A Christmas Carol Hero's Journey Essay

519 Words2 Pages

All haikus must follow through a certain criteria. This procedure of writing is what makes haikus distinguishable from other types of poetry. Poems must attain a 5,7,5 syllable scheme in order to be recognized as a haiku. Similar to haikus, books must also undertake a list of steps to be considered as a hero’s journey. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, does not see this through.
The beginning of the novel gives off the impression that it could potentially be a hero’s journey, however, it becomes unclear if it sustains this writing structure throughout the story.
Towards the crisis of the novel, it becomes apparent that A Christmas Carol does not resemble the conventional stories that associate with the hero’s journey. Most books carry out the crisis with action. For example, Percy, from The Lightning Thief, resolves the crisis through combat against the antagonist, Luke. Whereas in A Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s approach to resolve the conflict does not link any action. The main obstacle in A Christmas Carol is that Scrooge wants to evade the tragic predicament of his afterlife. Consequently, Scrooge has to ultimately become a better person. This highlights that the execution of the crisis is more …show more content…

Based on the hero’s journey, the protagonist should only retreat to the ordinary world after the crisis, in contrast to A Christmas Carol; Scrooge returns to the ordinary world after each trial. “Awaking in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that the bell was again, upon the stroke of one.” This sentence, pulled from the novel, describes Scrooge’s anticipation for his next return to the special world and emphasizes the frequency of Scrooge’s returns. The way the novel distorts the order of the hero’s journey makes this substantial evidence in determining whether or not it is a hero’s

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