Of A Christmas Carol.

Essay by Kaientai9High School, 11th gradeA+, April 2003

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Pulitano 1

Drew Pulitano

Mrs. Novellino

English 3

19 December 2002

A Christmas Carol is a classic story about a man, Ebenezer Scrooge, who embarks on a journey exploring all facets of his past, present, and future life. Scrooge goes through a tremendous transformation that ends up saving his life. Scrooge begins the story as a person who does not believe in the Christmas spirit and ends up having as much or more than everyone else.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserable old man who believes that Christmas is just an excuse for people to miss work and for idle people to expect handouts. He doesn't believe in all of the good spirit and charity that the season promotes, and he isn't afraid to let everyone know. Scrooge was so cruel at times; he even made Bob Cratchit, an employee of Scrooge's, almost beg to have Christmas day off to spend with his family.

In the beginning of the story, Scrooge enters into a discussion with two upper-class men who are raising money for less fortunate people during the Christmas season. When they ask Scrooge if he was willing to donate money, he declines and says that they should go to either prison or union workhouses and fend for themselves. The two men stress that certain people would rather die than go to those places, and Scrooge smugly comments, "They had better do it and decrease the surplus population." (Dickens 10). At this point, Scrooge seems to be the epitome of antipathy and selfishness.

After Scrooge is visited by the four spirits (Jacob Marley, Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come), he realizes his fate if he doesn't change. Jacob Marley, Scrooge's dead old partner, comes to warn Scrooge to change his life to get off the track he...