Dickens' "Christian" Carol in Prose Dickens' "Christian" Carol in Prose 
Charles Dickens when he wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843
He was about 32.
The Text itself: HTML or PDF version
Prof Rearick's pages on A Christmas Carol in Prose and on Charles Dickens
The
Popularity of the Christmas Carol indicates that it is NOT just
"sentimental mush."
Critical
Dismissal of the Realism of a "Changed Life."
Tiny
Tim not exaggerated Christians and the Changed Life
Scrooge's
Textual Innocence and Guilt
He speaks of the surplus population
It should be
noted that a Christ-less Christmas was unthinkable to Dickens.
A
Christ-less Christmas was Unthinkable to Dickens
The
Recognizable (Archetypal) Pattern of Salvation
Starting in Death
very year it happens.
Just after Thanksgiving, TV stations, movies and theaters deliver
to the public a veritable cornucopia of Christmas specials, and
every year some of them are in some form a re-rendition of
Dickens' famous story about Ebenezer Scrooge,
A Christmas
Carol in Prose. Of course there will be rebroadcasts of
the standards: the Alister Simms version, the George C. Scott
version, and the (soon to become a standard) Patrick Stewart
version. Beyond this there are all the spin offs.
I've seen the American Christmas Carol, The Country
Western Christmas Carol, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooge,
Mrs. Scrooge and Scrooged. I've seen the Mr.
Magoo Christmas Carol, The Flintstone Christmas Carol, The Jetson Christmas Carol and
Micky Mouse's Christmas
Carol.
I know many will think that as an English professional who did his Ph.D. work on Dickens I am just going to blast these other versions. Well I'm not. Actually I am quite fond of several of them. Mr. Magoo introduced this wonderful story to me as a child, and the Muppets have done the same for my own children. Dickens was such a man of the popular people that I, in fact, think that if the meaning of his story is preserved (and he is given credit) he would applaud the continuous way his Christmas tale appeals to so many anywhere in the world where Christmas is celebrated. So, if you are one of those who look forward to this yearly Dickensian tradition, I'm with you.
However, I suspect that there are others who go "Oh no! Not that sickly, sweet child again; just once I wish he'd fuss over his poor dinner. And Scrooge! How am I supposed to take seriously anyone so vile who in one night becomes almost insanely good? The whole thing is mere sentimental holiday mush!"
I
disagree:
If The Christmas Carol were just mush, it would have faded
away with so many other sentimental (if nice) seasonal traditions
of the 19th century. Instead, A Christmas Carol
endures. And it does so because it presents truths which
are bound not to cultural fads which come and go but to the
Christian truths which are central to the holiday itself.
This may surprise some since in the minds of many there just does
not seem much for the soul in Dickens' work. For many it's a nice
piece of fantasy like Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, but
hardly a worthy work especially for a Christian. Probably the
most famous statement of this point of view was Ruskin's comment
to a friend that Dickens' Christmas was nothing more than "mistletoe
and pudding--neither resurrection from the dead, nor rising of
new stars, not teaching of wise men, nor shepherds."
(Qt. in
Davis 59 Emphasis Mine). This has led some churches to actually improve the
story by having Scrooge experience an overt conversion in which
he says "I accept Jesus as my lord and savior."
The difficulty here is the difference between subtle Christian
images verses overt sermonizing. A Christmas Carol
does not need in any way Christians making it more Christian. In
spite of the objections of Ruskin and others like him, Dickens'
story moves those who read it (and view it) precisely because it
contains within itself all those things Ruskin mentioned (resurrection,
new stars and wise-men) and with them a true message of the
Christian hope of Christmas.
At the base
of the inability of many who do not see the Christianity of
Dickens Carol is an almost willful misunderstanding--we
have always been a race of non-listeners: That the saying
of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord
who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed?" John 12:38 KJV
When Jesus came into the coasts of Ceasarea Philippi he asked his disciples, saying "Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am?" And they said "Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some Elias; and others , Jeremias, or one of the prophets. (Mark 16:13-14 KJV) One quality of humanity which has not changed since Jesus' time is its ability to misread a message of truth. I am not certain what caused all the people back then to not recognize Jesus' Messiah ship, but I suspect one factor was that by NOT acknowledging Jesus for who he was they avoided having to respond to his claims. They were willing to acknowledge him as a good man, but not the Messiah, their promised king. You've got to obey your king; a good man you can take or leave as your mood suits you.
A similar
misreading of Dickens' A Christmas Carol has developed over time.
To avoid the message of Dickens famous story, society has
exaggerated the character of Ebenezer Scrooge so that the truth
of his transformation has becomes lost in the extremes of his
personality. In the popular wisdom of English teachers
there exists the general opinion that Dickens did not create real
characters but instead exaggerations which portray real human
emotions. Many point to the physically and mentally decaying
bride, Miss Havisham, from Great Expectations or the too good
Tiny Tim and the vile Mr. Scrooge who converts into a holiday
madman from A Christmas Carol as proofs of this.
One of the most influential Dickensian critics writes that the "beauty and the real blessing of the story do not lie with the mechanical plot of it, the repentance of Scrooge, probable or improbable" (Chesterton 170-171). Edmund Wilson, another enshrined critic, writes that Scrooge as a human being functions better "as a piece of Christmas folk-lore" and we, the readers, should "no more inquire seriously into the mechanics of his transformation that we do into the transformation of the Beast in the fairy-tale into the young prince that marries Beauty" (The Wound and the Bow 55).
However, Dickens never claimed that his technique was to create grotesque characters. Certainly his characters are extreme, but if any of us will take a moment we can probably think of some extreme individuals. Little old ladies who carry all of their belongings in shopping carts are extreme, but also tragically real.
And anyone who has been around a children's hospital has met a sick child who has a special quality of sweetness with a gentleness beyond his or her years. I have met a number of Tiny Tims whether a cynical world wishes to believe me or not.
Furthermore we as Christians believe that a life can be suddenly and drastically altered. This reality is taught to us and experienced by us over and over from the narrative about Saint Paul to turning around of the life of a local addict. We believe in what Christ himself called "A New Birth." Part of the beauty of A Christmas Carol for us is that Scrooge's transformation is wonderfully plausible.
Now I suspect that some of my Christian colleagues are raising certain objections in their heads. "Yes, we believe in the transformed life, but you've got to admit that Scrooge's transformation is simplistic." Well, no I don't think so, but I think I know why many may see it as so. Let's take a look at his character.
When
dealing with Scrooge's intense misanthropic behavior there are a
number of points which can be made. To begin with, most dramatic
presentations of A Christmas Carol (and in our culture it is far
more common to have seen a dramatization than to have read the
book originally) the villainy of Scrooge is emphasized--emphasized to the point of making him ridiculous. For example,
there is no evidence in the text that he. . .
Drove Fezziwig out of business.
Understand, I am not claiming that Scrooge was in fact a nice guy, he was not; "he was a tight-fisted, hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" (Dickens 58).
Yet it is important to realize that as a sinner Scrooge was more like most Victorian men of business (including Dickens himself) than otherwise. More importantly, he is more like most of us today than otherwise as well.
Surplus Population: For example, when Scrooge refers to the surplus population it is good for the reader to know that there were a number of individuals in Dickens time who were seriously expressing in their writings just such thoughts.
"Michael Slater notes in the 1971 Oxford paperback of A Christmas Carol the influence of the great fear of overpopulation held by the English since the publication of Thomas Malthus' essay on "The Principles of Population" (1803). This economist made clear. . . when he wrote 'A man who is born into a world posses, if he cannot get substance from his parents, on which he has a just demand, and if society do not want his labour, has no claim of right of the smallest portion of food, and in fact, has no business to be where he is. [In] Nature's mighty feast there is no vacant cover for him. She tells him to be gone. . ." (Qt. in Hearn 65).
No Charitable Support: With this kind of thinking it is easy to see that Scrooge might also feel ill used to be compelled to give up his hard earned money in taxes to support official institutions for individuals which he feels will never become self-sufficient.
The Truth is that many of us have dismissed the call for financial aid feeling that we did not want our cash to go to help those whose lifestyle choices made them needy? We claim we want to aid only the deserving poor {I credit Shaw's Pygmalion for this idea). But so often this ends up being only an introduction to inaction. Furthermore how many of us have looked with suspicion upon those organizations (such as welfare) set up by the bureaucracy of the government to meet the challenges of human need?
Did Not Celebrate Christmas: Furthermore Scrooge's habit of not making merry at Christmas was actually quite common in Dickens' day. In fact several authors have credited Dickens for breathing life back into a dying holiday. It's lack of celebration was based on two elements: religious and economical.
Many did not celebrate Christmas because much of it was connected with pagan celebrations. They abhorred the holly and ivy, the mistletoe, and the fir tree all of which were originally pagan symbols. And of course there were many who dismissed Christmas as a Catholic holiday "Christ-mass." One has to remember the animosity that once existed between Christian denominations.
Also with the industrial revolution many employees found themselves required to work on Christmas day. G.K. Chesterton observed that "If a little more success had crowned the Puritan movement of the seventeenth century or the Utilitarian movement of the nineteenth century the old holiday tradition would have become merely details of the neglected past, a part of the history or even archeology. . .Perhaps the very word carol would sound like the word 'villanelle'" (Qt. in Hearn 3).
Thus, Scrooge's neglect of Christmas shows a hard heart, but NOT a particularly unusually hard one. However, the re-tellers of Dickens' story--either for simplicity's sake or because they don't want to be condemned--have in their interpretations of Scrooge made his wickedness absurd, like the villains on the Power Rangers who say things like "I love being bad" or those of Captain Planet who says "Oh goodie a whole green meadow waiting for me to pollute.
In a similar manner many modern renditions of The Carol have made Scrooge absurdly good when he awakes. This , course undermines the reality of the work, so much so that one critic commented that he was sure Scrooge was back to his old ways before the beginning of new year.
Again Scrooge is not the extreme depicted; it should be noted that Scrooge does not cancel all his debts on Christmas morning toss money at everyone he meets open the toy shops and food shops to bring the Cratchits a Christmas make Bob his partner
He became according to the story "as good a friend, as good a master, as good a man as the good old city knew." Thus, Scrooge was able to live with the alterations in his life successfully. The kind of life which Dickens demonstrates in Scrooge is one he believes is reachable for "any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere" (Christmas Books 20).
The point which I am trying to make is that Scrooge is not a grotesque figure which the reader or viewer should be able to dismiss with "well at least I'm not that bad" or after his conversion dismiss him with "well no one could be that good; he'd be out in the street in a week." The fact is that we are indeed all "that bad" and can become "that good" with God's Grace.
Dickens recognized that he himself could be that bad. The abandoned child who was Scrooge is just one more manifestation of the abandoned child who was Dickens. If anyone was tempted to make his life secure by the attaining of wealth it was Dickens. In the meantime no one was more aware that such a choice would be disastrous. And Dickens, as he made his way through life, claimed a sense of God's hand upon his shoulder.
It should be
noted that a Christ-less Christmas was unthinkable to Dickens.
Even though he was criticized even in his own time for not being
overt about his faith. In a letter described in the introduction
to his The Life of Our Lord, as "perhaps the last words
written by Dickens" Dickens describes his own tendency to
incorporate but not preach his beliefs in his writings:
I have always striven in my writings to express veneration for the life and lessons of Our Savior, because I feel it. . .But I have never made proclamation of this from the housetops. (Dickens 4)
Here are just
a few direct quotes from the novel which demonstrate a Christian
bent of mind; the emphasis is added by me:
[Fred] "I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round--apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that--as a good time; a kind, forgiving time. . . " (Dickens 62).
[Marley] "Why did I walk through the crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down and never raised them to that blessed Star which led Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me?" (Dickens 79)
[Marley] "Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness" (Dickens 79).
[Narrator] "He resolved to lie awake until the hour was past; and, considering that he could no more go to sleep than go to heaven, this was perhaps the wisest resolution in his power" (Dickens 84).
[Bob] "He [Tiny Tim] told me coming home that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made beggars walk and blind men see" (121).
[Narrator] "After a while they played at forfeits; for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself" (Dickens 136).
[Peter reading scripture] "And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them. . ." (Dickens ) (Matt KJV).
[Narrator] "He [the redeemed Scrooge] went to church.
These minor Christian echoes only suggest the Christianity which is the center of the story. This is so because the Christmas Carol is concerned with loss and reclamation, Christ claimed that he came to redeem the lost, but it is sometimes forgotten that there were two major elements of Christ's ministry: The salvation of society by the help of the poor; and the salvation of the individual. We know Jesus' concern for social issues from his own claiming of this scripture as his call to ministry:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to head the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. ((Luke 4:18 KJV)
Dickens also
believed this, especially at the time of him writing The
Christmas Carol. He hoped for the salvation of society through
the salvation of individuals. Dickens' concern for the social
well-being of mankind is fairly overt in the novel. But many
Christians might be surprised to note that Scrooge's conversion
follows a recognizable (or archetypal) pattern typical of any who have come into
a relationship with God.
The
Recognizable (Archetypal) Pattern of Salvation
Begins
in Death:
The Christmas Carol, like any story of the "good news" begins in
recognizing the condition of Death:
Marley was dead: to begin with.. . Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. . .This must be distinctly understood or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. ("A Christmas Carol" Christmas Books 7)
Two points are clear from this opening statement. One we have begun in the province of death. It should be noted also that when we speak of Marley as being dead we are also describing Scrooge. They are interconnected. The narrator makes this clear:
Scrooge never painted out Old Marley's name. There it stood years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. It was all the same to him. (8)
So Scrooge is in a real sense as dead as dead as a doornail as Marley. The second point is that this is going to be a story which can be described as "wonderful." In the original way of understanding the word "wonderful" not only meant fantastic but also something which inspires wonder. Certainly the coming of life into the realm of death is that.
The Old Testament contains this. When Ezekiel is taken to the valley of bones he is shown a realm of Death, and God asks him. . .
"Son of man, shall these bones live?" (Ezekiel 37: 3 KJV)
Ezekiel responds "Lord, only you know." And what follows is a wonderful story as the bones come together gain flesh and stand up a living throng.
The
Helpless State of Human Beings:
just as humans
are unable to reach God on their own, so The Christmas Carol,
shows Scrooge as incapable of escaping death himself or being
redeemable by any human effort. Scrooge
functions in an illusion of self-sufficiency. He is described as
not relying upon either the grace of God or the kindness of his
fellow men, as being "secret and solitary as an oyster"
(Christmas Books 8). Grace is needed for the salvation of any
human, and Scrooge demonstrates this.
His nephew, Fred, even suggests this fact in his greeting:
"A Merry Christmas Uncle, God save you!" (Christmas Books 9)
Scrooge, however, is untouched by the human expression of God's grace:
"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!"
"Christmas a Humbug, uncle! . . You don't mean that I am sure?"
"I do." (9)
Later, the two portly men offer Scrooge the chance of opening his own heart to God's grace by being a minister of help himself, but Scrooge, believing himself to be self-reliant, is unmoved:
"What shall I put you down for?"
"Nothing."
"You wish to be anonymous?"
"I wish to be left alone!" (12)
In such a
state only the touch of
supernatural grace
can reach such a soul,
so a
terrifying grace, a hell-fire sermon, is what Scrooge gets
and can not ignore with the arrival of Marely.
Still Scrooge tries to maintain his self-centered perspective, even to the point of claiming at first that the suffering spirit is nothing more than by-product of something he, Scrooge, ate:
"There's more of gravy that of grave about you, whatever you are!" (Christmas Books 18).
However, Marley's terrifying scream of a spirit in agony forces Scrooge to alter his perspective
"Mercy!" he said "Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?"
"Man of the worldly mind. . .do you believe in me or not?!
"I do. . .I must!" (Christmas Books 19).
So Scrooge is forced to consider realities beyond those that he can explain and control. Of course Scrooge attempts to defend himself before this onslaught. He notes that Marley (and therefore also himself) had always been a good man of business. But Marley won't let him:
"Business!. . .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!" (Christmas Books 20)
Dickens' insight that doing good could actually be one's business is supported in scripture by Jesus' response as a boy to his parents' concerns:
"And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist
ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49 KJV)
There also can be no doubt that Marley is a manifestation of grace if an unpleasant one. When Scrooge asks for comfort Marley replies. . .
"I have none to give. . .It [comfort] comes from other regions, Ebenezer Scrooge, and is conveyed by other ministers to other kinds of men" (Christmas Books 19-20).
Notice, however, that although he is not there to comfort, he does not deny that he is a kind of minister of grace himself. Thus, before Scrooge can receive comfort, he must go through the conversion process which will require him to recognize his need and his guilt.
The Need for
Memory:
Scrooge's
second visitation, the first of the three Christmas Ghosts,
represents the power of memory in the process of salvation
With the
second ghost the administer of grace becomes more overt in its
mission. It clearly defines its mission to Scrooge:
Your welfare. . .your reclamation then. Take heed!" (25-26)
The first spirit is an allegorical representation of memory. Memory is vital for reclamation and a changed heart. How often does God say remember in the scripture?
And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten." (Exodus 13:3 KJV)
"Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land." (Joshua 1: 13 KJV)
"Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;" (I Thessalonians 1: 3 KJV)
"Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:" (II Timothy 2: 8 KJV)
The Affirming Power of Experience: The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, draws Scrooge more into the life by demonstrating the joys of fellowship which he has missed just as many who come to know Christ do so because they are drawn to the fellowship of the church.
As the first spirit had been a witness of memory, the second spirit is a witness of experience. Scrooge sees humanity interacting with one another not out of a terrible concern for self but in Christian charity. He sees the Cratchit home in which even his foul self is remembered (if only ceremonially). He also sees his own family in the party of Fred. All of these are fellowships which are not as great as they could be because of his absence.
How many lost individuals are brought into the fellowship of Christ not so much because of some profound theological point, but because of the fellowship of Christ that they see. As Peter writes: "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous" (1 Peter 3:8 KJV). So it was said of the early Christians "See how they love one another!"
This is the fellowship which Scrooge sees:
Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close to home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in misery's every refuge, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door, and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts. (55-56)
Scrooge is so
drawn into this fellowship that he partakes of it even when no
one can hear or see him.
Of course,
there is a dark side of this wonderful fellowship as well. Just
as the Ghost of Christmas Past had been a representation of
memory, the Ghost of Christmas Present forces Scrooge to remember
how his own activities had in some way or another hindered the
blessings of Christ's love. This is especially true of his
encounter with the Cratchets when he is shown that the surplus
population is a beloved child and when he is also shown the two
demon children "Want and Ignorance" who cling to the Spirit of
Christmas Present because that is their only hope of gaining an
assistance in this world.
The Final Warning: Grace Ignored Equals Death: The last of the spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Future, contains of course the final warning if God's grace is ignored. But with that warning comes again the loving quality of God's mercy.
"I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope?" (Christmas Books 70 Emphasis Mine).
The "if" quality is the saving one for Scrooge. God has never given an ultimatum without a chance for redemption.
And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. (Exodus 15: 26 KJV)
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (II Chronicles 7:14 KJV)
Thus, Scrooge is brought through the Salvation experience. Now a changed man, a reborn man, he begins a new life.
Even his exclamation at the beginning of the last section reveals an awareness of from where his restoration comes. "Heaven and the Christmas Time be praised! I say this on my knees Old Jacob, on my knees!" (71). Scrooge goes directly to church when he walks out on Christmas morning.
He re-affirms his connection with the family of the human race.
Thus Scrooge's conversion is not just of one who has a terrible scare one nigh and who will probably revert to his old ways as soon as the scare wears off. His experience is recognizable to any Christian as the process which God goes through while redeeming a soul. Scrooge's redemption is not a cartoon exaggeration; it is a challenge to us all to follow.
As the narrator says "it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly aid of us, and all of us!" (76). But the narrator also knows that this is not a goal which can be reached only by human means, and concludes with the final truth that "as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us Every One!" (76). Indeed, God Bless all of Us this Christmas time and through the whole year.
Those who are interested will find at this link a web page where this lecture is used as a foundation for a series of Sunday School lessons on A Christmas Carol over a period of six weeks, going from advent, through Christmas and ending at 12th Night.