So,
Candice, why do you read "A Christmas Carol" every single December? I
mean, everyone knows the basic plot. It's been done to death in dozens of film
and stage adaptations. What's so special about reading it? And again, WHY oh
WHY would you want to read it year after year after year? Isn't once enough?
First of
all, have YOU ever read it? Have you ever experienced the masterful hand of Mr.
Charles Dickens? Have you met any of his unforgettable characters? Have you
personally experienced the way he weaves a masterpiece of a tapestry with his
words in every single story?
It is
almost impossible to describe the way that I feel when I read Dickens. It's as
though I've been transported back to a different place and time. A place where
even the most seemingly insignificant character at the beginning of the story
becomes a key figure in the fate of the protagonist, having affected their life
in any number of vital and irreversible ways.
Not only
is Dickens a great storyteller, he has a brilliant and subtle sense of humor.
The very first few lines of the story illustrate his humor perfectly:
"Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt
whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman,
the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And
Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to.
Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge,
what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined,
myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the
trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed
hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore
permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a
door-nail."
If you
didn't at least smile while reading that, you have no sense of humor
whatsoever. I'd be willing to bet that most of us have wondered the very same
thing: "What, exactly, is so dead about a door-nail?" Very
funny.
Oh and
please excuse me while I praise to the skies the way that Mr. Dickens works
with language. He doesn't just describe a person's appearance in detail. He
doesn't have to. Take our introduction to Ebeneezer Scrooge at the beginning of
"A Christmas Carol":
"Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone,
Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old
sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out
generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold
within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his
cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out
shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his
eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about
with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at
Christmas.
External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No
warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer
than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less
open to entreaty. Foul weather didn't know where to have him. The heaviest
rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in
only one respect. They often came down handsomely,
and Scrooge never did."
In these two paragraphs, Dickens gives us just enough
physical details about Scrooge's appearance to give the reader a good picture
of what he might look like. But look at how much he adds in this description
that goes well beyond physical appearance, yet brings so much more to our
mental picture of the character! Dickens not only tells us what Scrooge looks like, he tells us who Scrooge is. It's
brilliantly done, and it's just the way he wrote. He makes it look so
effortless, and yet I'm sure that it wasn't. No one has that kind of respect
for words anymore. Everything nowadays is all about efficiency. No one seems to
care about writing or speaking in a way that is pleasing to the mind. And I
won't lie, that makes me pretty sad.
Another thing that I love about "A Christmas
Carol" is probably the very reason that its story has endured for so long
and shows no signs of going anywhere anytime soon. It's all about second
chances. It's about taking a good, hard look at ourselves and the choices we've
made and having the courage to make a real change. Scrooge was well known by
the people in his life as a heartless old miser, someone that people avoided
entirely if they could possibly help it. And then, one Christmas morning,
Scrooge has become the most generous and kind-hearted man alive. How difficult
must it have been for that character to make such a complete, sudden
change--with no regard whatsoever for what other people might think about him.
Second chances. It's something that all of humanity has had to ask for from
someone at least once in their lives. And this is a story about the last man on
earth who might have been considered deserving of the second chance that he
gets, but he takes it and makes the very most of it. Isn't that a story we can
all relate to?
This story. This book. Every time I read it, I cannot
describe the joy that fills my heart until I almost feel as though I can't
handle it anymore. It is a story that speaks to my very soul, and it means a
lot to me personally. The characters, the words, the joyous and painful moments
that the reader experiences right along with Scrooge himself...it's almost as
though I am going through the transformation process right along with him. That
is why reading the story is such an important part of my year. It becomes a
personal journey for me.
It's my chance to be a little more introspective and decide to change the
things in my life that might be holding me back.
I hope that this little explanation has given you a good
picture of why I am so looking forward to being done with my finals this
semester. Not only because it means I can enjoy a few weeks off from classes
and enjoy the holidays, but because I get to pull this wonderful book off the
shelf and savor it for a few days. And once I read those last few lines of the
story--as I do every year--I will close the book and hug it to my chest,
heaving a deep, peaceful sigh and wiping the tears from my cheeks.
Thank
you, Mr. Dickens, for writing this story and sharing it with the world. Those
of us who allow it into our hearts will always be glad and grateful that you
did.
