Sunday, December 13, 2015

In A Christmas Carol, how well does Scrooge live up to his promises?

Scrooge, desperate not to have the future the Ghost of Christmas Future shows him, falls down on the ground before the ghost and begs that he have a chance to change his path. He promises he will keep up the Christmas spirit of charity, kindness, and generosity every day of the year. He says he has learned from all three Christmas Spirits, past, present, and future, and promises to honor their teachings. He promises he will become a changed man from that day on.
When he finds himself clutching his own bedpost, he immediately feels joy. He moves through his house with a renewed appreciation for every simple item he owns. He immediately finds a boy and sends him to buy the prize turkey, which he has sent, anonymously, to the Cratchits. Scrooge then mixes with the throngs on the street, wishing all the people a Merry Christmas. He gives a generous donation to charity and arrives at his nephew's house for the Christmas feast. The very next day he raises Bob Cratchit's salary and allows him enough coal to keep warm at his fire.
Lest we think this a momentary change that will soon pass, Dickens's narrator tells us at the end that Scrooge lived up to all his promises:

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.

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