Theater: A Christmas Carol

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Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" is the version which the New Yorkers and tourists alike gasp in excitement every year. Based on the story by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge was a penny-pinching miser in the first degree. He didn't care for people who survived around him. His behavior focused on the fact that mankind existed only for money that could be earned through exploitation and intimidation. He specially detested Christmas which he interpreted as 'a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer'. Just the day before the Christmas holiday, he refused contribution to the Charity Relief Committee. He even rudely rejects his nephew when he visits him in his office.

Scrooge is suddenly visited by the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley on Christmas Eve. He died seven Christmas Eves ago. Marley was also a miser from the same mold as Scrooge. He was therefore suffering the consequences in the afterlife. He therefore makes Scrooge analyze that he too would be haunted by three spirits which were, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. These three spirits proved successful in showing Scrooge the error of his ways. His transformation gradually takes place. On the Christmas morning Scrooge sends a Christmas turkey to his long-suffering clerk, Bob Cratchit. He is seen spending the Christmas day in the company of his nephew, Fred, whom he earlier spurns. Scrooge's new-found benevolence consistently grows as he decides to raise Cratchit's salary. He even vows to assist his family along with Bob's crippled son, Tiny Tim. Dickens concludes Scrooge as having become ' as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew'.

Scrooge is suddenly visited by the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley on Christmas Eve. He died seven Christmas Eves ago. Marley was also a miser from the same mold as Scrooge. He was therefore suffering the consequences in the afterlife. He therefore makes Scrooge analyze that he too would be haunted by three spirits which were, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. These three spirits proved successful in showing Scrooge the error of his ways. His transformation gradually takes place. On the Christmas morning Scrooge sends a Christmas turkey to his long-suffering clerk, Bob Cratchit. He is seen spending the Christmas day in the company of his nephew, Fred, whom he earlier spurns. Scrooge's new-found benevolence consistently grows as he decides to raise Cratchit's salary. He even vows to assist his family along with Bob's crippled son, Tiny Tim. Dickens concludes Scrooge as having become ' as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew'.

Despite the avail of such schools it was far beyond the reach of many children. Many poor children had to remain uneducated. It was because of the growing demand for child labor and also the apathy of parents who themselves were wretchedly poor and uneducated. Dickens therefore initiates to introduce these children in A Christmas Carol which he does through the two twins Ignorance and Want. The Ghost of Christmas Present makes them show a wretched and almost animal in appearance, to Scrooge with the warning: "This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."