The Ghost of Christmas Past
Lately I’ve been on a Charles Dickens kick. Somehow, I managed to make it all the way through high school and college without reading one of this fantastic author’s works. I’m not sure how that happened, but I’m certainly making up for it now! If I asked you to name something he’s written, I think the chances are pretty good that you’d say either “A Christmas Carol” or “Oliver Twist”, two of his most well known works. “A Christmas Carol” is shorter so I suggest starting out with that one if you want to dive into the Charles Dickens pool.
Published in 1843, this beloved holiday classic was originally imagined as a pamphlet, which was to be titled, “An Appeal to the People of England on Behalf of a Poor Man’s Child.” You see, Dickens had recently read reports about the appalling realities of child labor and he was moved to do something (Broich, 2021). What he ended up with was a brilliant, moving story about one man’s change of heart that rivals that of the Grinch himself.
I won’t spoil the plotline of “A Christmas Carol” for you, but there is one character who bears mentioning: the ghost of Christmas past. Among the ghosts that visit Scrooge during that night before Christmas, the Ghost of Christmas Past is the first. It is this ghost that takes the old, bitter, cynical man back to visions of his former self and reminds him of what once sparked in that same heart within that same chest.
According to one article, “The Ghost of Christmas Past has a huge job to do, not only does he have to prove his power to Scrooge; but he also has to prove that the lessons they wish to show him are worth something” (Norton, n.d.). What better way to do that than by reminding Scrooge of who he used to be? By letting him see a glimpse of how much he has changed since those days of his youth? Certainly he was not always the grim character he is today! He was not born with a scowl on his face after all!
The article carries on to tell us, “The Ghost of Christmas Past does nothing but reflect and help Scrooge remember the choices he made… It’s the point of the book that, arguably, causes Scrooge the most discomfort, these are not experiences of others or moments he still has a chance to change...these are choices he has already made, and has to be reminded of. They are unalterable, and unavoidable… These moments, the realization of the consequences his actions have had in his life, are the foundation that starts Scrooge on his path to redemption” (Norton, n.d.).
I think each of us could likely use a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past at some point in our lives. Life is hard and complicated. It surely challenges each of us in ways we never could have dreamed. But rather than waste wishful thinking on a visit from a fictional character, we can examine our own lives, our choices, and be brave enough to see where they’ve led us. Then we have the choice, and the power, to change course if we want to. No ghosts required.
References:
Norton, C. (n.d.). Exploring Dickens: The ghost of Christmas past. Virginia Stage Company. Retrieved from https://www.vastage.org/blog/2016/12/22/exploring-dickens-the-ghost-of-christmas-past.
Broich, J. (2021). The real reason Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/4597964/history-charles-dickens-christmas-carol/.
Challenges/Points:
The Ghost of Christmas Past is an important but sometimes overlooked character in “A Christmas Carol”.
Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” to inspire change in the commonly accepted ideas surrounding child labor at the time.
Like the Ghost does for Scrooge, we can look back at who we used to be and reclaim the best of ourselves.
Questions:
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