If you come up to somebody and ask what is their favorite Christmas carol, they would give you answers like Silent Night or Joy to the World and many other Christmas songs. But for people who are so much into literature, their answer would be different. Their favorite Christmas Carol would be A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens is an allegory tale which teaches us that each and every choice that we make throughout our lives have long-lasting effects.
It was published during the festive season of Christmas back in 1843. It has five staves rather than chapters. Stave is a metaphor used which basically means a simple song, with a beginning and then middle and eventually an end. Dickens uses stave to connect the story of his writing to the joyful and festive season of Christmas such as caroling while at the very same time Dickens also fills the story with the nature of the society at that time with their mindset of politics.
Dickens relates himself with the character in his book, Bob Cratchit. Similar to Cratchit, Dickens was also a husband and a father of quite a big number family. While he wrote this book, his wife was pregnant with their fifth child and they were struggling financially as well. Since his earlier writings were not under the spotlight and at the same time their living expenses were too high, he wrote this book desperately in attempt to earn more money to provide for his family.
Although financial issues may have been the sole purpose of the motivation for A Christmas Carol, Dickens later on found himself deeply consoled by the story. In his description of the process of writing this book, he said he wept and laughed, and wept again, and he walked about the black streets of London fifteen or twenty miles many a night when all sober folks had gone to bed. His hardship and his passion in his work for the publication of this book made him pay for the production of the book despite all his problems including his financial struggles, he paid for his own after he had disagreements with the publishers. He also desperately lowered the price of the book to only five shillings.
While Christmas celebrations were often highly appreciated during the Middle Ages, by the Victorian era, enthusiasm was lost. Some Christian leaders had become skeptical of the heretic traditions that persisted in their religious holiday, and also due to the financial struggles many families lacked the resources to celebrate as they had in the past year. When Charles Dickens’ novel A Christmas Carol was published, it revived much of the nostalgia and tradition we associate with Christmas today. During the time when families were having financial struggles and were secluded from the holiday spirits, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens reignited the joy and unity brought about by Christmas. Charles Dickens informed his readers through the book by highlighting that the joyfulness that Christmas brings does not require the gold and riches of Ebenezer Scrooge, but instead it is the inner self and a kind heart that brings about the joy like the Cratchit family.
The theme of Christmas in the book has two basic aspects: First is the festive and jolly vibes that the Christmas brought about. The love and unification that the Cratchit family possesses in the story despite all their hardships like poverty shows the readers that the Christmas spirit can defeat misery and wickedness like Scrooge had in him. Also, Dickens highlighted the class hierarchy and the crushing poverty that families were facing during that time. It shows that during the cold winter weather the poor had to go through a lot in comparison to the rich who are enjoying a warm and cozy fireplace in their house.