Ebeneezer Scrooge never knew the son of his sole employee,
Bob Cratchit, was seriously ill. It wasn't until Scrooge learned that
Tiny Tim might actually die unless he did something to help, that he was actually willing to forego some of his personal wealth to help save the life of a sick child.
When
Charles Dickens wrote
"A Christmas Carol" in 1843, he was already a famous author.
Queen Victoria was a fan of his, for whom he
performed live in 1851. Knowing this, Dickens described the crushing poverty of Camden Town (lower London) in vivid detail, knowing that it would be read by Queen Victoria and the literate upper-class, in hopes that it might make them aware of what life was like for the majority of Londoners, people whom they never met or had any interaction with. And now, every rich man & woman, including the Queen herself, would willingly read a tale about poor people and perhaps even sympathize with them. And the fact he did so in a Christmas themed story ensured it would be read again & again every Christmas "when abundance rejoices" (pg. 13).
Perhaps my only Christmas tradition: every year, I watch the musical version of "
Scrooge" (starring British actor
Albert Finney). Not nearly as faithful to Dickens' manuscript as other versions, it is perhaps the best acted version of them all, and Finney convinces you of Scrooge's redemption better than any other version I've seen yet.
Last week, I saw the new
Disney 3D retelling of "
A Christmas Carol". While the movie was heavy on the 3D, inserting special scenes simply to show-off the three-dimensional effect, it is otherwise surprisingly faithful to the original book. It's a shame that it is so badly (voice) acted. Hollywood actors do Olde English about as well as Ghandi did stand-up comedy. You don't buy Scrooge's miraculous conversion by the end of the movie, and Cratchit is almost superfluous.
While otherwise faithful to the original book, one scene caught my attention: the scene where Ebeneezer's sister "Fan" (yes,
"Fan", not "Fran") came to the boarding school to bring her brother home for Christmas. In the Disney version, Fan is considerably younger than her brother. I noticed this, because I've always believed Fan MUST be older than her brother Ebeneezer. Let me explain:
The backstory of "Fan" creates an enormous plot-hole in the Dickens classic.
In the schoolhouse scene when Scrooge is with
the Ghost of Christmas Past viewing himself as a young boy, Fan tells her brother that she has come to bring her brother home for Christmas rather than him spending yet another holiday alone at school. The reason she gives: "Father is so much kinder than he used to be" (pg. 46). "
Mother" however, is never mentioned. If Ebeneezer's mother was alive, how could she ever allow her only son to spend every Christmas alone at school year after year?
One can infer from all this that Scrooge's own mother, like Fan, died in childbirth...
(...)