By Zhu Xiangjun

 Bible Unit 12 A Christmas Carol

An introduction  A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens, first published on 19 December The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation resulting from supernatural visits from Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim.novellaCharles Dickens Ebenezer ScroogeJacob Marley  The book was written and published in early Victorian era Britain, a period when there was both strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions and an initiation of new practices such as Christmas trees and greeting cards. Dickens's sources for the tale appear to be many and varied but are principally the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.Victorian eraChristmas trees

 Dickens' Carol was one of the greatest influences in rejuvenating the old Christmas traditions of England, but, while it brings to the reader images of light, joy, warmth and life, it also brings strong and unforgettable images of darkness, despair, coldness, sadness and death. Scrooge himself is the embodiment of winter, and, just as winter is followed by spring and the renewal of life, so too is Scrooge's cold, pinched heart restored to the innocent goodwill he had known in his childhood and youth.  A Christmas Carol was published 27 years before the author's death. When Dickens died on June 9, 1870, his obituary in The New York Times said "He was incomparably the greatest novelist of his time.".

 Ebenezer Scrooge - The miserly owner of a London counting-house, a nineteenth century term for an accountant's office. The three spirits of Christmas visit the stodgy bean-counter in hopes of reversing Scrooge's greedy, cold-hearted approach to life.  Bob Cratchit - Scrooge's clerk, a kind, mild, and very poor man with a large family. Though treated harshly by his boss, Cratchit remains a humble and dedicated employee.

 Tiny Tim - Bob Cratchit's young son, crippled from birth. Tiny Tim is a highly sentimentalized character who Dickens uses to highlight the sufferings of England's poor and to elicit sympathy from his middle and upper class readership.  Jacob Marley - In the living world, Ebenezer Scrooge's equally greedy partner. Marley died seven years before the narrative opens. He appears to Scrooge as a ghost condemned to wander the world bound in heavy chains. Marley hopes to save his old partner from suffering a similar fate.

 Dickens divides the book into five chapters, which he labels "staves", that is, song stanzas or verses, in keeping with the title of the book.  The tale begins on a "cold, bleak, biting" Christmas Eve. Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost, who warns Scrooge to change his ways lest he undergo the same miserable afterlife as himself.  Scrooge is then visited by three additional ghosts – each in its turn, and each visit detailed in a separate stave – who accompany him to various scenes with the hope of achieving his transformation.  The first of the spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of his boyhood and youth, which stir the old miser's gentle and tender side by reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. They also show what made Scrooge the miser that he is, and why he dislikes Christmas.Ghost of Christmas Past

 The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to several differing scenes - a joy-filled market of people buying the makings of Christmas dinner, the celebration of Christmas in a miner's cottage, and a lighthouse. A major part of this stave is taken up with the family feast of Scrooge's impoverished clerk Bob Cratchit, introducing his youngest son, Tiny Tim, who is seriously ill but cannot receive treatment due to Scrooge's unwillingness to pay Cratchit a decent wage. It's also mentioned that they visited Scrooge's nephew's party.Ghost of Christmas PresentChristmas dinnerminercottage lighthouseBob CratchitTiny Tim

 The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, harrows Scrooge with dire visions of the future that may come to pass if he does not learn and act upon what he has witnessed. These visions include Tiny Tim's death, and scenes related to Scrooge's own death, including a conversation among business associates who will only attend the funeral if a lunch is provided. Scrooge's charwoman Mrs. Dilber steals some of Scrooge's belongings and gives them to a fence named Old Joe. Scrooge's own neglected and untended grave is then revealed, prompting the miser to aver that he will change his ways in hopes of changing these "shadows of what may be".Ghost of Christmas Yet to Comecharwomanfence

 Dickens sets his novella in this the Christmas period to show the true meaning of sharing, giving and receiving. Through his representation of Scrooge, Dickens wants the reader to learn from his miserable personality and to encourage others to change their ways too. It seems that the reason why he wanted to do this was because the rich didn’t appreciate the poor; during the Industrial Revolution the gap widened between the rich and the poor – the poor being forgotten. This is why Scrooge then was visited by three different ghosts: the past, present and future. These ghosts highlight the need for Scrooge to change and value the poor and recognize their needs.

 The style of A Christmas Carol is very straightforward. It is a moral tale structured by the episodes of Scrooge's transition from heartless and unforgiving to kind and loving. The tone has a religious feel, as well as suggesting that Christmas is a time for enjoyment and charity. The tone moves from pessimism to optimism, following Scrooge's own change of heart, from looking on the dark side of things to looking on the bright side of things. Dickens uses a variety of language techniques to get across his message to the upper classes that they must use their wealth and influence to help those less fortunate than themselves.