A Christmas Carol.docx

Abstract: This essay principally argues on the changes and development of Scrooge, as well as relevant profound political and social criticism. From my point of view, the relationship between the former and the latter is just like concrete and abstract, or rather, deduction and induction. In a word, it is important to clarify in advance that people never change into what they seem to be at present for no reason, and these transformations exactly result from the social environment he has been in. Honestly speaking, “A Christmas Carol” appears to be kind of vapid and ridiculous at first glance. For one thing, it contains components of ghosts and the supernatural matters that make the whole story unrealistic; for another, the process of the character turning from negative to positive seems to be so unreasonably quick that it is excessively ideal when applied in our real world. Moreover, there are large quantities of unknown words, especially those regarding complicated emotions and Christmas culture, which become an additional barrier of getting insight into this masterpiece. Nonetheless, after learning more about the background, going over the content repeatedly and analyzing details verbatim, I finally gain a deeper command of the novel and in the end I cannot help giving credit to this fabulous work after finding out that it still has great meaning to people and society nowadays.First and foremost, it is all about the transformation of Scrooge. As is summarized at the beginning, he was such a “tight-fisted hand at the grindstone “,“squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner”, as usual he seemed “secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster”, and he was so abnormally cold and frosty that even “no warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him”. Despite his identities as the “sole executor, administrator, assign, residuary legatee, friend, mourner” of dead Marley, he didnt feel even a little bit sorrow. Much to our surprise, actually he grasped the valuable chance to act as “an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral”. His boasted his so-called principle as “to edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance”. Needless to say, when it comes to people alive, in no sense were his behaviors beyond expectation: he made rigorous requirements to his employee; he was mean to his nephew when blessed with “Merry Christmas”; he rejected contributing to charities and took a cruel attitude to people in lower class; he chased away the poor child in a rude mannerTo conclude, he resisted the explosion to Christmas and weighed everything with the standard of money. Here comes the question: how could a stubborn and pathetic person like him possibly be persuaded into quitting previous inappropriate behaviors and starting to pursue and spread kindness enthusiastically, especially in quite a short time? Perhaps it should be owed to the charm and power of the supernaturalhe encountered the ghost of Marley, and then the ghosts of past, present, future in sequence, which proved to be fortunate rather than pathetic later. In this case, the transformation is more smooth and reasonable than unrealistic as a matter of fact. In the first place, on the whole, Scrooge had been devoted to commercial activities for a long period of time, which made him sophisticated, smart, dexterous, and always tend to place emphasis on details. Also, morality and humanity had never vanished in his soul, even if they were concealed in most cases when faced with the conventional society, which is just as crucial. What is more, he was outwardly strong but inwardly weak in reality, so it makes sense that he had a potential reverence for the supernatural in spite of his mean and contemptuous attitude to others. The three factors result in the premise of his reception of persuasion. Secondly, it is common sense that people are inclined to resonate emotionally with everything in accordance with old memories. As a consequence, as is depicted in Stave 2, when led to his hometown in the childhood and youth, he was touched by a succession of familiar scenes: the lonely childhood with books compared with outside jollification before Christmas, his great and enthusiastic sister picking him up home before Christmas, the happy dance party held by the broadminded employer, and his breakup with his girlfriend on account of divergences on life philosophy as wellhe was just transformed step by step. There is another solid foundation of this argument: the light on the ghosts head that cannot be extinguished. It is exactly the symbolization of “the light of memory”, which was once recalled and can never be neglected afterwards. In summary, it is regarded as an introspection of his experiences.Thirdly, there is an old saying: “The outsider sees the most of the game”. The development of our life is strongly based on what we actually see, hear, in other words, informed from outer world, which are limited for the most part. That means we are not capable of taking an overall and synthetic view of other peoples lives, particularly their authentic thoughts. However, with the help of the supernatural, all of them are easily achieved: they paid a visit to his clerks house where he learnt about the story of little Tim, his nephews family where he was toasted and at last couldnt help participating in their recreational activities.more importantly, he got a better understanding of his horrible reputation as well as the essence of the happiness of ordinary people.Fourthly, under no circumstances can the future be precisely predicted, hence we wind our way to the future without an absolutely critical judgement and disturbing problems come up inevitably from time to time, because of which we have even more rough access to timely adjustments. As is illustrated in Stave 4, he overlooked the most thrilling occasion he had ever seen, namely, peoples all sorts of hideous reactions towards his death, which indeed propelled him to correct himself in the most direct way. Last but not least, it is the practical action that counts. Scrooge was extraordinarily urged by the “nightmare” and decided to begin a new lifestyle by making a keen commitment to the celebration of Christmas. Consequently, he enjoyed accompanying merits which was utterly out of the question when he was cut off from the festival. Trying and putting it into practice become the last guarantee.As is mentioned above, Scrooges transformation is systematic and evolutionary, which is confirmed by an old saying “Rome was not built in a day” except for a slight difference that the interference of the supernatural accelerated the process. There is possibility that sometimes it is too abrupt for us to comprehend, but for one thing, although the process is condensed into a short novel, the author does not leave out even a single clue and managed to organize the whole structure subtly; for another, once reflecting on ourselves, we will naturally find out that people always change very fast, keeping pace with the atmosphere of society he have been going through. We might as well cherish our life because such wise ghosts will not come true in actual fact, and without the help of instructions and reminders, it is of vital significance for us to learn to ponder past experiences, daily options and future orientations thoroughly and afterwards form correct values.Nevertheless, since people is kind-hearted by nature, the reason why they ultimately develop into a negative individual subsequently is negotiable, of which the core lies in the society. Anyway, it is reckless to simply blame on the society for society is fundamentally comprised of various individuals, therefore there exists an interaction.The two crucial hazards are as follows: poverty and ignorance, which are symbolized by two filthy kids in stave 3, and according to the ghosts warning, the latter is rather disastrous. As for poverty, it is apparent that the poor were universally in urgent need to be relieved substantially, whereas the rich refused to come to their assistance generously. It is extremely essential for both of them to succeed in salvation, and men of wealth ought to call for latent humanity and morality and undertake more responsibilities for a harmonious society in particular. When it comes to ignorance, it is not merely with k