In 1843 Charles Dickens wrote a slender volume about the moral conversion of lonely miser Ebenezer Scrooge from his love of lucre to the love of humanity. That paean to the holiday spirit of warmth and goodwill to all mankind that suffuses the populace once a year at Yuletide was A Christmas Carol
I am going to assume that most if not all of you have had some encounter with the story of Scrooge and are familiar with the details of the man of wealth who retires to bed one Christmas Eve who then is visited by the ghost of his dead business partner as well as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future who show him the error of his selfish ways. He wakes up Christmas morning reformed and committed to keeping Christmas in his heart all the days of the year and becomes a beloved and generous benefactor in his city and in particular to the family of his heretofore ignored and abused employee Bob Cratchit, especially the child Tiny Tim.
My own introduction to the story of Scrooge and the Cratchits and Tiny Tim came as a child when Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol first appeared on TV in the sixties. That remains my favorite version although it is a bit truncated story-wise, but I love the music. Otherwise my favorite version is the 1951 movie with Alistair Sim. My father used to listen closely to every single movie or television adaptation to make sure that the errand boy sent to buy and deliver the turkey to the Cratchits says “Walker!” (pronounced Wah-kur) with the appropriate Cockney accent. If some Hollywood screenwriter dared to tamper with that one word sentence, then the entire venture was a bastardized ruin.
Although disguised as a Christmas confection, A Christmas Carol is one of the most powerful books ever written in its persuasive powers advocating altruism over avarice. In modern terms, Dickens recognized that Christmas offered a “teachable moment” for society to confront the great inequalities of wealth and opportunity that existed in his time that continue through to our own day. His little moral fable of the miser reclaimed and restored remains a staple of our holiday fare; as predictable as the turkey on the table and the gifts under the tree, is that some version of A Christmas Carol will be on rotation around the clock on the tube or performed as an annual rite of your local theater.
I find it somewhat interesting and sad that collectively it seems we have all missed the major point that Charles Dickens made in his book: Scrooge resolved to treat every day as though it were Christmas. His conversion was lasting and his actions and behavior were altered permanently. In his reformed life, his largesse was both general and specific - he gave to benefit the anonymous poor in workhouses as well as determining to improve the lives of those he touched individually as an employer. And his own life enlarged and expanded in joy and meaning as he freed himself from the shackles of greed and selfishness.
To treat A Christmas Carol solely as a holiday story is to deny it's central truth, that the wraiths identified as Ignorance and Want exist hidden beneath the surface of everyday life and we deny their existence at our own peril:
This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of 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. Deny it!” cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city.
As many times as we have all been collectively been exposed to A Christmas Carol, I would sadly report to Mr. Dickens were I able, that we still are trapped in a society run by unrepentant Scrooges. The American Bob Cratchit of today is still begrudged his bit of coal and his family could still well be bankrupted by healthcare expenses. We have precious few employers who emulate Fezziwig or Reformed Scrooge - American corporatists are still manufacturing the links in Marley’s chain at a breakneck pace and they take no heed of his warning:
"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"
Oh, well. Perhaps one day his lesson will take. In that spirit, I offer for your holiday entertainment this treat I just stumbled upon:
Neil Gaiman Reads A Christmas Carol Just As Dickens Read it
Books In My Life is a weekly diary published every Friday morning about books that have had a particular resonance in ones life for some personal reason. If you would like to write a diary in this series please contact Phoebe Loosinhouse by Kosmail to schedule a date