Mr. Dickens And His Carol

“And that every Christmas will be more splendid than the last.”

The quote emphasizes The Essence of the Christmas Spirit by showing the importance of Christmas in giving Catherine happiness. Dickens’s struggle with the joy of Christmas causes conflict in their marriage and makes him difficult to live with, which causes her to temporarily leave him. It is his journey to regain the Christmas spirit and his writing of A Christmas Carol that helps to fix their relationship.

“Because Christmas is not in the end about things, children. It is about feeling.”

The quote emphasizes The Essence of the Christmas Spirit by showing the importance of focusing upon one’s family during the Christmas holiday rather than obsessing over material objects. Dickens’s father taught him this sentiment, and he uses this to try to adjust his children’s expectations and thereby decrease his Christmas spending. However, he finds it hard to deny them toys, and he struggles with feeling the joy of Christmas throughout the novel.

“‘These Ebenezers…’ Dickens curled the fingers of his right hand into a tight fist, as if he wanted to punch the letter itself. ‘I’d like to screw and bruise them, scrouge them and scruze them!’”

The quote reflects The Search for Inspiration by showing the Ebenezer Temperance Society as the inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge’s name. The words “scrouge” and “scruze” are also inspirations for the creation of the surname Scrooge. This scene shows how quickly Dickens can find inspiration when he is passionate about something.

“‘Still son, Christmas begins—’

‘In the heart, Yes I know.’”

This quote shows The Essence of the Christmas Spirit by indicating that Dickens’s father taught him that Christmas is focused on inner joy. However, Dickens is not in the Christmas spirit and is frustrated with his father’s poor financial decisions. This will lead to increasing conflict between Dickens and his father and brother.

“It could lead me to write again.”

As Dickens makes the disastrous decision to reconnect with this former love, this quote reflects his desperation to succeed in The Search for Inspiration. He therefore visits Maria, hoping that she will provide him with new ideas for the story he is now tasked with writing, but when he discovers that she is more enamored of his fame than she is of him, he finds no inspiration from their meeting. He does, however, become inspired to create the character of Belle, Scrooge’s former love.

“Perhaps I do derive joy from things you regard as frivolous, Charles. But beneath it all, I have not forgotten what matters. And until you remember, I think it best we be apart.”

The quote supports The Essence of the Christmas Spirit by showing Catherine’s deeper understanding of Christmas despite her more expensive tastes. This contrast between her philosophy and Dickens’s is important because it highlights the fact that she is still devoted to giving her family joy at Christmas. Unlike her husband, she still sees hope in the world. The conflict separates her and Dickens until he regains his Christmas spirit.

“The biggest terror of all was not being able to write, having no inspiration, no source, no reservoir of words and feelings, no one to prop him up or spur him on. No one to be his mirror, to reflect back what he thought he might be.”

This quote reflects The Search for Inspiration by showing the extent of Dickens’s writer’s block and how it torments him. He had hoped that his solitude would help him to write, but he finds himself lost in a metaphorical fog once again. This drives him to walk through London, where he meets Eleanor and eventually gains the inspiration he seeks, if not in the form he expects.

“London was a never-ending spectacle, a great floating pageant. Surely he could count on it to fill his head with novel things, or at least show him where to look.

By mile twenty, he despaired of ever meeting a new thought again.”

The quote reflects The Search for Inspiration by indicating that Dickens sees London as a perfect place to find new sources of creativity, but he soon finds himself struggling once again, for his wanderings through the city are desperate and aimless. This scene therefore shows the hardships involved in finding sufficient inspiration to fuel a new story. This would be important though because he soon finds inspiration in Eleanor Lovejoy.

“It was a bludgeoning, hairy mist, he thought, like a prowling thief that would follow on your heels, knock you over the head, steal your thoughts, chew them up, and spit them out right in front of you, tiny particles scattering away on the brackish air. It was just the right weather for chasing phantoms about town.”

The quote introduces the fog as a symbol for Dickens’s writer’s block and lack of Christmas spirit, and it also contains oblique allusions to the mystique of the original story of A Christmas Carol, particularly in its use of ghostly imagery. For this reason, it supports The Search for Inspiration and The Essence of the Christmas Spirit.

“The twelfth chime sounded, shuddering through the square and down to the soles of his feet. He surrendered to it, forgetting why he’d come, only able to pull himself away when the ringing faded to a hum and returned him to the imminent world.”

This quote introduces the Old Clock Tower as a motif for Eleanor’s arrival into the world of the living. The passage also demonstrates shows Dickens’s inner realization that the clock is important, although he does not quite know why. In this vivid description, Silva conjures up the force of the chimes as an almost physical blow that bludgeons Dickens into a stupor, one that only ends when the last chime sounds. Thus, the chimes represent a distinct barrier between the mundane world and the spiritual one.

“Yet isn’t there also, in that very chime, the chance to begin again?”

This quote establishes Eleanor’s role as a muse and a guide, for she is giving Dickens inspiration by allowing him a clean slate. Thus, the conversation highlights The Search for Inspiration. The quote also foreshadows the fact that Dickens will only be able to rewrite his book with her help and guidance.

“Your past is quicker than you are and will catch you soon enough.”

By personifying the past as a dogged pursuer, this quote foreshadows the inevitability that Dickens will have to confront his past before he can create a new future for himself and his family. Eleanor tells him this as he flees Maria, but it becomes even more important when his father steals his manuscript, for the resulting confrontation will inspire him to rewrite his book.

“I hardly know anything about her. Yet fear I cannot write another word until I do.”

This quote shows Dickens’s obsession with Eleanor and The Search for Inspiration that continues to consume him, for she has clearly become his muse. While his obsession with her makes no logical sense, the illogical pursuit of this mysterious woman highlights the intuitive and spiritual nature of his quest for inspiration. Ultimately, Eleanor will help him to create the characters in his book and rediscover his joy in the Christmas season.

“She put a thumb on her chin and scrutinized his face in every detail. ‘I see a man who feels set upon.’

‘That’s it,’ he said. ‘So hemmed in by people who want a bit or a piece or a pence of him—that he’s exhausted from want of air.’

‘A beleaguered man.’

‘Who wants to be left alone.’”

The passage shows Eleanor helping Dickens to invent the character of Scrooge through his disguise, reflecting The Search for Inspiration. It also shows the parallel between Dickens and Scrooge, for the writer reflects a miserly outlook in his frustration with his financial situation and the pitfalls of fame.

“India is a beautiful dream. But I am not at liberty…to dream.”

This quote establishes India as a symbol for the lives that Dickens and Eleanor could have led if things had been different, and their implicit fondness for each other is also apparent. However, they both know that they cannot be together, and when Eleanor voices this truth, her wording also foreshadows the fact that she is a ghost.

“What is Christmastime to you, Fred, but a time for paying bills with no money?”

The quote emphasizes The Essence of the Christmas Spirit by showing Dickens’s cynicism and resentment toward his brother for his financial irresponsibility. This reflects the rift in their relationship, mostly on Dickens’s side, and it also highlights Dickens’s feeling that he is taken for granted.

“Let us not be childish, Fred. Christmas begins and ends in the purse. Now, good day!”

This quote drives The Essence of the Christmas Spirit by showing Dickens’s growing cynicism around Christmas due to his financial woes. It is contrary to his father’s idea of Christmas starting in the heart. Eventually, Dickens realizes that there is also joy in Christmas, once he confronts his past and forgives his father.

“Writers told what to write. Readers told what to read. People do whatever you do…told what to do!”

This quote supports the theme of Balancing Artistic Integrity and Commercial Success, for it shows Dickens’s frustration at the writing world. He feels Chapman and Hall are telling him what to write and being forced to go against his ideas. He also feels that the world is overrun with consumerism.

“‘That is quite a book, Mr. Dickens.’

‘Yes. And quite to the point, I think.’

‘Though perhaps not quite to the point of Christmas.’”

The quote shows the disconnect Dickens has with Christmas when he writes his first manuscript and Eleanor’s awareness of it. For this reason, it supports The Essence of the Christmas Spirit. Eleanor soon shows him that Christmas is about hope, and he changes his story.

“‘And your books made me think of my own family, and our Christmases past. How we had no money, yet felt rich as kings. We danced and made merry into the wee hours,’ she continued, eyes lighting at the memory. ‘All the worries of the year seemed to vanish with the first snow, for then we’d gather ‘round the hearth and tell stories, all ending happily…’ Her voice caught in her throat—a melancholy so powerful she had to pause to let it pass. ‘And the colder it was, the nearer we were to each other, and to the truth of Christmas. The truth of your books…That despite what is cold and dark in the world, perhaps it is a loving place after all.’”

This quote reflects The Essence of the Christmas Spirit by showing what Christmas means to Eleanor and her son; it also establishes how deeply Dickens’s writing has helped her family. This realization inspires him to rewrite the book, which he reads to Timothy. This completes Eleanor’s mission of helping her son after her death.

“Picking up his things, Dickens found, tucked beneath his manuscript, the boy’s finished sketch: a family at Christmastime, all the children so like his own, with Timothy there, too, enjoying a feast with a bulging roast turkey at the center, big enough to feed them all. They were a poor family, but beamed with happiness, rich as kings.”

The passage supports The Search for Inspiration and The Essence of the Christmas Spirit by showing how Timothy is inspired by Dickens. Fittingly, Dickens becomes inspired by Timothy in turn and is finally able to complete his book. With this distinct creative accomplishment, he reconnects with the true meaning of Christmas.

“‘What harm can come of a ghost?’ she’d asked, here, in this very room. But it wasn’t a question at all. It was the answer. The great mystery of Eleanor Lovejoy.

How real she’d seemed, and if not, at least as true as anything he’d ever known. Maybe she’d sprung from his imagination, his own roiling conscience, but it didn’t matter now. She had led him to Furnival’s, made him write again, followed him to the blacking warehouse and the ghosts of his own past, perhaps even inspired the spirits that would grow Scrooge’s heart, and his own. All for the sake of her son. But the boy was nestled at his feet by a blazing fire—right now, right here—as real as any boy. This was where she’d wanted him all along. This, was her wish for her son.”

The passage shows that Dickens finally understands Eleanor’s reasons for wanting him to help her son. Faced with the staggering realization that she is a ghost, Dickens now feels a deep obligation to honor her wish that he support and aid the only remaining member of her family. This highlights The Essence of the Christmas Spirit.

“I guess Christmas begins in the heart after all.”

In this quote, Dickens finally understands that Christmas starts in the heart, like his father has always said. He has hope and joy again, which helps heal his relationships with his family and friends. For this reason, it supports The Essence of the Christmas Spirit.