Depth and insight
Posted by Mark on December 15, 1997 at 11:39:02:
In response to What would?, written by Stolzi on December 15, 1997 at 10:31:48
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] ] If all this doesn't show that it is great literature, then what would your definition be?
] Well, one might ask for depth of character, and profoundness of insight.
Oh really? For depth of character, please describe Scrooge, not the caricature that the countless adaptations have made him, but as the book makes him.
And why does Fred return every year to invite him to his Christmas party. And why does Scrooge not go?
And why does Jacob Marley come back? Why does he arrange for the three spirits? Does this help his penance?
Why does Bob Cratchit stay with Scrooge, and refuse to condemn him? Why do all those who best know Scrooge refuse to condemn him? Are we to believe everybody in his closest circle is super-Christian except him?
Why does Scrooge think Christmas is a humbug? What has made him think so? Greed and avarice is the easy answer. What other reasons are there?
For insights, why is the boy, "Ignorance", and the girl, "Want"? Why not the other way round? And why boy-girl? Why not boy-boy, or girl-girl, or even dog-cat?
What is on the mind of the three Ghosts? Love, hatred, indifference, compassion, apathy? Why are they there? What do their personifications symbolize? Why does Ghost #2 wait fifteen minutes for him, while all the other ghosts come and fetch him?
Are the ghosts real? Did they really come or are they the products of an "underdone potato"?
What really turned Scrooge around? A simple nightmare? I doubt it. Old habits die hard. Why was his change permanent?
What makes this story tick? Why is it a classic? Many stories just as sentimental have come and gone, leaving barely a ripple in their wake. But "A Christmas Carol" lives on. Why? Saying it's schmaltz just doesn't cut it, now does it?
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