Charles Dickens: The Man Who Invented Christmas
In October and November 1843, Charles Dickens spent six weeks writing the novella "A Christmas Carol" and subtitled it "A Ghost Story for Christmas." On December 19, the first edition was published by Chapman and Hall, just in time for Christmas.
This is a heartwarming and healing Christmas ghost story that tells of repentance and love: the cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge encounters the ghost of his deceased partner Jacob Marley, as well as the spirits of the past, present, and future on Christmas Eve. They show Scrooge the profound pain his past actions caused others. From the visit of the final spirit, Scrooge sees his own grave and suddenly realizes the emptiness of a life devoted to money.
"A Christmas Carol" turned the term "Scrooge" into a synonym for "miser," and Scrooge's catchphrase "Bah, humbug!" became a common expression of anger and dissatisfaction in England. This Christmas ghost story became Dickens's most famous short story—since its publication in 1843, it has been adapted into plays, radio dramas, movies, and TV series every year. It holds the record for the most film adaptations, with 27 versions to date. The version starring Jim Carrey is a beloved and must-watch adaptation every Christmas!
In fact, "A Christmas Carol" was not Dickens's first Christmas story, nor was it his first Christmas ghost story. Before this, he wrote "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton." The protagonist is the miser Gabriel Grub, who had previously appeared in Dickens's first novel, "The Pickwick Papers," in a subplot. From 1843 to 1848, Dickens published a Christmas-related short story almost every Christmas.
Single-handedly, Dickens established the tradition of ghost stories on Christmas Eve and created the enduring concept of Christmas: a day for family reunions, warmth, kindness, and tolerance. This day should include kissing boughs and holly; people should go to church, practice charity, and enjoy Christmas foods like turkey, plum pudding, and mince pies. The popular greeting "Merry Christmas" also originates from Dickens. He is considered the "man who invented Christmas."
However, many elements now considered traditional Christmas fare were not part of the holiday back then: Dickens did not mention Santa Claus and gifts, Christmas carols, greeting cards, stockings or crackers, and there was no Christmas tree (the Christmas tree became popular after the 1848 report in the "Illustrated London News" featuring Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's Christmas tree).
When the Spirit of Critique Meets Romanticism
Fundamentally, Dickens had no fixed position; whoever the weaker party, whoever was oppressed, he would extend sympathy and support—In "A Tale of Two Cities," when the peasants were oppressed, he stood with the peasants; and when the nobility was suppressed by the peasants, he then sympathized with the aristocrats... The reason he was widely appreciated in his time and continues to be in our time is mainly that he could, in a humorous, straightforward, and memorable way, express the innate decency and courteous conduct of ordinary people. Importantly, from this perspective, various and diverse characters could be portrayed as 'ordinary people.'" —George Orwell
Throughout his life, Dickens created 928 fictional characters, carrying a "sympathetic heart" that wished to stand with all the humble, weak, and oppressed people. He used his pen to vividly depict the pains inflicted on individual lives by the changes in that era and social upheavals, as if delving into every crease of life.
He was not only a master storyteller but also one of the first writers in the 19th century to expose social injustice to middle-class readers with a touch of humanity. Through distinctive characters and engaging plots, Dickens crafted thought-provoking character images for the lower classes of the Victorian era, injecting hope into poverty and extracting humor from despair.
I know enough of the world now to have almost lost the capacity of being much surprised by anything.”—Charles Dickens
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