A Christmas Carol Essay, Research Paper
Charles Dickens and
A Christmas Carol
Born in 1812 Charles Dickens grew up in a small town in London. Dickens grew up in a poor family. His family, sent to debtors jail before he became old enough to fend for himself, convinced him to find work and stay out of the jail. Dickens worked anywhere, from law offices to newspapers as a young child. ( New Standard Encyclopedia D-155) A Christmas Carol, written by Dickens, has changed many things in the world today, especially Christmas traditions and religion.
Dickens worked in many places as a young child and when his family wasn t in jail, if the family could afford it Dickens went to school. Dickens parents being thrown in jail left him to fend for himself, he found work in first a law office where he filed and did other simple jobs around the office. Working in law offices and other offices like newspaper editing room, Dickens taught himself to read and write with a little help from the adults in the office. When Dickens worked at the newspaper he would occasionally write a column or a cartoon for the newspaper and soon became a very well known newspaper reporter. From about the time that Dickens was eleven or twelve years old to the time that he was seventeen or eighteen he went from a poor uneducated young boy to a well educated well known reporter. ( Dickens life and the carol )
Dickens as a well-known newspaper reporter wrote his first books which were mostly a work of sketches or short stories. When Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol he did it mostly because of the decline of traditions and religion around the holidays, not only in London but also around the world. In London, Christmas and the holiday season was dull and not a greatly celebrated time of year. When Charles Dickens released the book the change was so dramatic that the public wrote letters with great praise; Such kissing out of old years and kissing in of new one never took place in these parts before ( Dickens Christmas Page ). With Christmas season dramatically changing there was a subtle but very large change in religion. When Dickens released a Christmas novel and did not mention Jesus, he broke new barriers that had not been broken before. This crossing started an uproar from the churches, sense they were trying to get people to come back to church, which slowly started happening but until it did priests and other members of the churches were in a frenzy getting their friends and family to come to church. Change occurring with traditions and religions from the impact of the book, Dickens had in a way proven a point, that the public does listen and read what people have to say. ( Dickens Christmas Page )
A Christmas Carol, was the first novel that he wrote non-stop until its completion and it was not the only Christmas novel Dickens wrote but soon became one of his most relevant books written for the growth of generosity and kindness. ( Dickens life and the carol ) Dickens grew older and wiser, he wrote many more books attacking greed and prejudice against poor and disabled people. ( New Standard Encyclopedia ) Since Dickens sometimes added things into his novels that where from his life experiences, historians where able to establish that in the time period, A Christmas Carol, was written doctors might have been able to treat many kidney diseases. The historians came to the conclusion, the symptoms described in the book, Tiny Tim had been diagnosed with a type of kidney disease. When Dickens, died in 1870 many people mourned his death but with his dying he became more famous than he could have ever been alive. Mr. Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too? Was asked by a young girl when she learned that Charles Dickens had died. In Charles Dickens Fifty-eight years of life he touched many lives and even today his writings are still touching lives with his extraordinary view of life.
During Dickens lifetime he wrote many novels that are still in use today at colleges, high schools, junior highs, and many other schools around the world, not to mention in the populous to promote Christmas, religion, and generosity in all worlds. The writing of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, could be one of the most influential writings of all times, because of its effect on Christmas and the holiday season. So I leave you with this, Where would we be on Christmas if Charles Dickens had not been born or had just chosen not to write the novel?