A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

 

What can I say about a book that gets read a bajillionity times around this time of the year? Not much, but considering I have never (to my knowledge) read this classic I'm gonna do it anyways! So here we go!

So obviously from the beginning we know that Ebenezer Scrooge is kind of a grumpy, stingy, and moody douchebag. He's rich. He's miserable. He hates everyone. He's kind of a tyrant to his employee, Bob Cratchit, only reluctantly giving him a day off for Christmas. Bob should hate this dude, but he seems to just feel sorry for him. 

So the story starts with us finding out that Scrooge's former partner Marley has been dead for like 7 years. Leaving Scrooge to chill in Marley's house and take over the business completely. Ebenezer is rich AF, but doesn't spend his money on anything that he sees as frivolous. No excess food, no big warm fires in the middle of winter, and all that. 

So everyone has heard this story. He gets visited by three ghosts, learns his lesson and changes at the end. And that's what happens. He changes. 

He didn't start out as a douchebag. The first ghost that appears shows him his past. You see his sad and lonely childhood. Then you get to see him as a youth, finding himself in the world, finding a career and finding love. Though the love of career drives him to push the love of his life away. This is the birth of the Scrooge we all know and loathe. 

The second ghost allows him to see what is going on right that moment. The present. He sees the Cratchit family's meager Christmas celebrations. He gets to see that even when they don't have much they still find joy in life. We get to meet young Tiny Tim and see how loved he is, how ill he is, and how cherished he is. He also gets to hear what others really think of him. 

The last ghost that shows up gives him the biggest wake up of his life. He sees what's to come. He's dead and no one gives a crap. They actually somewhat celebrate that he's not so dearly departed. He sees the Cratchit's mourning the loss of Tiny Tim and all of this pulls at his heart strings. 

After all of this, Ebenezer wakes up a changed man. He appreciates life and the living, he's not so tight with his money and his affections. 

I kind of wished that every horrible person in the world was visited by three ghosts! 

On another note, I counted about eight "bah humbugs" while reading. I thought there would be so much more!