A Christmas Carol – a comment on its time?
In 1842 Charles Dickens was writing Martin Chuzzlewit. It was published in serial form but had not been well received. He also wrote “A Christmas Carol”. In contrast this sold six thousand copies before Christmas 1843. The book was beautifully produced and well received but production costs meant that Dickens did not make a lot of money from it. At the time the book was written Dickens was expecting his fifth child and money was tight. The character Scrooge was an unhappy miser. The story is written in staves, mirroring the format of many Carols that are sung at Christmas time. As the miser Scrooge works late and forces Cratchit to do so, his nephew asks him to go out and the door is ajar enabling Scrooge to catch a glimpse of the world outside, a world of celebration that he will not take part in. Marley’s ghost (whom the reader does not see) shows Scrooge his past, present and future. Slowly he begins to accept his past and then he changes and undergoes a conversion, like a ...