‘A Christmas Carol’ By Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens Biography Dickens was born in England on February 7, 1812. He was the second of eight children, and his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. As a child, Dickens' health was frail and his education was random. His mother taught him his letters and Dickens read a great deal from his father's library of the classics of fiction.

Charles Dickens Biography The boy was also interested in theatre and his first written work was a tragedy. At the age of nine, he was schooled with a neighbor's child, and when his father was transferred to London, Dickens stayed behind for a while in Chatham for his schooling. But when he rejoined his family in London, dark days awaited him.

Charles Dickens Biography His father was in debt, and so the Dickens family resided with him in Marshalsea Prison. Charles found work at household tasks and took a room for himself on one of the poor streets of London at the age of twelve. He worked for a while labelling blacking-bottles until his father inherited a legacy that brought the family out of debt again.

Charles Dickens Biography Dickens was sent to school for a few more years before he became a clerk. He moved up from there to become a stenographer at several newspapers. In 1833 his first published piece appeared in the Monthly Magazine signed with his brother's nickname. He later published a few pieces in the Evening Chronicle before the Pickwick Papers made him famous.

Charles Dickens Biography For the next thirty years Dickens churned out novels until he died. His other works include: Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1839), The Personal History of David Copperfield (1850), Little Dorrit (1857), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and Great Expectations (1861).

Charles Dickens Biography Dickens had a large family with his wife, Catherine Hogarth, and he became a wealthy man through his writing. Dickens wrote actively while acting in private theatricals as well as touring and performing readings of his works.

Charles Dickens Biography In 1865, Dickens had a slight stroke that left his legs useless, but even this break in his health did not deter him from his active lifestyle of travel and work. He was working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood the day before he died. He was stricken with apoplexy and died the next day. Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Charles Dickens Biography Although Dickens has been criticized for creating characters which seem more like caricatures than real people, Ebenezer Scrooge and other Dickens figures have become well known in literature.

‘A Christmas Carol’ trivia Charles Dickens said, "My father was always at his best at Christmas."  Charles Dickens loved to celebrate Christmas.  His favourite time during the holidays was Twelfth Night, the feast of the Epiphany. 

Early in 1843, as a response to a government report on the abuse of child labourers in mines and factories, Dickens vowed he would strike a "sledge-hammer blow . . . on behalf of the Poor Man's Child."  That sledge-hammer was A Christmas Carol.   Ebenezer Scrooge encounters "Ignorance" and "Want" in A Christmas Carol.

‘A Christmas Carol’ trivia It only took Dickens about six weeks to write A Christmas Carol.  Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit helped speed up the process.  When Dickens wrote he "saw" his characters much like the way that young Ebenezer Scrooge saw the characters from the books he had read.  As Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol he said that the Cratchits were "ever tugging at his coat sleeve, as if impatient for him to get back to his desk and continue the story of their lives".

‘A Christmas Carol’ trivia "Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail."   This line appears toward the beginning of the novel.  Dickens included this because of a dream.  He had dreamt that one of his good friends was pronounced to be "as dead Sir . . . as a door-nail".

‘A Christmas Carol’ trivia The Cratchit family is based on Dickens' childhood home life. He lived in poor circumstances in a "two up two down" four roomed house which he shared with his parents and five siblings. Like Peter Cratchit, young Charles, the eldest boy, was often sent to pawn the family's goods when money was tight. Like many poor families the Cratchit's had nothing in which to roast meat. They relied on the ovens of their local baker which were available on Sundays and Christmas when the bakery was closed.

‘A Christmas Carol’ trivia A Christmas Carol was first published in 1843.  Initially six thousand copies of the book were printed.  More copies were ordered after the first printing was sold in only five days. One literary critic called A Christmas Carol a "national institution".  Dickens' friend and fellow author, William Makepeace Thackeray,  was quick to correct the critic and call the book a "national benefit".

‘A Christmas Carol’ trivia At the time Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol Christmas wasn't commonly celebrated as a festive holiday. In The Pickwick Papers and A Christmas Carol Dickens' descriptions of feasting, games and family unity combined with his message that Christmas was a time "when want is keenly felt and abundance rejoices" helped revive popular interest in many Christmas traditions that are still practiced today. 

‘A Christmas Carol’ trivia In 1867 Dickens read A Christmas Carol at a public reading in Chicago.  One of the audience members , Mr. Fairbanks, was a scale manufacturer.  Mr. Fairbanks was so moved that he decided to "break the custom we have hitherto observed of opening the works on Christmas day."  Not only did he close the factory on Christmas day, but he gave Christmas turkeys to all of his employees.