A Christmas Carol 333and charity. The central theme is that money does
not make happiness, and that those who have it
should give to the less fortunate. These were themes
Dickens believed in very much, and he decided to
write about them in a Christmas setting, because
Christmas is a time during which people are more
sensitive to generosity. Fred, Scrooge’s nephew (and
also the character in whom we can find Dickens’s
own feelings about Christmas), says: “I am sure I
have always thought of Christmas time, when it
has come round... as a good time: a kind, forgiv-
ing, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know
of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and
women seem by one consent to open their shut-up
hearts freely, and to think of people below them as
if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave,
and not another race of creatures bound on other
journeys.” This sentiment highlights the conflict
between individuals and the societies in which they
live and demonstrates that, for Dickens, the collec-
tive is more important.
The same theme can be found in the episode of
the gentlemen who enters the countinghouse to ask
Scrooge if he would like to offer something toward
provisions for the poor and destitute. He reminds
Scrooge of the poor who surround them, often
without basic necessities. Scrooge simply replies by
saying that there are prisons and workhouses for
them, and he claims to help the poor by supporting
this kind of establishment. When the gentleman
says that many of them would rather die than live
in such establishments, Scrooge responds that such
deaths would eliminate the problem of the poor. As
the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge his own
experience when apprenticed to Fezziwig and the
happiness the master was able to give him in those
times, he understands his mistake.
Previously, coming back home on Christmas
Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge receives the visit of Jacob
Marley’s ghost, who drags a long and heavy chain
with symbolic objects such as cashboxes, keys, and
padlocks: It symbolizes how the acts of our life
come back to haunt us. Marley wears the chain he
forged in his life. He represents not only Scrooge’s
conscience but also the conscience of all human-
kind. Indeed, he brings this universal message: “It
is required of every man, that the spirits within him
should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and
travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth
in life, it is condemned to do so after death.” With
this message, Marley reminds Scrooge that he is part
of the human race and that experiencing that con-
nection while a living, breathing soul is preferable to
the hellish existence of Marley himself.
Raffaella CavalieritraditiOn in A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is what Charles Dickens described
as his “little Christmas Book.” The story was imme-
diately successful and became one of the most
popular and best-known Christmas stories of all
time. Dickens wished his tale could be heard and
shared by everybody, and by calling it a carol, he
meant that it should spread joy and bring people
together. He divided the story in five parts, and each
part has a particular message for the reader and a
general moral.
In A Christmas Carol, we can find two main con-
cepts about Christmas: the one held by Scrooge and
that held by his nephew Fred, Bob Cratchit, and all
the other good and poor people. As Fred enters the
countinghouse to wish his uncle a Merry Christmas,
Scrooge replies that Fred is poor and has no right to
be merry at Christmas or any other time of the year.
He goes on to complain about the season in general
and to criticize the “idiots” who spread their cheer.
Following the tradition of the family gathered round
the fire, Fred invites his uncle for Christmas din-
ner, but Scrooge refuses. The gathering of family is
one of the most important traditions of Christmas.
When Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Past,
the spirit brings him back to a time in which he was
a young boy and was at school. He was alone, while
the other boys had already gone home for holidays.
A door opens, and a little girl, Scrooge’s sister, comes
in very happy, announcing to her brother that she
is there to bring him home forever. This is clearly
a very happy memory for Scrooge. The next past
Christmas he sees is again an experience of his ado-
lescence, when he was apprenticed to Fezziwig. His
master was very good and made him feel happy. On
this Christmas Eve, Fezziwig says to him, “No more
work tonight. Christmas Eve,” and there is a party
with dances, cake, cold roast, cold boiled, mince pies,