Christmas season, and he expresses
that fondness in "A Christmas Carol" through Bob and Fred, the latter of whom makes an
impassioned defense of Christmas: “a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I
know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open
their hearts freely.”
Many people share Fred’s giddiness over Christmas; the holiday does seem to bring out the best
in us. But it does so because it encourages us to be who God intends for us to be all the time:
people of peace and goodwill toward others.
When Fred exalts Christmas—“I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I
say, God bless it!”—he’s really exalting the Author of such joy. He’s exalting the idea that others-
oriented joy should be more than temporary ceasefire from the normality of a self-oriented,
humdrum life but should represent life at its fullest—all the time. The ability to stop fighting and
to treat one another civilly offers an ironic lesson: Peace is attainable. We needn’t hate one
another. We can stop fighting if we agree to. Yet just as the soldiers returned to war after a short
respite, we too often do the same after Christmas: we return from temporarily caring for others
to warring with them. Why not just call a truce for good, and, even without the holly and ivy,
spread the cheer throughout the year?

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