If I had to choose a single icon or symbol to represent the Christmas holiday, I think representations of Ebenezer Scrooge could possibly be as familiar as Santa Claus and that Charles Dickens” “A Christmas Carol” may be as equally prevalent a narrative as the holy scriptures that tell the story of Jesus” birth.
I marvel at our ongoing fascination with “A Christmas Carol” and with Ebenezer Scrooge. The winter season brought numerous opportunities to enjoy this story anew: an animated film with Jim Carrey in the role of Scrooge, a Konocti Unified School District production and a live radio broadcast from the stage of the Soper-Reese Community Theatre.
Even “Lost,” a novel by Gregory Maguire, features Scrooge indirectly. It”s the story of a haunting of modern-day characters who believe their ancestor inspired Dickens to create his famous character.
Perhaps the most whimsical example I read was a narrative by Doug Muder, in which a cantankerous man named Ben is visited by seasonal ghosts, including Dickens himself (“The Ghosts of Unitarian Christmas,” UU World, Winter 2009). “When I wrote ?A Christmas Carol,” I wasn”t really recapturing the lost spirit of Christmas, I was conjuring it out of whole cloth,” Dickens tells this modern-day Scrooge. “My Christmas wasn”t about the birth of one sect”s savior, it was about the brotherhood and sisterhood of all people. It was about compassion and friendship and family. Universal values.”
Another writer, Michael Timko, observes that even though Dickens never once mentions Jesus in his classic novel, the story of Scrooge is one of conversion (“Ebenezer Scrooge”s conversion,” UU World, Winter 2005). “With Scrooge”s transformative change of heart, Dickens illustrates that his readers, too, can be converted from a harsh, complacent, selfish worldview to one of love, hope, and charity and, like Scrooge, can again become part of the human community. For Dickens, that was the true meaning of Christmas.”
Timko notes, “Dickens himself worked tirelessly for a wide range of charitable causes, raising funds for soup kitchens, emigration schemes, housing associations, prison reform, hospitals, adult education, and disabled artists. He also believed that through his fiction he could promote moral solutions to social ills and could change society for the better.”
I think one of the most powerful moments in “A Christmas Carol” is when the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals two children, personifying Ignorance and Want: “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”
David Perdue who has dedicated a Web page to “bringing the genius of Dickens to a new generation of readers,” states that Dickens felt the cycle of poverty could only be broken by education. You can read more at http://charlesdickenspage.com/index.html.
I would also recommend reading Greg Mortenson”s book, “Three Cups of Tea,” to learn how investing in education for people in remote and impoverished areas has borne unexpected and rewarding fruit. A generous donation by Mortenson, assisted by local representatives, has brought 650 copies of the young readers” edition of his book to Lake County middle school students.
I believe Mortenson”s efforts today mirror Dickens” earlier vision for reforming Victorian society. I would like to see our society maintain ? or if anything, expand ? a similar commitment toward education within our public schools.
Cynthia Parkhill is the editor of Northshore News, South County News and the Clear Lake Observer American, as well as focus pages editor for the Lake County Record-Bee. You can reach her at 263-5636, ext. 39 or e-mail ObserverAmerican@gmail.com.
