A Christmas Carol

One of our family traditions has been to see the Christmas Carol at least once during the season. Dickens orginally wrote the book in 1843. It immediately sold very well but also helped to define Christmas in England and the US. The adaptations of this tale of redemption are numerous. The story of a miser who is redeemed by three spirits' visits on the night before Christmas has also crept into our language in many ways. As noted in an earlier post, the idea of redemption is a pretty universal theme - I was surprised to see the same kind of redemption in War and Peace with Pierre.

My favorite version of film adaptations is the one done by Jack Warner with Alistair Sim in the 1950s. His Scrooge has the characteristic of being greedy and evil at the start, redeemed at the end and believable throughout. Seymour Hicks and Reginald Owen also did classic versions but I like the Sim one best. All of the movies are adaptations of the original book and Sims language and behaviors are recreated in a number of the later adaptations. It is subtle to see those mannerisms and spoken parts in so many other versions.

Based on the success of the first novella, Dickens went on to write four sequels in subsequent years to the first publication, but none were as successful. They were The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845),The Battle of Life (1846) and The Haunted Man (1848). You can sometimes find a compilation of the stories in a nice edition.

My favorite scene in the book and the play is at the end of the second act. The Ghost of Christmas Present is about to leave and he produces to raggedy children who he describes as "wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable." Dickens often dealt with social justice issues and here in a couple of sentences he summarizes his views. `And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. 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. ``Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!''