A Moral Lesson in A Christmas Carole by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol Essay

In the novel, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, the author tells a story about an irritable man named Ebenezer Scrooge who dislikes Christmas. Not only was this novelette written to amuse and teach a moral lesson, but Charles Dickens also used his ability to express his outlook on the social and economic struggles during his time period which was the Victorian Era. In the novel, he shows the effects of gluttony, fortune, and the ignorance to the welfare of others. This story reveals the economic and social conflicts between the rich and the poor, and resembles how moral corruption and self-indulgence are the results of wealth and power.

Charles Dickens novel, “A Christmas Carol”, contains multiple examples of the conflicts between social classes. In Stave One, Scrooge is approached by a young man who looked homeless. The man asked if he could donate to help the poor. Scrooge replies with, “'I wish to be left alone,' said Scrooge, 'Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned (prisons and workhouses)—they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.'” Scrooge resembles the greedy population that has no concern to others around them, or as they would believe, below them. I don’t think it’s mostly wealth that categorizes someone into a social class, but just status and reputation. Some people, like Scrooge, aren’t even extremely wealthy, yet still put down and criticize the unfortunate because they are too ashamed to admit that they are no different to themselves. Scrooge is so absorbed into constantly receiving more cash and treasu...

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...tion, that supports this belief. Scrooge wasn’t greedy because he was wealthy, he wasn’t rich at all, he was just so fixated on making more money that before he knew it, he was materialistic, which in the long run was the reason why he was so unhappy.

Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” to tell a warming tale about Christmas and entertain but also to prove that money CAN buy you happiness, as long as you use it in benevolence. He shows what happens when money is used in the wrong way and expands on the tenseness between the rich and the poor. The novel also speaks on the stronger sense of how money isn’t entirely responsible for avarice. In the long run, it is up to you to resist the little voice in your head that screams “Money gets you to success!” because, it is the struggle and generosity that leads to happiness, which then opens the doors to success.