Aasof on ‘A Christmas Carol’
Posted by on Dec 28, 2019
A Christmas Carol (complete versions) are available from Project Gutenberg but how did a ‘A Christmas Carol’ come to be written. The best explanation that I found was that the real-life inspiration for Tiny Tim had a much sadder fate than Tiny Tim in ‘A Christmas Carol’. Dickens’s frustration about poverty in Great Britain led to Lucinda Hawksley writing about the classic. ‘A Christmas Carol’ remains a popular story at Christmastime and the BBC constantly adapted it, most of their adaptations can be found in a RadioTimes article.
For my part, I was also curios as to why Dickens’ used the musical term ‘Stave‘ to head his chapters, in which the Use of structure in A Christmas Carol provided an answer. The expression “Bah Humbug” may be more familiar than Walker used by the boy to a reformed Ebenezer Scrooge in STAVE FIVE, and the pre-decimal terms of a shilling and half-a-crown referred to in Scrooge’s reply are no longer used.
“It’s Christmas Day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!”
“Hallo!” returned the boy.
“Do you know the Poulterer’s, in the next street but one, at the corner?” Scrooge inquired.
“I should hope I did,” replied the lad.
“An intelligent boy!” said Scrooge. “A remarkable boy! Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there?—Not the little prize Turkey: the big one?”
“What, the one as big as me?” returned the boy.
“What a delightful boy!” said Scrooge. “It’s a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck!”
“It’s hanging there now,” replied the boy.
“Is it?” said Scrooge. “Go and buy it.”
“Walk-er!” exclaimed the boy.
“No, no,” said Scrooge, “I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell ’em to bring it here, that I may give them the direction where to take it. Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half-a-crown!”
The boy was off like a shot. He must have had a steady hand at a trigger who could have got a shot off half so fast.
However, Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ is perhaps more famous for introducing the term a ‘scrooge‘ into the english language and maybe I should end the theme on ‘A Christmas Carol‘ with the Muppets take on Ebenezer Scrooge.
