Christmas Carol, A, a story by the English author Charles Dickens, is the best-known and most popular Christmas story in English literature. The story was written and published in 1843. Dickens wrote it at the same time as he was writing the novel Martin Chuzzlewit. The story had instant success and remains one of his best-loved works. A Christmas Carol was the beginning of a new genre in English literature, that of the Christmas book, which has remained popular to the present time.
The central character in the story is the miser Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge treats his staff poorly, reluctantly allowing his hard-working clerk, Bob Cratchit, time off to celebrate Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, who was once his partner in business. Marley shows him three visions—of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future. The vision of the future shows Scrooge what sort of death he will die unless he changes his ways. The images terrify Scrooge, and he wakes up on Christmas morning a changed person. He sends a turkey to Bob Cratchit and his family so that they can celebrate Christmas properly. From that day on, Scrooge behaves in an unselfish and generous manner to everyone.
The theme of A Christmas Carol is one of redemption, and the story was created against the background of the terrible conditions suffered by the poor in Victorian England. The story portrays several unforgettable characters. In addition to Scrooge, the essence of miserliness and meanness, there is Bob Cratchit, his poorly treated clerk, and Tiny Tim, Cratchit’s son, who is weak and disabled but longing to have a proper Christmas. Parts of the story resemble episodes in two novels by Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844) and The Pickwick Papers (1836-1837). The Pickwick Papers describes an incident in which a miserable old man is visited by demons, shown visions of what life could be, and made a better man.
Dickens attached great importance to the Christmas season, not only in his writing but also in his own family life. A Christmas Carol was the first of several Christmas books he wrote. The others were The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man (1848). None of the others has achieved the status of a modern myth, as A Christmas Carol has.
See also Dickens, Charles.
