Free Essay with Literary Analysis for "A

Christmas Carol"

Charles Dicken's book, A Christmas Carol, involves

Ebenezer Scrooge, the main protagonist, who only thinks
about money (Dickens 27). This makes him work even
during Christmas Eve and complain about the holiday and
those who celebrate it. Fred, Scrooge's nephew, has
always been sending Christmas dinner invitations to
Scrooge, but all have been ignored. Scrooge is so negative
about the Christmas holiday that he threatened to fire Bob
Cratchit, his clerk, for quietly applauding Fred's
inspirational defence for it. He also failed to contribute
some funds towards people collecting money for the poor
by claiming that he already supported workhouses and
prisons for the poor. However, Scrooge changed his ways
and became miserable after the Ghost of Christmas Yet to
Come showed him his lonely and miserable death (Miles
34). Self-serving and selfish individuals can be converted
to socially conscious, caring and charitable members of
the society and the paper sets to analyse this reality from
Charles Dicken's, A Christmas Carol.

As aforementioned, the author narrates how the

protagonist faced the reality of the negativity of his cruel
actions towards others, learned the Christmas lesson, and
underwent social transformation to become a
compassionate human being (Vidovic 176). The reader get
to understand the protagonist's harshness while in the
office. For instance, he treated Bob Cratchit harshly while
at the same time claimed that his clerk was exploiting
him. At Fezziwig's warehouse, Scrooge felt his first twinge
of conscience when he became conversant with the
attitudes of a caring and conscientious employer. The
author tries to figure out the source of Scrooge's
indifference to others by examining his childhood. Scrooge
was a neglected child whose harsh father did not allow
him to go home for the holidays.

Ebenezer Scrooge vehemently opposed the concept of

Christmas not because he lacked the Christian background
but because the holiday interrupted normal business. The
protagonist lacked sympathy towards the less fortunate in
the society. The author uses Christmas to depict Scrooge's
attitudes towards people. The religious meaning of the
Christmas holiday is insignificant to the story except the
love for one's neighbour or the sense of Christian charity.
The author uses the terms "spirit" and "ghost"
alternatively. The word "spirit" had several interpretations
during Dicken's time. For instance, the spirits that visited
Scrooge during Christmas Eve were spirits in the religious,
supernatural, and emotional senses.
The ghost of Marley teaches his former partner about
materialism, as Marley is condemned to drag an enormous
chain attached to cash boxes: "I wear the chain I forged in
life," the ghost explains. Additionally he also says that "I
made it link by link." Marley then warns Scrooge that a
similar fate awaits him, and that the three spirits are
coming to make him change. Marley was saddened by the
realisation of his failure to do the right things. The ghost
mirrored Scrooge's present state of mind and is the only
spirit representing a human being. Scrooge's ability to
ignore human beings at the beginning enabled him to
handle Marley's ghost with ease. The theme of regret gets
showcased at this point. The theme is revealed once more
when the first spirit shows Scrooge the phantoms crying in
agony, many of whom were recognizable to him. The
phantoms see humans in need of their help but it too late
for them since they could not help.

The novel also contains important social commentary. As

the two men collected money meant for the poor during
Christmas Eve Scrooge asked, "Are there no prisons?" One
of the men answers by saying that the poor would rather
die than go to the workhouses that were in deplorable
conditions. Scrooge replies by saying "they had better do
it, and decrease the surplus population", which compares
to Robert Malthus' theory of population. Malthus theory
suggests that population growth would soon outstrip food
production and result in "surplus population" for which the
society would be unable to provide for. Later, Scrooge
pleaded for the Tiny Tim to live but the Ghost of Christmas
Present answered him, "What then? If he had to die, he'd
better die and decrease the surplus population"

The ghost of Christmas Present took Scrooge to the streets

on the morning of Christmas day to see many happy
families and the warmth and love of Bob Cratchit's home
(Standiford 60). Although the Cratchit family had little to
hang on to, they shared a particular devotion that lacked
in Scrooge's life. Bob Cratchit's wife adored him, a
phenomenon that struck scrooge. Scrooge asked about
two ragged children clinging onto the skirts of the Ghost of
Christmas Present and was told "they are man's...this boy
is ignorance. This girl is want". The spirit warned, "Beware
them both, and all their degree, but most of all beware
this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is doom,
unless the writing be erased." The warning sounded a
message that those who failed to share their prosperity
with others may soon become dangerous to society. The
ghost of the Christmas Present represents the outside
world, which is a world of joy and happiness, which the
protagonist denied himself. From the developments, it
appears that the French revolution that occurred 50 years
earlier may have been on the author's mind. The author
stresses the idea that human beings are responsible for
their fate, either individually or as a group. He believes
that in the future, people would have to answer for their
misdeeds. The Ghost of the Christmas Past represented
Scrooge's youth. Scrooge sees himself as an abandoned
child at school, then Mr. Fezziwig's apprentice enjoying
warm Christmas Eve festivities, and finally as a successful
entrepreneur who breaks up with his fiancee because he
loved money more than he loved her. He also received a
disturbing vision whereby his fiancee married another man
and had had children. Moreover, the ghost represents
memory, particularly suppressed memory. This is because
after the departure of the second spirit, Scrooge gets to
understand that he shut out the human race because of
suffering similar exclusion as a kid.

The Final Spirit, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is

covered in black, with only a hand showing. The spirit first
takes Scrooge to the stock exchange where he hears his
colleagues talking about the recent death but is unaware
of the dead person. He also witnesses another scene in a
junk shop, as a man and two women bring in items stolen
from the deceased person. The three also stole the
deceased man, even from the death bead, as his body lay
there. Later, the spirit showed Scrooge lying dead in a
striped bed from an empty house. The protagonist asked if
anyone would feel sad during his death and he sees, a
couple that owe him some money. The couple is relieved
and they hoped that their debt will be transferred to a less
relentless creditor. As soon as Scrooge began to have a
glimpse of the future, he pleads with the ghost to assure
him that the visions are for what may happen, not what
will happen. He grabbed the ghost's hand in desperation
but the hand turned to become a bedpost, from his bed.
Scrooge was delighted to be alive and decided to change
his life. He underwent immediate transformation by
sending an enormous turkey to the Cratchits and wishing
everyone in the street a Merry Christmas. In the afternoon,
he surprised Fred by showing up for the Christmas dinner.
He also announced that Bob Cratchit would receive higher
pay and gave the necessary help to ensure Tiny Tim would
not die. Eventually, Scrooge transformed to become a
good friend, a good man, and a good master who
observed the Christmas spirit.

The great nineteenth century question about how

Christian morality would survive in the face of the
increasing capitalistic and utilitarian world shaped the
course of the book. The great financial success that
Scrooge enjoyed describes the precis goal of capitalism,
but the continuous wealth accumulation made him to view
every aspect of life from a monetary perspective. This
included his fiancee, dying friend and business partner,
office staff, reputation. He weighed his associates in
monetary terms and concluded that they were unworthy.
On a larger scale, capitalism widened the gap between the
rich and the poor and resulted in other societal ills such as
creation of ghettos and slums, workhouses, and increased
mortality.

On the other hand, it emerges that the solution to social

injustice is not social movement but individual
redemption. The world became a better and peaceful
place almost immediately after Scrooge's redemption. In
essence, a redemption is important since it facilitates the
realisation of a renewed connection to humanity. Though
the Christian understanding for Christmas calls for
commitment to deep spirituality and orthodoxy, the author
present's Scrooge's redemption as an authentic realisation
of social vices and investment in the lives of other human
beings. The redemption is not personal but more of
outward looking and social. Although the social structure
does not change, the significant changes in the behaviour
of individuals help to improve the shared social
relationships.

In conclusion, self-serving, selfish and harsh people can

transform to become caring and charitable members of
the society as portrayed in Charles Dicken's book, "A
Christmas Carol". This reality perfectly describes the case
of Ebenezer Scrooge, who had no regard for the Christmas
holiday. The state of capitalism made him to view every
aspect of life through the prism of money including his
fiancee and dying friend and business partner. Scrooge's
ability to learn about his past as a young boy proved to be
a turning point for him since he was able to overcome his
bitter apathy. Particularly, the fear of death made him
change because he did not want to experience the events
that the Ghost of the Christmas Yet to Come showed him.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. Christmas carol. Alma Books, 2018.

Miles, Clement A. Christmas in ritual and tradition,

Christian and pagan. Xist Publishing, 2016.

Standiford, Les. The Man Who Invented Christmas (Movie

Tie-In): How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued
His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits. Broadway
Books, 2017.
Vidovic, Ester. "A Christmas Carol: Disability
Conceptualised through Empathy and the Philosophy of
'Technologically Useful Bodies'." International Research in
Children's Literature6.2 (2013): 176-191.