A Christmas Karol, by Charles Dikkens the well-known Dutch author
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens :
”What’s today?” cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered to look about him.
“Eh?” returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.
“What’s today, my fine fellow?” said Scrooge.
“Today!” replied the boy. “Why, Christmas day!”
“It’s Christmas day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven’t missed it. The spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!”
“Hallo”, returned the boy.
“Do you know the poulterer’s in the next street but one at the corner?” Scrooge inquired.
“I should hope I did”, replied the lad.
“An intelligent boy!” said Scrooge. “A remarkable boy! Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize turkey that was hanging up there? Not the little prize turkey-the big one?”
“Wot, the one as big as me?” returned the boy.
“What a delightful boy” said Scrooge. “It is a pleasure to talk to him! Yes, my buck!”
“It’s hanging there now”, replied the boy.
“Is it?” said Scrooge. “Go and buy it!”
“Walk-ER!” exclaimed the boy.
“No, no” said Scrooge, “I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell them to bring it here, that I may give them the directions where to take it. Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half a crown!”
“’Alf a crown!” Though the street was thick with slush, the boy managed to raise a cloud of dust that did not settle for many minutes afterward.
When someone mentions A Christmas Carol, the above scene is the first thing that comes into my mind, and I’ve always associated the term “Scrooge” with the “after” Scrooge, the laughing, generous old fellow who becomes a role model in how to keep Christmas. This leads to moments of dissonance, since most other people, when they speak of someone as “a regular Scrooge”, tend to mean the “before” Scrooge, of “Bah Humbug” and “Are there no prisons” and all that.
It's hard to "review" it, since this is maybe the most famous and repeated story outside of some of what's in The Bible. I'm pretty sure you've all either read it or seen an adaptation. It's a masterpiece of magic and wonder appropriate to a particular period in English history, and to the most hyped holiday in modern times. Maybe one aspect of the story that doesn't come across in some of the adaptations is that Scrooge is a protagonist throughout; even at his worst, the tale evokes a sense of sympathy that his miserliness, his shunning of all friends and comfort by choosing to save his money above all other considerations, is killing him slowly, body and soul, and causing him to suffer more even than the poor and needy. Compare, for example, Scrooge's cold and comfortless rooms with the warm hearth of the Cratchett abode.
When I was a kid, I used to go to my grandmother’s every year for Christmas, and my uncle would always be standing at the door, and would greet me with the same mock-gruff “Well, hello and Bah Humbug, Miles!” And I would always respond with the same mock-horror “Christmas a humbug, uncle? Surely you don’t mean that!”
Do any of you have special Christmas traditions or memories associated with the tale of Scrooge and Marley? What’s your favorite moment from the book?
In addition to “A Christmas Carol”, The Christmas Books contains four other long tales, each containing characters as memorable as Scrooge, Marley and Wee Tim. If there’s a reason Christmas Carol is universally known and “The Cricket on the Hearth” is not, it’s not because of any difference in quality.
”What’s today?” cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered to look about him.
“Eh?” returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.
“What’s today, my fine fellow?” said Scrooge.
“Today!” replied the boy. “Why, Christmas day!”
“It’s Christmas day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven’t missed it. The spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!”
“Hallo”, returned the boy.
“Do you know the poulterer’s in the next street but one at the corner?” Scrooge inquired.
“I should hope I did”, replied the lad.
“An intelligent boy!” said Scrooge. “A remarkable boy! Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize turkey that was hanging up there? Not the little prize turkey-the big one?”
“Wot, the one as big as me?” returned the boy.
“What a delightful boy” said Scrooge. “It is a pleasure to talk to him! Yes, my buck!”
“It’s hanging there now”, replied the boy.
“Is it?” said Scrooge. “Go and buy it!”
“Walk-ER!” exclaimed the boy.
“No, no” said Scrooge, “I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell them to bring it here, that I may give them the directions where to take it. Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half a crown!”
“’Alf a crown!” Though the street was thick with slush, the boy managed to raise a cloud of dust that did not settle for many minutes afterward.
When someone mentions A Christmas Carol, the above scene is the first thing that comes into my mind, and I’ve always associated the term “Scrooge” with the “after” Scrooge, the laughing, generous old fellow who becomes a role model in how to keep Christmas. This leads to moments of dissonance, since most other people, when they speak of someone as “a regular Scrooge”, tend to mean the “before” Scrooge, of “Bah Humbug” and “Are there no prisons” and all that.
It's hard to "review" it, since this is maybe the most famous and repeated story outside of some of what's in The Bible. I'm pretty sure you've all either read it or seen an adaptation. It's a masterpiece of magic and wonder appropriate to a particular period in English history, and to the most hyped holiday in modern times. Maybe one aspect of the story that doesn't come across in some of the adaptations is that Scrooge is a protagonist throughout; even at his worst, the tale evokes a sense of sympathy that his miserliness, his shunning of all friends and comfort by choosing to save his money above all other considerations, is killing him slowly, body and soul, and causing him to suffer more even than the poor and needy. Compare, for example, Scrooge's cold and comfortless rooms with the warm hearth of the Cratchett abode.
When I was a kid, I used to go to my grandmother’s every year for Christmas, and my uncle would always be standing at the door, and would greet me with the same mock-gruff “Well, hello and Bah Humbug, Miles!” And I would always respond with the same mock-horror “Christmas a humbug, uncle? Surely you don’t mean that!”
Do any of you have special Christmas traditions or memories associated with the tale of Scrooge and Marley? What’s your favorite moment from the book?
In addition to “A Christmas Carol”, The Christmas Books contains four other long tales, each containing characters as memorable as Scrooge, Marley and Wee Tim. If there’s a reason Christmas Carol is universally known and “The Cricket on the Hearth” is not, it’s not because of any difference in quality.