Christmas Joy

2 Responses to “How is the holiday of Christmas portrayed in A Christmas Carol?”

1. Bilbo
   November 1st, 2008 at 9:30 am

   

   It’s a toughie – you should draw on the scenes which the spirits conduct Scrooge during the visitations – Fezziwig for instance, compare with the Cratchitts being differing social groups: religion, strangley doesn’t get too much exposure as I recall.

   Aesthetics depends on how (I would say all) the senses are appealed to in the descriptions of the various scenes. Ethics is rather more tricky – I think I would try to define the term so that you know what you are looking for – its probably more like social obligation – the duty owed between the better off and the poor (Bah, Humbug, indeed).

   The context of course is Victorian England with no welfare state, little education and no healthcare fro treating peolpe like Tiny Tim. It was the age of the workhouse for the impoverished, with heavy reliance on charity. It is this fear of poverty which drives Scrooge, who doesn’t enjoy his wealth particularly and (at the beginning at least) he despises the poor who remind him of this possibility – even though he depends on them for his wealth and cannot afford to be sentimental with them.

   You don’t need to keep re-reading it – scan through and isolate the scenes which provide you with the evidence you are looking at, then analyse what is happening in each instance. You are looking for the details Dickens provides to portray the holiday and (by extension) how it is celebrated by the various key characters and in the various scenes. You will need to furnish your answer with this evidence but don’t copy great chunks of the text out for the sake of it.

   Hope this is all making sense. God bless us, every one.

2. j
   November 1st, 2008 at 4:11 pm

   

   the holiday of christmas is portrayed in a christmas carol in different ways. In the social aspect it is portrayed by the christmas carolers that line the street as well the holiday parties that people hold in their homes. In the aesthetic aspect the holiday is portrayed by the characters tiny tim and scrooge, for example even though scrooge is a grumpy selfish man by the end of the story he finds his heart and helps tiny tim become well enough to walk again. Christmas is portrayed in the ethical aspect by people in the streets trying to make money to be able to feed and provide goods for their family for this joyus holiday season, and also when Bob Crachet has to go into work on Christmas eve even when his family does not want him to go he knows its the right thing to do. Christmas is portrayed in the religous manner when the family all sits down for dinner and prays for acceptance of their meal, they even remember to bless Mr. Scrooge on the holiday even though he hasn’t been that nice to the family in the past.