"No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused." -Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Despite being familiar with Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol due to the movie versions made of the short book, this was my first time sitting down and reading the original story. I can't claim to be a huge fan of Dickens' writing style, which may be why there were (lengthy) paragraphs I had trouble getting through without skimming at times, but there is no denying Dickens' crafted an impactful societal message through the three ghosts and Scrooge's dramatic personality change, and any horror reader knows that the genre is big on using metaphors to send messages about society.
While I appreciated the first and second spirit, especially how the Ghost of Christmas Present turned Scrooge's own words against him a couple times, it was the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come that was my favorite. Dickens' pacing goes faster during the encounter with the third spirit, and there's more dialogue and action rather than long paragraphs of exposition that weren't directly related to Scrooge. During the third ghostly encounter we really see Scrooge's fear, not just toward the death-like phantom, but toward his future, and more importantly his fear toward the future of others such as Tiny Tim.
It took Scrooge fearing his own loveless death to motivate him into dramatic action to improve the lives he had been devastating, and as much as I want to be annoyed at Scrooge for having the events to have gone that far to motivate him, I really can't hate him for that. We are people stuck in our ways, which may be ways we aren't even fully aware of until someone else points them out to us, such as the spirits did for Scrooge from his past to future. Ultimately, Scrooge represents a very human character who is able to absorb the lessons he was taught and he uses it for improvement. I'm not sure if I can call this a horror story; it's more like a ghost story that could be rewritten to have worse things happen if Scrooge refused to change, but I think the conveyance of that message is there to show the audience the potential for horror and the potential to live a better life.
Either way, the Christmas ghosts are cool.
Happy Hauntings,
Sara
I agree, compared to the rest of the horror we've read this semester this one doesn't seem to fit; although, it is a ghost story. That doesn't mean I didn't love it though! And yes, by the third ghost I was up to my neck in story (a good thing) and the pages were flying by. Before that we had a lot of setup and London building... but it's Dickens so what would a story be without a hefty slice of London life? (about half as long ;-)
ReplyDeleteChristmas yet to be is the best ghost. He's kind of creepy and kind of shitty and I love it. The perfect ending ghost to the feel good fest that is Dickens.
ReplyDeleteI also hadn't read the book before. I don't know it my hatred for Dickens in general steered me clear of it or if I just never got around to it. However, I zoned out often during the reading and couldn't make myself concentrate without a lot of effort.