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Essay / Scrooge in A Christmas Carol - 1079
A Christmas Carol EssaySo often in life we don't realize the importance of something until it's gone and it's too late to get it back. However, in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, we are told the story of a man who, although he does not deserve it, is offered the opportunity to redeem himself, to have a second chance. This man, Ebenezer Scrooge, is forever changed by the valuable lessons taught by four spirits: those of his deceased partner Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come. Scrooge is first visited by the ghost of his deceased companion and only friend, Jacob Marley. Appearing on the knocker of his former chambers, Marley's horrifying face is the first sign of the remarkable and life-changing night to come. However, it was not until Ebenezer Scrooge actually saw “Marley, with his pigtail, his usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the pompoms of these bristling like her braid, and her coat-skirts, and the hair on her head” (p. 17) that the old man truly believes it was not just a daydream. The specter then warned Scrooge to change his callous and avaricious ways, or be like Marley after death: dwelling on regret and self-torment, weighed down by "the chain [he] forged in life” (p. 21). Knowing Ebenezer as a man of sensitive nature, the ghost offers further proof that there are eternal consequences, even after life. Shocked, Scrooge sees "the air full of ghosts, wandering hither and thither in ceaseless haste" (p. 25) and recognizes many of them as long-forgotten associates: as greedy and heartless as himself. Although Jacob Marley appeared for only a brief moment, he was the most important and influential spirit: for it was he who transmitted the moral that all faults in life are increased tenfold in life. died and who, more importantly, prepared the pragmatic discourse. man for the supernatural apparitions that would follow. The second to appear is the Spirit of Christmas Past, bringing with it a flood of poignant and haunting memories. Each evokes a new feeling, a repressed anguish or a forgotten happiness, felt by Scrooge during a Christmas long ago. The first was the reminiscence of “a lonely child, neglected by his friends” (p. 34). As pitiful as this scene seemed, the boy was in good spirits, carrying his loneliness into a story..