Choices In Ebenezer Scrooge's A Christmas Carol

Choices. Decisions. You make them everyday. You might think some are trivial, but all of them are equally important. No matter how big, no matter how small, your choices are important and can impact your life….and in some cases, make you the best person you can be. In “A Christmas Carol” by O. Henry, Ebenezer Scrooge is a miser and hoards his money. He doesn’t like the holidays, and the spirit surrounding it. His friend Marley, long deceased, tells him he will be visited by 3 ghosts. The 3 ghosts show him his Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Seeing what happened, Scrooge’s opinion about the holidays changed for the better and he is now enthusiastic about the holidays. In “A Retrieved Reformation” by O. Henry, the main character Jimmy

Ebenezer Scrooge, in “A Christmas Carol”, is greedy and obsessed with money. He doesn’t treat people right and is oblivious to their feelings. He thinks his wealth is more valuable than his relations with people. But after the spirit's’ influence him by showing events in his life, he changes drastically. He realizes what he has been doing wrong and what he should have done. For example, when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge a vision of Bob Cratchit visiting Tiny Tim’s grave, Scrooge yells “He died! No, no!” (Dickens, 421) Scrooge becomes aware of how other people feel and realizes he should treat them differently. In this quote, he is shows regretting how much money he pays Bob Cratchit, whose son died because he could support his needs. Scrooge change from a greedy, oblivious being to a thoughtful and unselfish one. Jimmy Valentine, in “A Retrieved Reformation” was a criminal who cracked safes. But, on one instance when he was released from jail he met Annabel Adams and fell in love. He willingly gave up his life of crime for her sake. In the letter sent from Jimmy to his friend Billy, Jimmy expresses his reason for a changing his lifestyle by saying, “I tell you Billy, she’s an angel. She believes in me; and I wouldn’t do another crooked thing for the whole world.”(O.Henry, 241) This tells us Jimmy changed dramatically because of Annabel. He went from a no-good criminal to a loving, prosperous man. Both characters from “A Christmas Carol “ and “A Retrieved Reformation” changed dramatically from the beginning of the work to the end. The events in the stories brought out the good in both Ebenezer Scrooge and Jimmy Valentine; and that made a difference that would impact the rest of their