Reading Pointers For Sharper Insights

1. A Christmas Carol is arguably Charles Dickens' best-known and best-loved book for many reasons. To fully appreciate the book and understand its broad appeal, consider the following:

   • Notice the narrative tone of the book, the mildly sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek voice, andthe frequent direct address to the reader.

   • Find the many puns and other wordplay Dickens uses to make the story fun to read.

   • Look for the fairly obvious symbolism, especially in the three spirits' physical appearance:

     • The Ghost of Christmas Past, glimmering and shining (the past always seems brighter than the present), yet indistinct with parts fading in and out of view (memory is always incomplete).

     • The Ghost of Christmas Present is the cultural marriage of Father Christmas on the one hand and the pagan vegetation god on the other. Note his empty scabbard and his torch shaped like a Horn of Plenty.

     • The two children cowering beneath the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present represent the two social problems Dickens believes are the result of humanity's greed, which if unchecked, threaten humanity's future.

     • The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, silent, robed, and hooded like the figure of Death, the Grim Reaper.

   • Look for Dickens' use of stereotype and stock characters:

     • Scrooge as the typical greedy, oppressive capitalist;

     • Cratchit as the longsuffering, but faithful and good servant;

     • The Cratchit Family as the “noble and deserving poor;”

     • Tiny Tim as the good, spiritually precocious Prophet-child;

     • Fred as the perennial optimist.

   • Notice how Dickens manages to develop Scrooge considerably beyond the stereotype, offering plausible reasons for his adult cold-heartedness and greed.

2. Pay close attention to Marley's prediction of when the three spirits will each visit Scrooge.

3. Notice how Dickens blends the secular, festival celebration of Christmas (traditional in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but outlawed by the Puritans in the seventeenth century) with a more religious observation, thus essentially inventing the “modern Christmas.”

4. Don't miss the richness of Dickens' sensory imagery, especially descriptions of food.

5. Consider Dickens' use of light and dark as images and possibly as symbols in the book.

6. Compare the original story with any of the numerous book, film, theatrical, and television versions and adaptations, and consider what each of them has in common, thus explaining the story's mass appeal.

7. Note the elements in the story that actually border on propaganda.