A Christmas Carol

* Literary Qualities *

A Christmas Carol is one of Dickens's better organized short works. The surviving manuscripts of the story plainly show that he lavished a great deal of effort on the story. The focus on Ebenezer Scrooge and the process of his redemption unifies the narrative. Dickens has written a secular morality drama for the early Victorian era, tracing

Charles Dickens

a soul's progress from a life of isolated greed to one of meaningful relationships with fellow human beings.

The story begins in a cold and foggy London. It has not been light all day. The cold, fog, and darkness symbolize Scrooge's condition. No sun can penetrate the coldness within him, and he prefers darkness. His conviction that business and industry are the most important things in the world has obscured his vision for years. After his change of heart, Scrooge goes out into a world bright with sunshine on Christmas Day,

In terms of Christian symbolism, Dickens uses Christmas as a day that holds the possibility of rebirth and redemption. The narrator begins by speaking of Marley's death and points out that Scrooge never bothers to correct people who mistake him for his dead partner. Symbolically, Scrooge himself is not totally alive. His surroundings resemble a tomb; he has buried himself in his business. The three spirits who visit Scrooge enable him to see himself from a different perspective. They show him the boy who once thrilled to the tales of The Arabian Nights and Robinson Crusoe. They force him to remember his sister whom he deeply loved and to relive the painful break-up of his engagement to Belle, He sees Belle in a happy home that might have been his, and he sees the simple joys even poor people can share simply by being together. A wealthy man, he lacks everything that really matters. He sees the contempt and derision his poor corpse is subjected to after his death, and most importantly, he sees the need to redeem himself,

Dickens described his method of writing as 'glorious improvisation." He wrote in a sort of frenzy, and the materials seemed to organize themselves. The results vary in effectiveness, but at their

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best, as in A Christmas Carol, they shine with an unequaled brilliance.

ISBN 0-933833-11-3 Copyright ©, 1990. by Walton Beacham All rights to this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or in any information or storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information write the publisher, Beacham Publishing. Inc., 2100 "S" Street, N.W.. Washington. D.C. 20008. All Rights Reserved.