Christmas Carol

Ebenezer Scrooge: Relationships and Redemption

Few stories have been retold or achieved such great cultural familiarity as has Charles Dickens' 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. Perhaps the reason for its success and permanence is its thematic universality. In its central character, readers are given a figure with a dramatically stunted way of relating to other human begins and yet one who is destined for redemption. This is the narrative thrust that drives A Christmas Carol, with the evolution of Ebenezer Scrooge from wealthy, miserly hermit to enlightened giver centering entirely on the way that he perceived other people and the way that other people perceived him. More than any other matter, the Dickens novel seems to center on the relationships that persist between human beings and how our approach to these relationships can bring great fullness or emptiness. As Scrooge's experience shows, this outcome will be dependent upon...
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