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Monday, December 23, 2024

A Christmas Carol and Christmas!

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Pukar Dhital

For long, to the writer of this article, Christmas had been an alien festival—a festival of the westerners, a festival of the Christians! Many a time, I would question its influence on Nepali society and culture. Little was I aware that my perception had risen only to shred to pieces. With a little experience of life that I have had so far, I can tell one thing with certainty: when you are open-minded and a good observer, you realize that every miniscule thing happening around is teaching us something of great value. Alas! The problem is little do we observe and seldom do we learn from it. You might be wondering what miracle had I experienced that changed my perception about Christmas? Well, in a way miracle was it—but miracle of words, and of sentence after sentence and much important miracle of an idea; a miracle from Charles Dickens! And all I did was one day; I read one of his famous novels, A Christmas Carol.

Religion! It should have been something exquisite but I have come to a point in life where I believe this very term has been the source of partition, disbelief, animosity, holocaust across centuries and a sole cause of innumerable wars among humanity! Religion is the greatest tragedy and the most successful psychological menticide for the whole of humanity. But my intention here is not to write about religion and neither shed some light on it. Instead, I am here to share in what magical way Dickens through his novel, A Christmas Carol has given a phenomenal message to the readers of his books, though he never perhaps thought people would be reading and interpreting the work in 21st  century) warning them to do good—for the sake of the humankind! The best thing about the book is, it eludes from religion though one of its themes is Christmas and it conveys message of compassion, love, merriment, art of giving, redemption, forgiveness and generosity. Is it not obvious that these positive traits are not bound to any specific religion?

Dickens wrote the novel in response to British social attitudes towards poverty and he artistically used this novel to rekindle the spirit of love and compassion among Britons or let us say among his readers. Considering the mid-19thcentury English society, Dickens craftily chose the characters such as Ebenezer Scrooge and the three spirits! Perhaps it had been his intention that through Scrooge, he wanted to make people aware about their misdeeds and with all the three spirits; the supernatural entities, he allured the reader to think of the hereafter that everyone,one day is bound to face and in such respect forces everyone to think of their own judgement day. He wanted his Victorian audience to look inside themselves and be their own judge. To me, the wonderful thing about the novel isthough it mentions Christian ideals it is yet untouched by religion.Though there have been critics of both thoughts who regarded this phenomenal novel as secular and Christian teachings, the former seems to be more promising. Typical of this school of thought was the late Edgar Johnson, author of the 1953 book “Charles Dickens: His Triumph and Tragedy” where he stated, “It should not be imagined that Christmas has for Dickens more than the very smallest connection with Christian dogma or theology.” 

The novel is secular, in the sense that it teaches to be a good human being rather than being a good Christian. This is more clear when Fred, Scrooge’s nephew give him a reason why he venerates Christmas! “… The only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” This grave statement brings allhumanity under one union, free of religion as brothers and sisters sharing their good thoughts with one another. The three spirits who later come in the novel symbolically stand for the thoughts that actually reside in all of us and of which we are oblivious, as we do not dwell in the inner corner of our heart. It is through the teachings of these spirits that an ungrateful and mean character like Scrooge realizes the pity life he had been living and he changes for good; being full of compassion, charitable and generous. 

The three spirits in the novel have a significant message to give. Without these spirits, the novel is non-existent. The first of the three spirits, ‘The ghost of Christmas Past’ symbolically stands as the deeds of our past, which cannot be undone. This becomes clear when the ghost of Christmas Past replies Scrooge after taking him to his early days, “These are but shadows of the things that have been, they have no consciousness of us.” This means that our past is irrefutable and hence we should be careful in our present to make sure that our past is always a delightful one so that while recalling our past we would be proud of our bygone days. When we reflect within ourselves earnestly, we see our past as it is—unchanged and it is then we can be our own judge on how good a life we had lived as a person. Through this reflection, Scrooge realizes his horrendous past; his aloofness, his partition with the love of his life, his mean nature and his futile race for more wealth. 

The second spirit, ‘The ghost of Christmas Present’, serves as the central symbol of the Christmas ideal–generosity, goodwill, and celebration. The spirit gives a powerful message that if our present is full of charity, forgiveness, love and compassion then joy follows us like a shadow following the body. Appearing on a throne made of food, the spirit evokes thoughts of prosperity and merriment. The two wild and ragged children who tumble out from the giant spirit’s robes also give an eminent message. The boy, Ignorance and the girl, Want. These represent the evils of our society.  The boy, Ignorance, could be interpretedas humanity’s fate when it is devoid of education and the character like Scrooge in the society who has ways to excuse himself from helping the less fortunate. Likewise, the girl, Want represents greed of people like Scrooge, and the insatiable hunger of humanity. These two are the greatest vice, which must be avoided at all costs if humanity seeks to prosper. When the spirit remarks, ‘Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased” especially the last clause gives us a hope that by correcting the deeds of present, the future can be altered and made more prosperous. With its life span of just one day, the spirit conveys a message to not worry about death and to accept the death as it is. It depicts that before one faces death one must live life joyfully helping others in need and spreading peace and love. When that happens, one can face death happily just like the spirit faced it—in full joy!

The third spirit, ‘The ghost of Christmas yet to come’ symbolizes the future and it represents the fear of death. As the third spirit is covered in black robe and without any distinct body of its own, it symbolizes that the future is uncertain and unpredictable. The novel quotes, “The Spirit neither spoke nor moved,” and Scrooge was most scared of this black indistinct figure, which again is a prominent symbolism of what humans fear the most and are unsecured about i.e. death and the future itself! There is a substantial positive message depicted by this spirit that the future, with our conscious action in the present can be altered for good. Scrooge upon seeing his own tomb realizes how vainly and in profanity, he had wasted his life. He confesses, ‘I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been!’ The third spirit teaches that our present action determines the inevitable future. If our present is gratifying then our future is bound to be a joyous one. In the novel, Scrooge is able to change his future which the ghost of Christmas yet to come had shown because later he corrected his path in the present after all the three spirits had visited him. The impact on Scrooge after all the spirits visited him is humongous. It changes his perception and his view towards life. It makes him more reflective and conscious about his action as he says, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”

Overall, all the three spirits symbolize our state of mind. If we contemplate, we realize all the spirits reside within us. Like the ghost of Christmas Past, our mind can take us back to our earliest memories and it can show us our deeds noble and evil, secrets; good and bed. But the spirits teach us to look at these as it is and to earnestly reflect in those actions. The notion is to internalize and learn from the past mistakes.When concentrated, our mind shows us the events as it had happened in the past just like what the spirit describes, ‘These are but shadows of the things that have been!’ Likewise, the ghost of Christmas present represents our present state of mind. If we think over it, we can train our mind to be in the present moment and to make best out of it. We can train our mind to be thoughtful in our action and feel our heart with love and compassion. Finally, the ghost of Christmas yet to come portrays the fear of death and the fear of future insecurities. The book then gives a strong message that by correcting our present and making our presentprolific; full of love, merriment and compassion our future is certain to be better and more exuberant. Hence, all the spirits convey a strong message to the readers that by being aware ofone’sthought, intention and action and by showing compassion towards others; one can live a peaceful and prosperous life. 

Engraved with these remarkable positive messages that can help everyone to embark a noble life, this novel has been enlightening its readers reviving in them the innate feelings of compassion, love, charity, forgiveness, redemption and brotherhood which could be in a dormant state needing a bit of awakening. To adhere to these values in life, and to share ones merit to other, one does not necessarily need to attach oneself to any organized religion and neither bring God in between to bring monopoly in the act of giving and bestow kindness. Hence, Charles Dickens successfully conveys his message of love, giving and goodwill to humankind through, A Christmas Carol and he could not help himself endthe novel with Little Tim’s words as a thoughtful wish to the whole of humanity irrespective of religion, race and geography, “God bless us, every one!” 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[A teacher of English literature for the past eight years, Pukar Dhital is a student of philosophy, literature and international affairs. An avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, he writes in various genres as a freelancer and profoundly adheres to the principal of independent self and lifelong learning.]

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