Analysis of Themes and Symbols in A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

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The story of A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, is one that mostly everyone is familiar with. It airs during the holidays in an enormous amount of variations. The basis of each variation is the same. Ebenezer Scrooge, our main character, is a cold hearted man. It is Christmas Eve, and as Scrooge is closing his office his nephew comes in to wish him a Merry Christmas. Scrooge, being as “cold” as he is, just thinks that Christmas is a time where people spend money. Scrooge lives alone. His business partner, Jacob Marley has been dead for seven years. Scrooge prepares for bed and all of the unused bells in his house start to ring. The ghost of his deceased coworker, dressed in chains, cash boxes, keys, etc., shows up in Scrooge’s room. He sits down and tells Scrooge how during his lifetime he never did anything good for anyone else. So now in his death, he has to constantly travel with no sleep and no relief from the horror of the guilt that he is feeling. Marley says that Scrooge has a chance to turn his life around and that he will be visited by three spirits who will show him how to do so. They will all appear within a stroke of each other, and Marley is gone. Each ghost represents a different point in Scrooge’s life; the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. After the events that have occurred that night, Scrooge comes to the realization that he can change. Ebenezer Scrooge has a change of heart for the holiday, Christmas, and he never goes back to his old ways. (Goldstein 1).

In the story of A Christmas Carol, there are different themes and symbols that are shown throughout. There are moral lessons involved, some being the true me...

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...ick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.

Goldstein, Marc. "A Christmas Carol." Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 13. Literary Reference Center. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.

Holderness, Graham. "Imagination in A Christmas Carol." Études Anglaises: Grande- Bretagne, Éts-Unis 32.1 (Jan.-Mar. 1979): 28-45. Rpt. inNineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Kathy D. Darrow. Vol. 211. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.

"Realism." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 63. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.

Saltmarsh, Sue. "Spirits, miracles and clauses: economy, patriarchy and childhood in popular Christmas texts." Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature 17.1 (2007): 5+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.

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