Context

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, and spent the first nine years of his life living
in the coastal regions of Kent, a county in southeast England. Dickens' father, John, was a
kind and likable man, but he was financially irresponsible, piling up tremendous debts
throughout his life. When Dickens was nine, his family moved to London. At twelve, his father
was arrested and sent to debtors' prison. Dickens' mother moved seven of their children into
prison with their father but arranged for Cha rles to live alone outside the prison, working
with other child laborers at a hellish job pasting labels on bottles in a blacking warehouse.
The three months Charles spent apart from his family were severely traumatic. He viewed
his job as a miserable trap--he considered himself too good for it, stirring the contempt of
his worker-companions. After his father was released from prison, Dickens returned to
school, eventually becoming a law clerk. He went on to serve as a court reporter before
taking his place as one of the most popular English novelists of his time. At age 25, Dickens
completed his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, which met with great success. This started
his career as an English literary celebrity, during which he produced such masterpieces as
Great Expectations, David Copperfield, and A Tale of Two Cities.
Dickens' beloved novella A Christmas Carol was written in 1843, with the intention of
drawing readers' attention to the plight of England's poor. (Social criticism, a recurring
theme in Dickens' work, resounds most strongly in his novel Hard Times.) In the tale,
Dickens stealthily combines a somewhat indirect description of hardships faced by the poor
with a heart-rending, sentimental celebration of the Christmas season. The calloused
character of the apathetic penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge, who opens his heart after
being confronted by three spirits, remains one of Dickens' most widely recognized and
popular creations.

A Christmas Carol takes the form of a relatively simplistic allegory--it is seldom considered
one of Dickens' important literary contributions. The novella's emotional depth, brilliant
narration, and endearing characters, however, offer plenty of rewards for literature students,
Dickensian fans, and Grinches alike. Like A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol has won
much appreciation among general readers despite being dismissed by scholarly critics of
Dickens' work.

Summary

A mean-spirited, miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his counting-house on a
frigid Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in the anteroom because Scrooge
refuses to spend money on heating coals for a fire. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a
visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party. Two portly gentlemen also drop by and
ask Scrooge for a contribution to their charity. Scrooge reacts to the holiday visitors with
bitterness and venom, spitting out an angry "Bah! Humbug!" in response to his nephew's
"Merry Christmas!"

Later that evening, after returning to his dark, cold apartment, Scrooge receives a chilling
visitation from the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, looking haggard and
pallid, relates his unfortunate story. As punishment for his greedy and self-serving life his
spirit has been condemned to wander the Earth weighted down with heavy chains. Marley
hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. Marley informs Scrooge that three spirits
will visit him during each of the next three nights. After the wraith disappears, Scrooge
collapses into a deep sleep.

He wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike
phantom with a brightly glowing head. The spirit escorts Scrooge on a journey into the past
to previous Christmases from the curmudgeon's earlier years. Invisible to those he watches,
Scrooge revisits his childhood school days, his apprenticeship with a jolly merchant named
Fezziwig, and his engagement to Belle, a woman who leaves Scrooge because his lust for
money eclipses his ability to love another. Scrooge, deeply moved, sheds tears of regret
before the phantom returns him to his bed.

The Ghost of Christmas Present, a majestic giant clad in a green fur robe, takes Scrooge
through London to unveil Christmas as it will happen that year. Scrooge watches the large,
bustling Cratchit family prepare a miniature feast in its meager home. He discovers Bob
Cratchit's crippled son, Tiny Tim, a courageous boy whose kindness and humility warms
Scrooge's heart. The specter then zips Scrooge to his nephew's to witness the Christmas
party. Scrooge finds the jovial gathering delightful and pleads with the spirit to stay until the
very end of the festivities. As the day passes, the spirit ages, becoming noticeably older.
Toward the end of the day, he shows Scrooge two starved children, Ignorance and Want,
living under his coat. He vanishes instantly as Scrooge notices a dark, hooded figure coming
toward him.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge through a sequence of mysterious
scenes relating to an unnamed man's recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing
the dead man's riches, some vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash, and a poor
couple expressing relief at the death of their unforgiving creditor. Scrooge, anxious to learn
the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the dead man. After pleading with
the ghost, Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a grave. Scrooge
looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name. He desperately implores the
spirit to alter his fate, promising to renounce his insensitive, avaricious ways and to honor
Christmas with all his heart. Whoosh! He suddenly finds himself safely tucked in his bed.

Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been
returned to Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound
Christmas spirit. He sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house and attends Fred's
party, to the stifled surprise of the other guests. As the years go by, he holds true to his
promise and honors Christmas with all his heart: he treats Tiny Tim as if he were his own
child, provides lavish gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human beings with kindness,
generosity, and warmth.

Characters

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 tribulations 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 suff
ering a similar fate.

The Ghost of Christmas Past - The first spirit to visit Scrooge, a curiously childlike
apparition with a glowing head. He takes Scrooge on a tour of Christmases in his past. The
spirit uses a cap to dampen the light emanating from his head.

The Ghost of Christmas Present - The second spirit to visit Scrooge, a majestic giant clad
in a green robe. His lifespan is restricted to Christmas Day. He escorts Scrooge on a tour of
his contemporaries' Holiday celebrations.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - The third and final spirit to visit Scrooge, a silent
phantom clad in a hooded black robe. He presents Scrooge with an ominous view of his
lonely death.

Fred - Scrooge's nephew, a genial man who loves Christmas. He invites Scrooge to his
Christmas party each and every year, only to be refused by his grumpy uncle.

Fezziwig - The jovial merchant with whom the young Scrooge apprenticed. Fezziwig was
renowned for his wonderful Christmas parties.

Belle - A beautiful woman who Scrooge loved deeply when he was a young man. Belle broke
off their engagement after Scrooge became consumed with greed and the lust for wealth.
She later married another man.

Peter Cratchit - Bob's oldest son, who inherits his father's stiff-collared shirt for Christmas.

Martha Cratchit - Bob's oldest daughter, who works in a milliner's shop. (A milliner is a
person who designs, produces, and sells hats.)

Fan - Scrooge's sister; Fred's mother. In Scrooge's vision of Christmases past, he

remembers Fan picking him up from school and walking him home.

The Portly Gentlemen - Two gentlemen who visit Scrooge at the beginning of the tale
seeking charitable contributions. Scrooge promptly throws them out of his office. Upon
meeting one of them on the street after his visitations, he promises to make lavish
donations to help the poor.

Mrs. Cratchit - Bob's wife, a kind and loving woman.

Analysis
A Christmas Carol is a fairly straightforward allegory built on an episodic narrative structure
in which each of the main passages has a fixed, obvious symbolic meaning. The book is
divided into five sections (Dickens labels them Staves in reference to the musical notation
staff--a Christmas carol, after all, is a song), with each of the middle three Staves revolving
around a visitation by one of the three famous spirits. The three spirit-guides, along with
each of their tales, carry out a thematic function--the Ghost of Christmas Past, with his
glowing head, represents memory; the Ghost of Christmas Present represents charity,
empathy, and the Christmas spirit; and the reaper-like Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
represents the fear of death. Scrooge, with his Bah! Humbug! attitude, embodies all that
dampens Christmas spirit--greed, selfishness, indifference, and a lack of consideration for
one's fellow man.

With A Christmas Carol, Dickens hopes to illustrate how self-serving, insensitive people can
be converted into charitable, caring, and socially conscious members of society through the
intercession of moralizing quasi-religious lessons. Warmth, generosity, and overall goodwill,
overcome Scrooge's bitter apathy as he encounters and learns from his memory, the ability
to empathize, and his fear of death. Memory serves to remind Scrooge of a time when he
still felt emotionally connected to other people, before he closed himself off in an austere
state of alienation. Empathy enables Scrooge to sympathize with and understand those less
fortunate than himself, people like Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit. The fear of death hints at
imminent moral reckoning--the promise of punishment and reward.

With each Ghost's tale functioning as a parable, A Christmas Carol advances the Christian
moral ideals associated with Christmas--generosity, kindness, and universal love for your
community--and of Victorian England in general. The book also offers a distinctly modern
view of Christmas, less concerned with solemn religious ceremony and defined by more
joyous traditions--the sharing of gifts, festive celebrations, displays of prosperity. The book
also contains a political edge, most evident in Dickens' development of the bustling,
struggling Cratchit family, who are a compelling, if one-dimensional, representation of the
plight of the poor. Dickens, with every intention of tugging on your heartstrings, paints the
Cratchits as a destitute family that finds a way to express profound gratitude for its
emotional riches. Dickens carries this sentiment even further with the tragic figure of the
pure-hearted, crippled Cratchit son, Tiny Tim. Scrooge's emotive connection to Tiny Tim
dramatically underscores his revelatory acceptance of the Christmas ideal. Scrooge begins
to break through his emotional barricade in Stave Three as he expresses pity for Tiny Tim.
The reader, upon hearing the usually uncaring miser inquire into Tim's fate, begins to believe
Scrooge has a chance at salvation. Scrooge's path to redemption culminates with his
figurative "adoption" of Tiny Tim, acting as "a second father" to the little boy.

Study Questions

In what way is A Christmas Carol an allegory? What are the symbolic meanings of the main
characters?

Answer for Study Question 1 >>

A Christmas Carol is an allegory in that it features events and characters with a clear, fixed
symbolic meaning. In the novella, Scrooge represents all the values that are opposed to the
idea of Christmas--greed, selfishness, and a lack of goodwill toward one's fellow man. The
Ghost of Christmas Past, with his glowing head symbolizing the mind, represents memory;
the Ghost of Christmas Present represents generosity, empathy, and the Chri stmas spirit;
and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come represents the fear of death and moral reckoning.
The Cratchits represent the poor, whom Dickens portrays with warmth and sympathy while
seeking to draw attention to their plight.

Close
How does the time scheme of A Christmas Carol function? Why might Dickens have chosen to
structure his book in this way?
Answer for Study Question 2 >>
What role does social criticism play in A Christmas Carol? To what extent is the story a social
commentary?
Answer for Study Question 3 >>
How is the holiday of Christmas portrayed in the story? (Think of the moral, social, aesthetic, and
religious aspects of the holiday.) In what way does A Christmas Carol help to define the modern
idea of Christmas?
Compare and contrast the three spirits who visit Scrooge. What are their main similarities?
What are their main differences? Do their differences have any thematic significance? (Why,
for instance, do they look and dress so differently?)

Think about the story's narrator and about the way Dickens chooses to tell his tale. What
role does humor play in the narration? How do the comic aspects of A Christmas Carol
interact with and support the moral and ghost-story aspects? How does Dickens blend
comedy and horror?

How is wealth treated in the story? Is it a sign of moral corruption and greed, or does
Dickens offer a more complex assessment?