A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Title- A Christmas Carol
Author- Charles Dickens
Stand Alone
Format- Paperback
Publisher- HarperFestival (Division of HarperCollinsPublishers)
Published- 2002 (Original: 1843)
Pages- 149
Source- Own

Overview:
Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold creature who only cares about himself and his money. Uncaring to the poor, his employee, and even his family a ghost of his former business partner and friend appears to him chained and shackled telling him how he needs to change his ways. Not only that but three ghosts will come to show him how wrong his ways are. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come are those ghosts. In this classic tale Scrooge transforms his character and shows us the true meaning of Christmas.

Review:
We all know the tale of Scrooge and his cold heart. How with the help of ghosts he sees what he is missing out from the world and how he needs to be a better person. This tale has more than 900 editions according to Goodreads and has many movies devoted to it. I have watched a couple of them and recently as well. If you haven't read this story or seen the movie then you might not want to read this review. I feel like most people have so I'm going to write freely about the story and its characters.

I've never noticed but apparently Scrooge starts seeing how wrong he is right away. His friend terrifies him in the beginning and I think that portion of the story was done well because he was genuinely scared for his life but he denied what he was seeing. He basically was acting more of his known character than in the rest of the story. With the Ghost of Christmas Past he actually cries which was threw me off. I know his life probably wasn't the greatest because of the choices he made but I would think he would be colder about the fact that the love of his life left him. He is seeing it at that moment so I can see where he regretted it but it wasn't realistic for him to completely change his character right away. This ghost by the way was this creepy misshapen child. I saw the Muppets version and I couldn't believe they would have a scary or at least spooky character into a movie where primarily children would watch but I'm probably being too critical.

With the Ghost of Christmas Present Scrooge wanted the ghost to teach him all he can and I really couldn't believe it. Where is the grumpy old man that I expected to be stubborn all the way through but sees the light at the end? I didn't like that at all. I'm guessing the symbolism of the second ghost being all cheery is because of that saying where you should live in the present. All the ghosts are described in a particular way that means something to the time they are in. The first one I could see because of regret or something because it has the spooky feel but what if your past is filled with happiness and it's only your present that has sorrow in it? What apparition would appear then? There was one last thing that happened with this ghost that I've never seen before in the movies. Two children appeared. The boy was Ignorance and the girl was Want. What was up with that? They were all demonic looking... Why were they kid's? It was a weird moment that made no sense. The ghost said to watch out more for Ignorance but it wasn't mentioned again which I thought was a mistake because it's an important concept to address. Well actually... the ghost did say on the boy's forehead was Doom which is something but a little more later would have been nice too.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is Death. I was thinking how yes, we all die in the future but why does it have to be that future? Why can't it be a future where Scrooge has no one who wants to be near him or that he is just starting to die or maybe that happens and then he witnesses his death? Isn't that more tragic and dramatic? Seeing you waste away with no one there. That would make me want to change more than being already dead and people not caring. I can see it working wither way though. But you being in a grave... that future isn't going to change. You can live longer though. The Ghost just points everywhere. I'm seeing that as meaning that there is nothing left to say since he's dead and all. Is having a silent Grim Reaper worse than having a taunting one?

"I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!" That quote made me think. I think I've heard it before but I don't remember why that person said it. My interpretation to why someone would want to live in the past is because those memories which you didn't particularly like have whether you've realized it or not shaped you. I also think it's good to remember the mistakes you have made and how to better your character. The other too are fairly obvious. I just had to think about that one for a little while because I didn't really understand right away why someone would want to live in the past. So this review is mostly questions. I know most people know the story so I thought you wouldn't mind. The book itself has a great moral story but honestly, it might be because I've only seen the movies until now, but I rather watch the story rather than read it. It just didn't do anything for me. Unless you like reading classics I'd just stick to the movie.