A paper that concerns the lessons that Scrooge learns from the 3 spirits

Essay by Anonymous UserHigh School, 10th grade February 1997

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A Christmas Carol, although occurring at a different time period than today, still holds values and lessons that are important in society today. The main character, Ebeneezer Scrooge, starts off having no feelings for others or any Christmas spirit, but changes from his gloomy, dark appearance to a carefree, child-like persona at the end. Dickens shows in A Christmas Carol that personal greed will lead to peril, while kindness and generosity lead to personal happiness.

One of Dickens social concerns was the lack of sympathy or feelings that people have toward other people. In the story, Scrooge had no feelings toward his family or friends and held a strictly professional relationship with them, creating a hostile bond between them. For example, Bob Cratchit's wife does not like the idea have toasting to Scrooge because of the way he treats his long time employee.

Also, Scrooge is looked down upon by the charity collectors because he simply states that they should die to accommodate the others who need it. Secondly, society has a negative view on Scrooge because of his attitudes and shows no feelings or compassion for Scrooge in the future. For example, the thieves are able to steal Scrooge's possessions because no body cares about Scrooge or his things. Also, the businessmen that Scrooge does business with regularly show no feelings about his death and go to his funeral simply for food. Dicken's shows a way to resolve the problem by simply treating others how you want them to treat you. At the end Scrooge's attitude changes and changes in how society will treat him are shown to be inevitable.

Another social concern is the priority of family over money and personal...