A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens is a fiction story about Scrooge and his adventure on Christmas Eve. Scrooge and Marley own a business. However, Marley died, making Scrooge the sole owner of the business. Scrooge makes a lot of money, however he is heartless, cold, and doesn't know happiness. He only cares about money and doesn’t care what others think of him and he has no feelings towards others. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is even heartless and doesn’t believe in celebrating the holidays. As he is preparing for bed, the ghost of Marley suddenly visits him. Later on in the night, Scrooge proceeds to get visits from three ghosts; the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future who all teach him important lessons. A Christmas Carol lets us into the life of a man named Scrooge and his past, present, and future.
No matter how much money one has, one can’t buy happiness with it. Money can get us items in life but it can’t buy feelings. To understand the meaning of life includes excluding money and seeing what really matters. Scrooge is blinded by money. He doesn’t care what happens to others and himself as long as he can make money. Deep down, he is empty and has no feelings. This is further proven when Scrooge doesn’t change the name on the sign of the shop even after Marley dies. To change the name he would need paint and you need to spend money to buy paint. Scrooge thinks that buying paint and repainting it wastes money and is useless. In Scrooge’s eyes, only money matters. The richest man in the world may never be happy. The richest man on earth will also die one day. There are things in life money can’t get. Happiness, health, and love are one of the few things money can’t buy.
One’s personality is often viewed upon and to use to judge someone. One’s personality is how they usually act and what makes them who they are. Scrooge has a frugal personality and is typically cold and mean to others. He not only has no feelings for himself, he also has no sympathy towards others. When Bob Cratchit asks for a holiday leave, Scrooge strongly forbids him as he doesn’t believe in the holiday and makes his co-workers work that day. When two men come asking him for money for the homeless he nastily tells them to mind their own business and that the homeless should go to prison. Scrooge also doesn’t seem so pleasant at first glance. “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.” This shows how throughout the years, Scrooge seemed to have started looking like his personality. Let the kindness in our hearts be brought out and the coldness to be hidden away.
One can change throughout the course of time and the events that take place. People can change in a good way or a bad way. Many people evolve throughout time and sometimes this change can be in a short period of time and quite surprising. Scrooge changed his behavior and attitude overnight. Scrooge received a visit from 3 ghosts throughout the night that changed who he is. From the Ghost of the past, Scrooge sees and observes his unfortunate childhood and how others thought of him. From the Ghost of the Present, he learns about Bob Cratchit’s son who is dying. There he learns to appreciate his life and what he has in life. From the Ghost of the Future, he sees what is going to become of him and by dawn, he is in a full holiday swing. Throughout this short time, Scrooge is able to change and become a better person. It is not who one is now but who one is in the future.
A Christmas Carol is a novel that teaches us many things, especially through one person --- Scrooge. We can learn the many parts of life throughout Scrooge’s past, present, and future. From being a cold, hard man, Scrooge becomes much more jollier and open by the end of the novel. With Marley’s advice in the head of becoming a better person, Scrooge finally sees how cruel and cold he has been to others and vows to do better. From Scrooge, we also learn that money can’t buy happiness. Throughout the story of A Christmas Carol, many lessons in life are learnt just through a course of time.
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