Compare And Contrast A Christmas Carol And It's A Wonderful Life

A Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life are classic works of art that have aged well over time and are some of the most popular stories during Christmas. Both stories remain very popular to this day because of the themes being relatable to almost everyone making it relevant. Though, these stories, if taken into context, are quite serious compared to other less thought provoking tales. The main character of It’s A Wonderful Life is George Bailey a generous man that helps people with their problems and finances. The main character of A Christmas Carol is Ebenezer Scrooge a grouchy old man that is wealthy but doesn’t care about anyone but himself. George and Scrooge are two very different characters, but go through similar life processes that change them for better..

Both stories are very similar to one another, surprisingly, even though they already seem very different already.

A big similarity from both stories are that they are visited beings from the other side, an angel for George Bailey and three spirits for Scrooge. It is also at that point which they are visited they characters undergo a major change in there lives and experience sorrow. After this visit, both change their views on their lives before much worse could happen. Scrooge had a wife that he loved dearly, but she left Scrooge because of his lust for wealth and power. Similar to Scrooge, George has a wife that he loves dearly, but George is in a similar path like Scrooge because George’s job is causing issues with spending time with his family, hurting his relationship with his wife. At the end of the stories, George and Scrooge managed to see how they have changed peoples’ lives since they changed their views on life. Those were just three of the major similarities that make the characters very similar and relatable to each

other.

George and Scrooge can be very contrasting to each other as well. Scrooge is a wealthy individual from working hard for many years at his job as a moneylender and is very coldhearted to all his clients. George on the other hand is always running into money issues because he works hard to help people get out of slums and into a proper home. After George helps his clients he barely has enough money to scrape by to continue running his business. From the beginnings of each story Scrooge and George were already very different. Scrooge enjoyed being rich and making good profits but didn’t care about the welfare of his clients. George very different, didn’t care about his wealth and spent it helping his clients to have better lives. George was visited just by one angel that changed his life. Scrooge on the other hand had three spirits visit him, though seemingly insignificant, played a huge role to how Scrooge was transformed. With only one spirit, Scrooge may have changed his ways. The character are different from each other making them both seem like they are real in their own way.

Reflecting back on George and Scrooge they aren’t that much different from each other but at the same time they are different. George and Scrooge have different views on people. George believing helping one another is the right thing to do. Scrooge believing people are good for his own agenda. Both their lives are heavily changed by the beings that visit them. It also seems that if the angel hadn’t visited George than George could’ve well been on the same path Scrooge had taken. Though maybe through speculation Scrooge may have become George if he chose to love his wife more. Though, at the end of the day, Scrooge and George are different from each other, but at the same time are similar enough that they could’ve become one another or the same person.Works Cited