Lessons from A Christmas Carol Essay Sample

Imagine a man so despicable and terrible who’s rude and unkind to anyone and everyone he meets, he’s also rich and cares nothing about the poor and lives a sad and reclusive life. That man you just imagined is Ebenezer Scrooge, the main protagonist of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Scrooge one day comes home and then sees the ghost of his deceased friend. He warns Scrooge that if he doesn’t change his ways he will be punished, and he will be visited by three ghosts to influence him and guide him through the past, present, and future. During the entirety of the book, Charles Dickens wants us to know about the business of being a human and the many lessons that you can learn throughout a lifetime and he uses Scrooge to show us throughout the story whether it is a good or bad example.

First, one of the many lessons shown is that your words and actions greatly impact those around us. For example, early in the story, Scrooge was visited by a caroler at his house. And if you didn’t know, Scrooge absolutely resents Christmas so he scares the caroler away by throwing something at the door. The story states,” Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost” (Dickens 9). This proves that Scrooge’s action of unkindness to the caroler could really affect him, the caroler’s self-esteem can be affected by that, and that was such a horribly rude thing to do that the caroler could feel awful about himself. And even though Scrooge didn’t say anything, he scared the daylight out of the caroler and the caroler was probably frightened for his life. Another example of Scrooge learning this lesson is when in Stave 2, he sees his old partner Belle having a new life and family without him. He realizes that his actions of neglect to Belle and obsessing over his own money caused him to separate from Belle who he loved a lot. He regrets leaving her for his own money and he regrets not marrying her and having a great family with her. He realized that when he said these things to Belle and left her, both of them were impacted, Belle moved on without Scrooge, and Scrooge regrets all his decisions but it’s too late to fix it.

Next, throughout the course of Stave 3 Scrooge learns that no matter who you are and where you come from, you can always be grateful for what you’ve got. This is demonstrated in the text when Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present go to the Cratchit residence and see them celebrating Christmas. The Cratchits are destitute and they have a decently large family to provide for, but they’re still joyous and are grateful for what they have. The text states,” They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty; and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of the pawnbroker’s. But they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another and contented with the time” (Dickens 52). This is showing that even though the Cratchits were poor and that they weren’t the fanciest and richest people, they still were grateful to be together and to have a nice Christmas. The Cratchits didn’t care that they were poor, they only cared about them being together and being a nice and happy family. Scrooge learned that he should be even more grateful than the Cratchits since he has enough money to provide for himself and that he should be grateful for what he would have if he wasn’t rich.

Finally, during Stave’s 4 and 5 Scrooge learns that the way you treat people is the way they remember you. One example of Scrooge learning this lesson is during Stave 4 when the ghost of Christmas future takes Scrooge to see these businessmen talking about his death in the future. The businessmen seem to be relieved that Scrooge is dead and that Scrooge was so horrible that nobody would even care to host a funeral for him. One of the businessmen in the text states,” “It’s likey to be a very cheap funeral,” said the same speaker; “for upon my life I don’t know anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up a party and volunteer?” ” (Dickens 65). This is showing that Scrooge was never nice or kind to anyone and that they remember him as a horrible man so they don’t think anyone would care enough to hold a funeral for him. The businessmen even think of it as a joke to volunteer to host him a funeral. Another example of him learning this lesson is during Stave 5 when he finally is done with all the visits and he’s a changed man. Scrooge goes about the town merrily, he reconnects with the family he was previously rude to, he gives a turkey to his less fortunate friends who are the Cratchits. He endeavors to be a better person and many are very surprised and now remember him as a happy and nice man and that there was profound happiness within him. Scrooge realized that when he was a kinder man that people would care about him and remember him as the rude man who changed his ways and was very kind to everyone and anyone he encountered.

All in all, throughout the story Charles Dickens wants us to know about the business of being human and the lessons you learn as a human. While at the beginning of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is a horrible and despicable person, but after the ghost’s visits he is a changed person and he shows he’s learned many things along the way. Some lessons he learned is that your words and actions greatly impact those around you, he also learned to be grateful for what he has, and he realized that the way you treat people is the way that they remember you. All these lessons helped Scrooge be a better person and he completely changed his ways by the end of the book. Now think about yourself, have you learned these lessons? Are you going by Charles Dickens’s idea about the business of being human? Or are you a Scrooge? Remember, It’s never too late to change.