A Christmas Carol: Annotation-Friendly Edition

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Spectre," said Scrooge, "something informs me that our parting moment is at hand. I know it, but I know not how. Tell me what man that was, with the covered face, whom we saw lying dead?" Indeed, I think he loses a very good dinner," interrupted Scrooge's niece. Everybody else said the same, and they must be allowed to have been competent judges, because they had just had dinner; and, with the dessert upon the table, were clustered round the fire, by lamplight.

The Spirit dropped beneath it, so that the extinguisher covered its whole form; but though Scrooge pressed it down with all his force, he could not hide the light, which streamed from under it, in an unbroken flood upon the ground.

Reviews

About Ignorance and Want : “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy.” Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me before that happened. Why give it as a reason for not coming now?" Let the charwoman alone to be the first!" cried she who had entered first. "Let the laundress alone to be the second; and let the undertaker's man alone to be the third. Look here, old Joe, here's a chance! If we haven't all three met here without meaning it!" Though Scrooge is a bit hesitant of this deal, he is ultimately given little choice on the matter, and those three visits comprise the unforgettable spine of this book.

In addition to being hard of heart, Scrooge is a man with a deliberate philosophy of self-exoneration. It consists of two principles: 1) taxpayers fund the poor houses and prisons, thereby discharging in full their obligation to all of their fellow human beings, and 2) death by starvation, although it may seem regrettable, is actually a positive good as proven by science (because Malthus!), and relieves the rest of us of the burden of a surplus population. This philosophy is the shield that protects Scrooge from feeling the pains of sympathy and compassion.

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Spirit gazed upon him mildly. Its gentle touch, though it had been light and instantaneous, appeared still present to the old man’s sense of feeling. He was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys, and cares long, long, forgotten. A merry Christmas to everybody!" - Scrooge had earlier responded to his nephew's wishes for a 'merry Christmas' with his typical 'Bah!' and 'Humbug!' He is a changed man now and is happily shouting his own Christmas wishes to 'everybody'. After tea they had some music. For they were a musical family, and knew what they were about, when they sung a Glee or Catch, I can assure you, -- especially Topper, who could growl away in the bass like a good one, and never swell the large veins in his forehead, or get red in the face over it. It is not convenient, and it's not fair. If I was to stop half a crown for it, you'd think yourself mightily ill-used, I'll be bound?"

Spirit! I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way, now. Merciful Heaven, what is this!" Hallo!" growled Scrooge, in his accustomed voice, as near as he could feign it. "What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?"

Mercy! Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me? Why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?"

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. O, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"Without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first to-morrow night, when the bell tolls One. Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third, upon the next night, when the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!" The Christmas classic that everyone knows – even if they haven’t read it. It's quite short, and at some levels quite an easy read, but there is plenty of depth, so I think it's worth reading it in a thoughtful and slightly leisurely way. Maybe we won’t undergo a late-December miracle, but maybe we can all be a little bit better, at least until March. Scrooge to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: “I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way, now.”