It’s almost Christmas time and that means another quote of the month that has very little to do with Christ’s birth. This month, we take a look at Charles Dickens who was an English writer and creator of some of the world’s most popular fictional characters. Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England and left school at an early age to work in a factory in order to help out his family. Dickens worked hard in order to succeed and was doing multiple gigs including writing novels, editing weekly newspapers, writing short stories and lecturing at various public speaking engagements. Dickens had a soft spot for the poor and wrote extensively about poverty in many of his novels. Dickens was known for his philanthropy and helped out save several hospitals from bankruptcy. In addition, he helped to set up a home for the redemption of fallen women from the working class. During his last few years, Dickens went on a hugely popular reading tour that lasted nearly a decade. While Dickens is best known for such novels as ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and ‘Great Expectations’; it’s his novel ‘A Christmas Carol’ which will be the focus for the quote for December. The story did much to promote a renewed enthusiasm for the joys of Christmas in Britain and America. Dickens catalyzed the emerging Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity in contrast to the dwindling community-based and church-centered observations that took place in Victorian England previously.
Some of the characters that he created such as Tiny Tim, Scrooge and the Christmas ghosts have become Western cultural symbols that have been re-enacted every year in various film, television and theater projects. In ‘A Christmas Carol’, Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly old man who believes that Christmas is just an excuse for people to miss work. He doesn’t believe in all of the good cheer and charity that the season promotes, and he makes sure everyone knows it. Three ghosts visit Scrooge successively: the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. They show Scrooge his error in valuing money over people. In the fifth and final stave, Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning with joy and love in his heart. Scrooge has become a different man overnight and now treats his fellow men with kindness, generosity and compassion, gaining a reputation as a man who embodies the spirit of Christmas. We finish off 2012 with a quote from Scrooge allowing us all to enjoy Christmas and to enjoy being together this holiday season.
| “A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!” – Charles Dickens |
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