Cecily's Reviews > A Christmas Carol

The Christmas classic that everyone knows – even if they haven’t read it. It's quite short, and at some levels quite an easy read, but there is plenty of depth, so I think it's worth reading it in a thoughtful and slightly leisurely way.

Plot

It is a simple tale of how a normal man turns cold-hearted and mean and how, when confronted with memories of his past and the possible outcomes of his actions and inactions, he is redeemed by making positive changes to his life and thus that of others.


Image: Three-cell summary by John Atkinson/Wrong Hands (Source)

Typical Victoriana or not?

The book opens with wonderful bathos, “Marley was dead, to begin with.” So right from the outset it is clear it is not a straightforward factual tale. Apart from the famous ghosts (of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come), which were not unusual in literature of the time, it has time travel and parallel worlds, where each significant choice leads to a branching of reality, which is a staple of much great sci fi. Not such a typical Victorian novel after all.

Whilst it is a book whose unhurried and detailed descriptions of Christmas are the epitome of the season (“apoplectic opulence”), it is a book of great contrasts: humbug/festivities, hot/cold, company/solitude, poverty/wealth, worthy poor/wastrels, past/future etc.

There is humour too, such as observing that a coffin nail would be deader than the proverbial doornail.

Corruption and redemption

Scrooge’s name has become synonymous with meanness and sociopathy, which is unfair.

The whole point of the book is that he changes for the better, and right from the start there are hints that he wasn’t and isn’t irredeemably bad. For example, he never removed Marley’s name from the sign above his office. I don’t think the reason was solely parsimony because during and after the ghostly encounters, we see different aspects of Scrooge, surely exposed by the ghosts, not actually created by them. So maybe part of the reason for leaving the name was a fondness for the memory of his friend and partner - a link to happier times.

Certainly Scrooge had sunk to nasty depths, and maybe "It was all the same to him" reflects Scrooge's conscious and observable attitude, rather than the deeper, painful mix of happy and sad memories that he tried so hard to suppress, even though Scrooge would have denied it and believed his denial.

Charity is shown to be not merely financial, but personal too (being pleasant, complimentary, thinking creatively about what to do). A counterpoint to that is that regret is pointless and self-indulgent: the way to overcome it is through reparation – which takes us back to charity.


Image: Scrooge by Quentin Blake for 1993 postage stamp (Source)

Ghostly significance

The ghostly visitors are not of the Christian kind, but ghost stories were popular in Victorian England. Each ghost is very distinctive in appearance and manner.
* The first is pale, shadowy (long forgotten?) and “like a child; yet not so like a child as an old man” (the child is father of the man?).
* The second is a convivial festive spirit wanting to share joy.
* The third is dark, solemn and scary, reflecting Scrooge’s fears of death and also the sadness that will emanate from him if he does not change, but also with an indistinct face and shape, perhaps suggesting the potential malleability of the future.

Christmas Weather and Traditions

This story is perhaps almost as much part of collective British consciousness about Christmas as the nativity: the presence of snow, gifts, family - and turkey all feel an essential part of the festivities, possibly more so than when Dickens wrote it.

Apparently, snow features strongly in a Dickensian Christmas because of an unusual number of white Christmases in Dickens' childhood; for him, the two went together in his mind, if not always in his adult life.

Christian or Secular?

It has been suggested that it is a surprisingly secular book, but we live in a less religious society and so don’t always notice religious symbolism and allegories unless they’re spelt out. The whole story is a parallel of the Christian gospel, and the fact it’s set at Christmas emphasises that. The main message of Christianity is that no sinner is beyond salvation if they genuinely repent, and that is also the story of Scrooge.

There are other links too: three people profiting from the spoils of the dead man (like the Roman soldiers at the cross, albeit they cast lots to decide who got what) and Peter Cratchit reading from the Bible in Christmas yet to come.

In those days, religion was so much part of quotidian life for most people that it almost fades into the background at times, like having a wash. Dickens had no need say the quotation is from the Bible or to talk about baby Jesus being part of Christmas because all his readers would know that and most of them would believe it. In our secular times, perhaps that makes the story more powerful now than when it was written?


Image: Bob Cratchitt and Tiny Tim by Quentin Blake for 1993 postage stamp (Source)

Fresh insights - 2020 UPDATE

I really enjoyed this 45-minute podcast by a trio of twenty-somethings I know:
Teaching My Cat to Read - A Christmas Carol

Their lively and creative discussion views the story in ways I hadn't considered, demonstrating why it remains so relevant and enjoyable. It also touches on Lord of the Rings, Beowulf, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, The Hogfather, The Muppets (or course), and capitalism and healthcare.

One aspect that especially resonated with me was that they kept coming back to the importance personal connections - something many of us miss acutely in this Christmas plagued by plague. It's not just about charity and money. Scrooge wasn't always "Scrooge", but became that way because of unresolved hurt and trauma. Early on, three people reach out to him to embrace the spirit of the season. He rebuffs them, so it falls to actual spirits.

There's plenty more in the podcast...

Finally:
Brian Bilston's "Tense Christmas"


It's included in Days Like These: An alternative guide to the year in 366 poems, which I am reviewing HERE.