When Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol he was writing about the plight of the times as he was a product of his upbringing in the eighteen hundreds. During the time of the eighteen hundreds, society was plagued with poverty, workhouses and debtors’ prisons. The class structure in England of the eighteen forties separated the population into the wealthy and the poor with a very limited middle class. This novel is a representation of how Dickens viewed the social ills of his homeland. He used his writing to show the English population how he felt the poor should be treated.

Dickens illustrated some of his feelings in the following quote,” There are some upon this earth of yours, who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived” (page 76). This quote is about the misuse of power by the prevailing aristocratic upper class of the day. This novel has an overpowering darkness about it and demoralizes most of the characters. The three spirits show Scrooge how he has changed over his lifetime from a happy carefree young man into the money grubbing miserly, selfish, bigoted, and proud loner that he became. This quote shows the theme of the story to be caring about others especially those less fortunate than you. For instance, Scrooge learned his lessons from the three ghosts and set about spending the rest of his days righting all his wrongs by being a more compassionate, sensitive and caring person starting with benefiting Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim.

The reason I chose this quote is because it still holds true today. There are still people who cause pain and suffering and there always will be. I believe that this quote captures the main essence of the story in showing that those who never give back or think of others will never completely live. This quote also attains the true nature of Scrooge and his ways; it tells Scrooge that he has no idea the way the spirits work and of his wrongdoings. This point in the story is also very important because Scrooge is finally starting to get the point of the visiting spirits and his demeanor becomes noticeably different and he starts sympathizing for others.

Out of the three spirits, it is from the Spirit of Christmas Present that this quote is taken. He was the one who really got through to Scrooge and began to open the old miser’s eyes. Although this quote had a huge impact on Scrooge, it took no less than three divine spirits working together to change the mind of one very stubborn old man. If only spirits would visit everyone every time they made a moral mistake the world would be a much more peaceful place to live and grow.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Litchborough, Towcester, UK: Classical Comics Ltd. 2008, Print.