Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870) was a cherished English novelist, whom many regard as the most important of the Victorian era. During his lifetime Dickens is viewed as a popular entertainer of fecund imagination, while later critics championed his mastery of prose, his endless invention of memorable characters, and his powerful social sensibilities. The popularity of his novels and short stories during his lifetime and to the present is demonstrated by the fact that none of them has ever gone out of print. Dickens played a major role in popularizing the serialized novel.
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Read a synopsis of A Christmas Carol and answer the questions. If you wish, you can read a one-minute version of the story, see a screenplay of a film based on the book, or read the full text of the book online. Finally, do some writing yourself and see texts written by other readers.
: synopsis
The story is a Victorian morality tale of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, who in life was as miserly as Scrooge, is condemned to an eternity of carrying a heavy chain which he forged in life, and being unable to interfere for the good of mankind, which he would never have thought to do in life. The reason for Marley's visit is to give Scrooge an chance to avoid Marley's fate. Scrooge is sceptical of what he has seen and heard, but during the course of the night, he is visited by spirits of "Christmas Past", "Christmas Present" and "Christmas Yet to Come". The ghosts show Scrooge scenes from his life (past, present and future) that open his eyes and make him realise that he desperately needs love and forgiveness from his fellow men. In the end, Scrooge changes his life and reverts to the generous, kind-hearted soul he was in his youth, before the death of his sister, the only person in his youth who seemed to care for him.
Tiny Tim is the crippled youngest child of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's poor and ill-treated clerk. Scrooge's spirit-provided visions show him the meagre Christmas celebrations of the Cratchit family, the sweet nature of Tiny Tim, and a possible early death for the child; this prospect is the immediate catalyst for his change of heart.
The story deals extensively with two of Dickens' recurrent themes, social injustice and poverty, the relationship between the two, and their causes and effects. It was written to be abrupt and forceful with its message, with a working title of "The Sledgehammer." The first edition of A Christmas Carol was illustrated by John Leech a politically radical artist who in the cartoon Substance and Shadow printed earlier in 1843, had explicitly criticised artists who failed to address social issues.
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Write a story or a poem about Christmas. Send it to us.
A CHRISTMAS STORY
A year ago on Christmas day, while I was walking in the street near my house I saw a beggar of old age with a white beard, wearing a hat and dressed in old-fashioned torn clothes. He looked miserable.
I pitied him and I decided to bring him to my house to have lunch with us. Arriving home my parents were surprised but they welcomed us happily. My mother prepared a rich table with a well-cooked delicious turkey having a variety of salads and old expensive wine. Everything was delicious and we ate them with pleasure. The beggar ate everything on his plate to the last bite and drank a lot of the delicious wine and he said, " I want to thank you. What a marvellous meal .You are a very kind people and you showed me kindness and respect by accepting me in you house like a member of your family. God bless you."
After he left our house was filled with presents. A few days later my father won a considerable amount of money in the lottery.
The same evening he saw in his dream the old beggar who told him that he was Santa Claus.
By Fredericos Tsolakis
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