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A review by adelphiereads
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
dark
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Everybody knows the story of A Christmas Carol due to the fact that it has been interpreted in so many ways through different forms of media. Like a lot of people, I only know the story of it through its several popular interpretation or representation and it is my first time to actually sit down and read the original text. And I loved it. A Christmas Carol is truly a classic story to get into during Christmas season. As we all get older, we slowly tend to disassociate ourselves from the joy and hope brought by Christmas. Like Scrooge, we tend to be too engrossed with the pragmatic banalities of our lives. But this story will definitely bring back our Christmas spirits. Like Scrooge, we would be taken on a journey of self-reflection and we would come out of it with more kindness and warmth in our hearts for those around us.
So, I recommend this to those who have lost their Christmas spirits, to those who are slowly losing it and the hope of redemption it brings to us. This story will remind you why it is important to be kind to those around you, not just on Christmas. No. Christmas season is a time for redemption. A time wherein you can come to the realization that the most important thing in life is not money, power, nor any materialistic belongings but the kindness, the warmth, and the love you give to others. Why? Well...you just have to read the book the find out.
Here's a few lines that I loved in the book:
1. "Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow?" This is a dialogue of the Ghost of the Christmas Past. What I loved about this is how it reminds the reader that we intentionally put a "cap" on our past memories by burying it deep and forgetting about it when it sheds a light on how we should live our lives in the present and the future. The light, the wisdom our past gives is essential and yet we bury them down, we put a cap on it.
2. "There are some upon this earth of yours who claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are strange to us, and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived." This is a statement said by the Ghost of the Christmas Present. It's a hit on the priests and preachers who use the name and word of God to justify their selfish needs and malicious deeds. Considering that Dickens lived in a religious society, I admire him for being able to write that statement down. And I am not surprised that a good number of people started doubting the clergymen after reading this story.
3. "Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if he persevered in, they must lead, but if the courses be departed from, the ends will change." This is a dialogue of Scrooge towards the Ghost of the Christmas of Yet To Come. I think this Dickens' way of talking to the readers through Scrooge. To give the message that their future can still change if they decide to change their present self, their present actions and philosophy in life.
So, I recommend this to those who have lost their Christmas spirits, to those who are slowly losing it and the hope of redemption it brings to us. This story will remind you why it is important to be kind to those around you, not just on Christmas. No. Christmas season is a time for redemption. A time wherein you can come to the realization that the most important thing in life is not money, power, nor any materialistic belongings but the kindness, the warmth, and the love you give to others. Why? Well...you just have to read the book the find out.
Here's a few lines that I loved in the book:
1. "Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow?" This is a dialogue of the Ghost of the Christmas Past. What I loved about this is how it reminds the reader that we intentionally put a "cap" on our past memories by burying it deep and forgetting about it when it sheds a light on how we should live our lives in the present and the future. The light, the wisdom our past gives is essential and yet we bury them down, we put a cap on it.
2. "There are some upon this earth of yours who claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are strange to us, and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived." This is a statement said by the Ghost of the Christmas Present. It's a hit on the priests and preachers who use the name and word of God to justify their selfish needs and malicious deeds. Considering that Dickens lived in a religious society, I admire him for being able to write that statement down. And I am not surprised that a good number of people started doubting the clergymen after reading this story.
3. "Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if he persevered in, they must lead, but if the courses be departed from, the ends will change." This is a dialogue of Scrooge towards the Ghost of the Christmas of Yet To Come. I think this Dickens' way of talking to the readers through Scrooge. To give the message that their future can still change if they decide to change their present self, their present actions and philosophy in life.