a paid day of leave for Cratchit and a noticeable decline in productivity.

As A Christmas Carol develops through a series of chapters, or “staves,” as Dickens labeled them, Scrooge is exposed to the complexities of his own past while also being shown the effects of his demeanor and attitudes on those to whom he is, or should be, closest. He is visited during the night by a series of ghosts, the first of which is that of his late partner Jacob Marley. Marley and Scrooge had been like-minded businessmen, but the former’s death provides an opportunity for Scrooge to be shown the deleterious ramifications of his way of life on not just those around him, but on himself as well. It is the ghost of Marley who initiates Scrooge’s descent into a form of hell and who precipitates the latter’s eventual transformation into the kindly, generous figure who awakens the next morning. But first, the warning. Observing the chains the ghost of his former partner drags around, Scrooge inquires about this strange feature, prompting Marley’s ghost's reply:

“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?”

Marley is there to warn Scrooge of the fate that will assuredly befall the miserly old man unless he awakens to the pernicious, destructive effects on himself that can be expected from a continued lifetime of cruelty and isolation. In the following three staves, Scrooge is visited by a series of ghosts representing the past, present, and future, the last of which enlightens Scrooge as to the loneliness that awaits him as he rots away in a solitary grave.

The main theme of A Christmas Carol, then, can be said to be redemption. As Scrooge is systematically exposed to the realities he left behind and the bleakness that awaits him even after death, he awakens to the joys that can be his for the taking if only he opens his heart to those around him, especially his nephew and his loyal assistant, Cratchit, whose physically disabled, sickly son Tim provides the story’s greatest hope for redemption. That Scrooge awakens a new person, shorn of the bitterness and anger that defined him and gleefully seeking ways to make amends with those he has harmed, he does indeed find a measure of personal redemption. He will no longer be alone. He will embrace the family that has sought nothing more than his affection, and he will expand his notion of family to now include the Cratchits, going so far as to see to Tim’s medical needs.

The theme of isolation has been suggested, and it warrants consideration. Scrooge has lived, as noted, a very isolated existence, returning each evening to his home and enjoying none of the camaraderie he observes among the rest of the town’s people. His disdain for the holiday season is a manifestation of his self-imposed exile; he wants nothing of the joyfulness that defines Christmas. As he observes his nephew and the Cratchits while in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Present, however, and having viewed his own experiences through the intervention of the Ghost of Christmas Past, he begins to see for the first time the depth of his own despair and sudden need to be among those to whom he should be closest. The commitment to isolation gives way to the need to be a gregarious member of a community, even if his newfound demeanor results in slightly insulting observations from some of his neighbors.

For this educator, the most compelling theme of Dickens’s story remains that of redemption. A long life that began with promise but that swayed into obsession with business, the nature of which was occasionally vindictive, and the vision of an afterlife haunted by heavy chains representing the flaws in that life compel a transformation in the character of Scrooge that ends in a redemptive state.

There are many themes in A Christmas Carol. One of these is the disparity between the rich and the poor. We see this clearly in the first stave when Scrooge refuses to donate any money to the poor. Further evidence of this inequality is provided through the setting of Joe's shop, the place where Scrooge's stolen goods are taken to be sold. Through this theme, Dickens emphasizes the need for charity and unity in a world which is strongly divided on the grounds of wealth and which, tragically, leads many to a life of criminality.

Consider, also, the theme of regret, which is present in the second stave when Scrooge revisits his past. Scrooge's sense of regret is most evident when he sees Belle, his former fiancée, and his reaction suggests the pain of losing her is almost unbearable:

"No more!'' cried Scrooge. "No more. I don't wish to see it. Show me no more!''

In presenting this theme, then, Dickens urges his readers to make the most of every opportunity so that regret may never haunt them.

For more themes, please see the reference link provided.

Change is an extremely huge theme in A Christmas Carol, as it was during the Victorian era. So much was changing during this time, as we see with regards to the Carol.

First, the change in Scrooge is quite apparent, as we see from his past, from his present, and from his future. It was Scrooge's past that influenced his being so miserly and mean. If you recall, he was a neglected child during one of the most beautiful family times in the year, Christmas, which explains why he considers Christmas as a "humbug." This neglect changed Scrooge. But we do see a change occurring in Scrooge when he sheds a tear upon seeing himself as a very small boy at a boarding school all alone during Christmas.

In his past, we also see how Scrooge changed from valuing people, like his sister, Fan, and his fiance, to placing his love, if you will, in money, and this change results in Scrooge losing his fiance and living a very lonely life.

And that change is very apparent in Scrooge's present, for he does not celebrate Christmas, nor does he value his nephew, Fred, very much.We also see a change in Scrooge in the present when he inquires about Tiny Tim's fate.

Finally, we see an enormous change in Scrooge when he is given a look at his future, and realizes that Tiny Tim dies, and that no one cares about his death. And change Scrooge does, for he promises to celebrate Christmas in the past, the present, and in the future; he values family again for visits Fred, and he vows to help Tiny Tim by giving Bob Cratchit a raise, but first, Scrooge instructs Cratchit to buy more coal to fuel the fire in the fireplace of his office in order for everyone who comes in to feel the warmth of human compassion and generosity once again in Scrooge.

There will be many different opinions, when it comes to this question. In light of this, I will give you my opinion.

I believe that the best theme for the novel is the importance of generosity. More particularly, it is the idea that joy and happiness is a byproduct of being charitable and good. I think this idea of shown in several ways.

First, Scrooge is a nasty old man that is wealthy and very miserly. He thinks that money and wealth would make him happy, but in the end it is killing him. He has little joy and very little meaning in life. Marley, his dead partner, is the embodiment of misery.

Second, there are many poor folks, like Bob Cratchit, who are just the polar opposite of Scrooge. In the case of Bob, he is mild mannered poor and yet happy. He is also the father of the sickly Tiny Tim. Bob and his family has something that Scrooge does not have, thankfulness and joy, even though they possess so much less.

The moral of A Christmas Carol has everything to do with the transformation of the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge.  He begins the story as a miserly, closed-hearted man.  Through the events of the novel, he is transformed into a man whose heart is open to the pain and struggle (and love) of others, a man who has become someone who will participate in the world around him, rather than withdraw from it.

Dickens wrote his novels during a time when the society around him was changing rapidly.  The working world, especially the world of a city like London, was becoming more mechanized, more factory-based, and it seemed to Dickens that the needs and good of the common man were slipping through the cracks.  In all of his works, he appealed to his readers to empathize with those who are without -- the poor, the destitute and the orphaned.

The moral can be found in Scrooge's transformation at the end of Chapter Four.  Scrooge says:

'Good Spirit,' he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: 'Your nature intercedes for me and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life!'

'I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.'

His appeal shows the moral, which is that it is never too late to begin to act in a loving and caring way towards one's fellow man in, as Dickens saw it, the necessary Christian spirit of love, forgiveness and generosity.

The main message of A Christmas Carol is the importance of love, kindness, and generosity.

At the beginning of the story, Ebenezer Scrooge has become a bitter old shell of a man with no compassion or kindness in his heart. Through visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come, Scrooge is forced to take a long, hard look at his life. Throughout his journey with the ghosts, Scrooge is reminded of the people he once loved, and his heart is softened by glimpses of the suffering he has caused by his hard-nosed approach to life and business.

Between his encounters with the ghosts and the glimpse he is given into the life of his employee Bob Cratchit and his family (especially the frail Tiny Tim), Scrooge is a changed man. In the true spirit of Christmas, he has a huge turkey delivered to the Cratchit family and resolves to visit his nephew later in the day.

It is therefore evident that the message of this Dickens classic is the importance of the character traits that Scrooge gains along his journey: kindness, compassion, and generosity. With his transformation, Scrooge finds true joy, and Dickens describes Scrooge's future as a happy one.

In addition to the other Educators' responses, I would add that Dickens stresses the importance of maintaining authentic human relationships in order to best appreciate and enjoy life.

When Scrooge revisits his past, he is reminded of the close relationship he shared with his sister when they were young children. Fan came to visit him one Christmas while Scrooge was alone at school:

A little girl, much younger than the boy, came darting in, and putting her arms about his neck, and often kissing him, addressed him as her “Dear, dear brother.” (stave 2)

Although she is dead in Scrooge's present, her son lives. Scrooge has all but alienated his nephew from his life, yet Fred still invites his uncle to share Christmas with him.

Scrooge also recalls with fondness the merry atmosphere which Fezziwig created when he was a young man. With just a bit of money, the entire workplace was transformed into a festive environment of dancing and laughter:

There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer. (stave 2)

Through this memory, Scrooge is reminded of Fezziwig's ability to make work "light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toil," which stands in sharp contrast to the work environment he creates for Bob Cratchit.

Scrooge also had a chance to be a husband and father, yet he let Belle slip through his greedy fingers, too busy for acquiring wealth to be troubled by the affections of a woman who had no monetary gain to contribute to the union. He is shown an image of Belle in her current life; she is a happy wife, with children who adore their father. In contrast, Scrooge is alone.

Scrooge has made intentional choices to alienate himself over and over from those who care about him, and this has greatly impacted the quality of his life. He merely exists from one day to the next, with no one in his life to share either joy or pain with. He is shown through various characters, particularly the Cratchit family, that life is more worthwhile when shared with others in daily acts of love.

The book’s main moral or theme has to do with the importance of helping others when one is able to do so.  Ever since he was a young man, Scrooge has placed more importance on acquiring riches than friends or loved ones.  In fact, his love of money chased away the one love of his life.  Perhaps Scrooge, having been abandoned at school as a young boy by an apparently unkind father, simply wanted to hold onto something that he knew would never abandon him, and so he develops an attachment to gold.  In any case, instead of using his vast fortune to help others, or even enjoying it himself, he simply hoards it away for the sake of having it.  

When he is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, his former business associate, Jacob tries to impress upon Scrooge how important it is to help others while he still can, that helping others is the only way to decrease the length and weight of the chain he has forged for all these years.  When Jacob's ghost flies out the window, Scrooge cannot help but watch, and he sees a terrible sight:  

The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; [...] none were free [...].  He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a doorstep. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.

I have placed the last sentence of this quotation in bold because it is the most strongly linked to your question.  These spirits, now dead, exist in a type of hell that is made unbearable by their inability to help a struggling human being.  They want, desperately, to help the poor mother, but they cannot, and it makes them miserable.  Thus, we begin to see that one of the text's main messages is to help us to learn the importance, above all else, of helping our fellows whenever we can.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, is a morality tale like so many of the author's works. Not only is this a story about the old miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, but it is also about society and the responsibility society has to take care of its poor. Dickens was considered a socialist by many due to his work in which he championed the poor through his charities and through his efforts to get the government of England to do more for them. His books, including A Christmas Carol, take this one step further. He shows that men of means like Scrooge have a moral obligation to those less fortunate. And he goes further still by pointing out to Scrooge what he has already lost due to his miserliness and what he will lose in the future should he continue on his greedy path.

Kindness and generosity are major moral values in this book.  Scrooge's lesson is about caring for the people around him.  Marley tells Scrooge that people should be his business, and that caring for his fellow man should be more important to him than making money.

From the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge learns that he used to be happy when he had more positive relationships with other people (like his sister and Fezziwig).  He remembers that he used to care about people more than money, but all that changed when he began to work on his own.

From the Ghost of Christmas Present he learns that he is surrounded by people who love one another despite being poor, and that he could have real relationships again if he reached out to those people (his nephew's family and the Cratchits).

From the Ghost of Christmas Future he learns that if he doesn't change his ways, he will die alone and miserable.

Scrooge's reformation at the end comes in the form of newfound kindness and generosity.  He learns to give his resources to others, and in return he gets to build relationships with people and feel better about himself.  He becomes the most generous man who ever lived.

In A Christmas Carol, Dickens explores the morality of the love of money over the love of family and people. Scrooge sees the way his life has slipped into a basically unhappy and lonely old age where he has lost the possibility of love and friendship. He is pulled into the family of Tiny Tim whose father he employs and is made aware that in helping others his own life will improve.

Authors generally convey a message through their characters, and Dickens was no different. We are supposed to learn a lesson from Scrooge, just as Marley tries to teach Scrooge to learn a lesson from his own fate.

Scrooge is a snobby, stingy, selfish jerk, to be plain. Throughout the novel, he is confronted with his own shortcomings; as he examines them, so does the reader. We are to learn from Scrooge's life just as he learns from it. Here are some examples from his visits:

Marley - tells Scrooge that people should have been his business in life, and that he has forged the painful chain he wears in death by his callousness. He warns Scrooge not to repeat the same mistakes he made in life.

Ghost of Christmas Past - reminds Scrooge that he wasn't always miserable and alone; he was once hopeful, and he had friends. During childhood, his father sent him away, but he had a sister who loved him. During his youth, he had his generous employer Fezziwig and other work friends.

Ghost of Christmas Present - reminds Scrooge to live in the here and now. Shows him that his life is good compared to others around him, and yet they're happy and he's miserable. Shows him what it means to be grateful for what you have.

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - shows Scrooge that he is doomed to die alone if he doesn't change his ways and reach out to his fellow man.

As Scrooge learns these lessons, so can we.

The notion of a morality play as one in which specific virtues and praised and exact vices are criticized can be evident in Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  One of the vices that is specifically repudiated is greed.  When Thomas Aquinas writes that "Greed is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things," it is a perfect description of Scrooge before the ghosts' visit.  

Scrooge is one who embraces the "temporal things" such as money more than the transcendent notion of the good.  For Scrooge, this vice is punished when Scrooge sees the results of his actions through the visions that the ghosts offer.  In Scrooge's transformation, he rejects the "sake of temporal things" and embraces "things eternal."  When Scrooge embraces "darkness," it is as much physical as it is emotional and moral.  Through his transformation, Scrooge embraces the transcendent and "eternal" light in which individuals see past the contingent and recognize their own belonging to something larger.  This is the morality play that is demonstrated throughout A Christmas Carol, one that affirms the transcendent "eternal" and negates the "temporal."

 London at the time of the publication of "A Christmas Carol" in 1843 was one of the most populous and filthy cities in Europe, experiencing unprecedented growth as the Industrial Revolution in England shifted into high gear. City life for the poor was grim; high mortality rates (especially amongst children) limited opportunities for advancement or education, cramped and unsanitary housing existed in proportions that were inconceivable a dozen years earlier. London simply wasn't ready for the influx of people that flocked to the city in search of factory jobs that paid better than farming. 

A generation earlier, such jobs didn't exist; in fact, the people didn't exist either.  Industrialization had raised the standard of living in England so that the population exploded; many more people could survive, but just barely; certainly they would have little chance to thrive. Dickens was describing the social impact during that difficult cultural transition in England from an agrarian to an industrial economy. For a few during this time, vast fortunes in industry were made.  "A Christmas Carol" is therefore Dickens's plea for the city's wealthy, who would have been the ones reading his story when it was first published, to act in their own best interest by aiding the destitute of early Victorian London.

A generation later, such aid established schools, sanitation, housing, and other infrastructure, and the lives and prospects of the "working class" rose.

"The Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is a story of redemption.  It is a story about a man who receives a second chance to do good for the people around him.  Ebenezer Scrooge was a business man in London. He was stingy and mean.  Scrooge would not give to charities, let Bob Cratchit have time off, or be kind to anyone in any way.

On Christmas Eve Scrooge goes to his dark, cold, empty home and complains about Christmas to everyone he meets.  After arriving home he gets into his bed clothes.  He is first visited by the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley who is in chains and he tells Scrooge he must change his ways.  After that Scrooge is visited by 3 more ghosts.  The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  By the end of the Spirits visits Scrooge is a change man.  He doesn't want to end up like his Jacob Marley.  He goes to visit the Cratchits and brings them food and gifts.  He even promises to make sure that Tiny Tim, Cratchit's youngest child, who is crippled, the finest doctors to help cure him. He give money to charity, and eventually comes to the decision that he is very lucky to have been offered a second chance in life.

Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol” teaches a number of life lessons or morals. In reality, Scrooge is a lucky man because he receives a second chance at life. Dickens uses a series of encounters with spirits from Scrooge’s past, present, and future that allow him to examine missteps he made along the way, and to see the consequences of his actions before all is lost. The spirits show him how his love of money turned him into a sad, lonely old man. They also, show him the value of human relationships by showing him how Belle moved onto a loving relationship, how Bob Cratchit’s family enjoys their Christmas celebration in spite of their meager surroundings, and how he has the opportunity to change the life of Tiny Tim. He sees that Tiny Tim will not live unless he receives proper medical care, which the family cannot afford on the salary Scrooge pays. In essence, Scrooge realizes his ability to use his wealth for altruistic purposes, and that meaningful human relationships are more important than being a miserable, lonely miser.