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The Christmas Spirit - Coggle Diagram
The Christmas Spirit
The Christmas spirit has both a religious and a secular side:
In contrast, for Dickens Christmas also had a
secular
element. As Fred says, Christmas is "a good time", even "apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin".
A good example of the more
secular
celebration of Christmas is the childish excitement that surrounds it - particularly at Fred's house, where the family roar with laughter amidst music and games, and at Fezziwig's party. There are similar scenes at the Cratchit home, where the family delight in their small feast and shared companionship.
A large amount of what Dickens says about Christmas spirit is linked to his views of
Christianity
. Within the novella, we see that the values Fred associates with Christmas are closely related to the kinds of "Christian cheer" - of which Dickens associated with Christianity - he believed helping others was an important part of people's faith.
Dickens further links this giddy, childish behaviour back to
religion
by saying its "good to be children sometimes", especially at Christmas when "its mighty founder was a child himself"
The Christmas spirit is powerful enough to transform Scrooge
At first, Scrooge's reaction to Christmas is "humbug", and he thinks that anyone who celebrates Christmas is an "idiot"
Scrooge's attitude is ridiculed at Fred's party, and he's the only source of anger during the Cratchits' celebrations - he's referred to as the "ogre of the family" and his name casts "a dark shadow" on the party.
Scrooge promises to "honour Christmas" in his heart and to "try to keep it all the year".
By the end of the novella, Scrooge's character is transformed by what he has learned about Christmas spirit. He greets everyone he meets with a "merry Christmas", he makes a large donation to charity, he buys a huge turkey for the Cratchits, and even attends Fred's Christmas party.
Christmas brings out the best in people:
The
Cratchit family
celebrate Christmas by sharing love for eachother and their gratitude for being together. Bob was disappointed to hear Marta wasn't coming for Christmas day, so when she appeared from her hiding place he was relieved. It is very important to Bob that the whole family celebrates Christmas together.
Fred
fully embraces the spirit of Christmas. He believes Christmas is a "kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time" that brings out the best in people, and he hopes that Scrooge will too embrace Christmas.
Within ACC, Christmas is presented to be a time where people "open their shut-up hearts freely". Many characters within the novella are shown to demonstrate this Christmas spirit - they show generosity, charity, kindness and good will to others.
The Christmas spirit involves generosity and kindness:
Many characters in ACC see Christmas as a time to help those less fortunate than themselves.
The
charity collectors
that visit Scrooge are a good representation of this. They speak of Christmas as a time when "want is keenly felt, and abundance rejoices". They are trying to provide some festive "Christian cheer" at a time when poverty is made most obvious by the excess enjoyed by the wealthy.
Fred
believes that Christmas should encourage people "to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave". He thinks that Christmas is a time where all of humanity, rich and poor, should unite and help each other, rather than carrying on with their business, isolated.
Fezziwig
also demonstrates generosity and kindness of spirit. He has the power to render his apprentices "happy or unhappy", to make their work "light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil", and chooses to behave in a way that can only bring happiness. He celebrates with a Christmas party for all of his employees.
In contrast
, Scrooge sees Christmas purely in monetary terms. He questions Fred's Christmas spirit by saying he is "poor enough" - this shows that Scrooge links happiness with money, even though it does not bring him joy. Fred emphasises this in saying "his wealth is of no use to him".