The story “A Christmas Carol”, is a novella, a fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel, written by Charles Dickens, talks about an elderly miser Ebenezer Scrooge who detests Christmas but later changes his thoughts about Christmans after being visited by three ghosts. He is a cold-hearted, greedy old man who only cares about money and business. He doesn’t like Christmas and doesn’t believe in celebrating holidays. He owns a counting house in London, and is visited by his old business partner Marley in spiritual form. He tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits of Christas, which are the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come. They tell Scrooge about the importance of Christmas. The first spirit shows him how he was a lovely boy when he was little, and the generosity and festivities of Christmas when he was still an apprentice. The second spirit is a giant clad whose life is only limited to Christmas time. He tells Scrooge about the ways people celebrate Christmas around the world in different environments. The third spirit tells him how people neglected his death and never paid their respects to him. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man and sends a large turkey to Bob Cratchit, his clerk.
Having money is essential for people to fulfill daily needs, However, people, especially the rich, cannot buy feelings and happiness through money. People always have the desire to make a great amount of money, thinking they would be happier than ever. Ironically, the more money people make, the less happiness they would have. The personality of the main character, Scrooge, is described as a money-obsessed old man. Even though Scrooge is rich with vast money, he is very selfish and would not share his money with others. Instead, Scrooge tries to be frugal enough so that he will keep his savings to a maximum. However, the more money he has, the less happy he is. People, the rich in particular, sometimes are unhappy with their money because they think the money they already have can never get enough. With that thought, they would try even harder to get more money. But when they have more money they become more unhappy. This is a dead loop. Just like the three wishes in the book of “ The Monkey's Paw”, 90 % of people would make the first wish of having a great deal of money. They thought the more money they have, the happier they would be because they can spend on something they have been dreaming of. But the truth is that after spending the money on themselves for their own desire, they become worried that money might be getting less and less. They are afraid someone might steal their money or make them waste their money. So they become cold and unkind toward others. Gradually, they become unhappy with the money they have. Deep down they feel empty inside their heart. This explains in reality that most of the rich people rarely get happy even though they have uncountless money. Money can help people satisfy their needs and promote the quality of material life. However, social satisfaction, such as love, health, and happiness cannot be bought with money
Redemption not only makes people realize that what they did previously was wrong but also invites people to correct their previous mistakes. With redemption, people win the forgiveness from others but also gain social satisfaction of happiness and love from them. After experiencing the three spirits, Scrooge redeemed himself and tried to be a kinder man via spending the money on people around him. He raises his clerk Bob’s salary to help his crippled son Tim and gives his family a large turkey. Previously, the more money Scrooge has, the less happiness he would get. The relationship between money and happiness is in the opposite way. But such a relationship could be changed depending on the condition about how people are going to use the money. Specifically, when Scrooge begins to spend money on his clerk Bob to help him and his family get what they need, Scrooge is happy because he brings happiness to people in the community. People then return Scrooge’s generosity with love, which he lacked before. Scrooge’s attitude toward people changes considerably from being cold-hearted to being kind. Scrooge is liked by his people and has their appreciation and love, making Scrooge even happier. Now, the more money Scrooge spends, the happier he is! The generosity of spending money on others who need help could bring people social satisfaction, such as love and care, making them happy.
The sharing and giving gifts during holidays, an extension of people’s generosity, is exactly the meaning of the Christmas Spirit. Christmans holiday not only brings happiness to people, especially the poor, but also it is time for family union. Previously Scrooge was not very into the holiday spirit, and never celebrated the holidays, especially Christmas. After Scrooge corrects his views about money, he buys Bob’s family a large turkey. Also, he joins his nephew Fred’s party and parties with them. Scrooge was wrong about the Christmas spirit before. His shallowness during the holiday makes him very despicable and boring. When people ask him to donate, he never does and just dismisses them because he thinks that it is not his business and he doesn’t want to give money. In Britain at that time, the Parliament passed the English Poor Law, which meant that the poor had to live in workhouses and work. This made life only harder for the poor people. Poor people deserve to be happy during the Christmas holiday after working hard, which is the purpose of Christmas. Unfortunately, there are a lot of poor people and they don’t have money to offer the gift. But we have to make them understand that Christmas is a holiday for everyone. That's why we prepare gifts for them so that they will at least have something, making them feel the happiness of the Christmas holiday and understand the meaning of the Christmas Spirit is to share and give love to people around you. After the generosity toward his worker Bob and his family, Scrooge starts to realize the meaning of holiday spirit and the importance of family reunion during holidays. Christmas was to make everyone happy and such holiday spirit should continue inside people’s minds and never fade out.
Reading the story “A Christmas Carol” makes me rethink the relationship between money and happiness. I thought if people have more money, people will be happier. But money and happiness are conflicting. Money is not always the most valuable thing in the world because money cannot purchase love, care, or happiness. When people have money, they will want more money. When they get more money, they become even unhappier. This results in a dead loop and repeatedly makes people listless and ignorant. But when people spend money on others who are in need of help, they become happier, which is kind of a redemption. Redemption helps people realize their previous mistakes and help them become better people. Through redemption, people show their generosity toward others and others show their appreciation toward the people with love and care, which fulfill the social satisfaction and make them happy. The generosity is exactly the Christmas spirit. The holiday spirit is also very important for people, the poor people in particular, because everyone deserves to be happy during Christmas. So, everyone prepares a Christmas gift for one another to let them feel happiness and love.
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