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Great Expectations. (Magill 291).

Great Expectations is the story of Pip’s life, and of his hopes and dreams–

some realized, some shattered. First published in hardcover in 1861, this novel of

the ancient struggle between good and evil is populated by a rich assortment of

eccentrics. Faithfully reprinted from the first London edition of the book, this volume

includes an analysis of Dickens’s original ending (Dickens 1).

A Christmas Carol is his most famous novel of all. It is also his most famous

Christmas book. It was published in 1843. It is about a man who learns the true

meaning of Christmas (Magill 290).

Ebanezer Scrooge is the main character of the novel. The novel is set near

the Christmas holidays. Scrooge is a man who does not believe in Christmas.

He is the owner of a business who would not let Hatchet, one of his employees,

off for Christmas. Scrooge treats Hatchet badly and pays him little for his hard

work. Scrooge is a cruel, greedy old man (Dickens 23).

On Christmas Eve night Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old

business partner, Marley. Marley told him that three ghost would visit him,

the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of

Christmas Future that night. He also warned him that if he did not change he

would die (Dickens 30).

After Scrooge falls asleep the Ghost of Christmas Past awakens him. The

Ghost takes him back through his past to show him all of the bad things that he had

done throughout his life. He also sees his old love and how he pushed her away,

time after time. After seeing this, Scrooge begins to feel guilty about his

behavior and wants to change (Dickens 44).

The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the hardships of his

employee, Bob Crachit. The Ghost carries him to Bob’s home where Scrooge

sees for the first time the destitute lifestyle of his clerk. Scrooge also sees Tiny Tim,

Crachit’s son who is sickly (Dickens 75 ).

The Ghost of Christmas Future takes Scrooge to a graveyard and he sees his

tombstone. He also sees how people made fun of the way he was buried, and the

way he lived. Next to his tombstone was the small headstone of Tiny Tim. Seeing

this made Scrooge want to be a better person (Dickens 113).

When Scrooge wakes up, he is a changed man. He is filled with the joy of

Christmas. As he walks through the streets, he begins buying and giving away

turkeys and throwing money to all of the poor people in town. All of the townspeople

are pleased with his great change and everyone begins to like him (Dickens 140).

To understand Dickens’ nature, it must be remembered that he was the

apotheosis of the English lower middle class. Because he was an authentic

genius, he possessed all its attributes, good and bad, to a superlative degree. He

was tender-hearted, courageous, generous, supremely industrious, social-minded, a

hater of injustice and a champion of the oppressed—and he was also arrogant,

obstinate, conceited, sentimental, and a bit of a bounder. His vulgar tastelessness in

dress, which could not hide the fine distinction of his features, was no mere accident.

He was entirely without self-criticism or self-discipline (Kunitz & Haycraft 182).

Dickens was undertaking more and more of the exhausting public readings,

with the long, uncomfortable train journeys which they involved, and pouring out

manuscript as curiously as ever. He was never slovenly in his writing, and put

immense energy into it. His health broke, and in 1865 he had a slight stroke of

paralysis which should have been a warning; he was lame thereafter. In 1867

and 1868 he went to America again. This time he and the country, matured by Civil

War, were both politer to each other. He came back after a triumph, with

$20,000 and permanently broken health.. he never became well. He engaged

himself for another long reading tour, which he was to his distress, forced to leave

uncompleted. He kept on writing, and was at work on The Mystery of Edwin Drood

the day before he died. He came into the house from his writing (in a garden house

called the “Chateau”), said a few incoherent words, and fell stricken with apoplexy.

He died twenty-four hours later. Though his wish for a quiet funeral was observed, it

was not in the country graveyard he had contemplated, but in Westminster Abbey

(Kunitz 184).

Charles Dickens was one of the greatest authors of all times. Dickens was a

well-known author. He had many great works.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Harcourt Brace & Company.

Italy: 1995. (1-80).

Crystal, David. Biographical Encyclopedia. Cambridge University

Press. New York: 1994. (277).

Kunitz and Haycraft. British Authors of the Nineteenth Century.

H.W. Wilson Company. New York: 1964. (182-184).

Magill, Frank N. Masterplots of World Authors. Dayton and

Kohler. New York: 1987. (290).

Webster, Merriam. Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam Webster

Incorporated. Springfield: 1995. (290).

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