Nearly everybody knows A Christmas Story was written by Charles Dickens. And most know of the story having watched any of the fifty-seven adaptations on television. My personal favorite is the 1951 version with Alastair Sim playing Scrooge. As I am an admirer of Dickens, I can’t say I’m impressed with comedians portraying Scrooge, or all the cartoons that have appeared. It is my opinion someone like Jim Carey should not ever have been allowed to be near the classic story.
The novella, published by Chapman & Hall on December 19th, 1843, was originally called, A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. Having taken only six weeks to write, it was sold out within five days, all 6,000 copies. It has since gone through twelve more printings and continues to sell to this day.
How old were you when you found out Dickens meant the story to be one of social commentary on issues such as wealth imbalance, labor inequity, and the severe realities of the working class in England? Additionally, his father had spent time in debtor’s prison which had a profound impact on the young Dickens, causing him to write many of his works to assist the poor.
The novella may serve as a social commentary on issues like wealth imbalance, labor inequity, or the harsh experiences faced by the working class in England. It describes the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by the chain-wrapped ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, as well as the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Through this experience on Christmas Eve, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder man.
In 1849 Dickens began public readings of the story, 128 times, up to his death in 1870. The readings were a hit with everyone, except for one notable critic, Mark Twain.
The narrative for the plot of A Christmas Carol was not original for Dickens. He had previously published the novel The Pipwick Papers in 1836, seven years before A Christmas Carol. The novel had a section called The Story of the Goblins Who Stole A Sexton. Considered a Christmas story, a reclusive sexton, Gabriel Grub underwent a Christmas conversion when being visited by goblins who show him the past, present and future.
There are some in the literary world who believe Scrooge might be modeled after Dickens father, whom he both loved and demonized. At the time Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, he was low on funds and his wife was pregnant so he needed to write something popular and quick.
Scrooge’s name probably came from the tombstone of a real person named Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, a corn merchant in Edinburgh Scotland. Additionally, when Dickens was young, they lived near a business by the name of Goodge & Marney, similar to Scrooge & Marley.
Tiny Tim was modeled after an actual person, Dickens nephew Henry, a 5 year old disabled boy. Sadly, Henry would only live to the age of 10.
A Christmas Carol was plagiarized by Parley’s Illuminate Library in 1844.. Dickens sued the company and won, causing Paley’s to go bankrupt and sticking Dickens with the 700 lbs. lawyers’ fees.
While the phrase Merry Christmas was first written in a letter in 1534, it was Dicken’s A Christmas Carol that popularized the term. Bah-Humbug! became more popular then as well, although it was only said twice in the story.
Like most things in life, A Christmas Carol was not without its critics. Said author William Dean Howells (who?), in 1891, “the pathos (suffering) appears false and strained; the humor largely horseplay; the characters, theatrical; the joviality pumped; the psychology commonplace, the sociology alone funny.”
Writer James Joyce stated the Dickens book had a childish approach with A Christmas Carol,” which in his opinion produced a gap between the naïve optimism of the story and realities of life at the time.” (huh?)
As a writer myself, it is my belief critics, scholars and their ilk read entirely too much into a story. Surely, A Christmas Carol was intended as a Christmas story and there is no reason to believe it to be anything more than not. Bah-humbug to them all.
Note – Most of my sources for this article came from Paulette Beete of the National Endowment of the Arts, John Broich of Time Magazine or Wikipedia.
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