Does the message of the story a Christmas Carol still have meaning for us today? Is the book or the movie more helpful in relating Dickens' message to our modern society?

The book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a picture of the social problems of the 1840's. In the note before Dickens starts the book he says, " I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea." Dickens PG 1 (1843) Dickens' story seems to be addressing a general problem to the rich of his time and may have tried to encourage people to think about their fellow man. The book is directed more to the society as a hole and encourages them to take a look at their own behavior. Even though Ebenezer Scrooge under went a personal change, the book gave me the feeling that Dickens felt the entire society would face serious consequences if changes were not made to the way they treated and viewed their fellow human beings.

The industrial revolution took severe advantage of the children and the poor people of Dickens' time and even though it is not mentioned directly in the story, the results of it are clearly felt. There were very distinct cate

By adding the middle class it allows the movie to focus more on individual change and gives the story more meaning to our modern society.

The book is very dark and cold with langue and saying that may be difficult for us to relate too. The description of London in the 1840's is very harsh and dirty and shows a large disparity between the rich and the poor. The story also seems to give the impression that if you are poor you are automatically happy, with love, family and friends, and if you are rich you have given up those things in the pursuit of riches.

poor. Even though our personal choices are important and the movies depiction of this was very good, our society could benefit from a look at the way the system treats individuals.

Even though this version of a Christmas Carol did a better job of depicting London in the 1800 then any other version that I have seen, it still didn't capture how dirty, cold and desperate it was for the majority of the people. The movie also updates the language and gives us cultural trigger that we can relate too. The addition of a middle class, in the movie, gives us someone that our society can relate too. I feel it also is the reason for the shift in focus. Most of America is middle class and do not fit into the two classes identified in the book, and it would be easy to feel that the very rich of our time are the only ones who need to hear the message of this story.

The book gave equal value to each of the scenes that the ghost of Christmas past showed to Scrooge. His change of out look seems to be sudden. Each visitation had an impact but it was not until the final spirit that he makes a true change of heart. The movie puts more emphasis on Scrooges fiance then the book. The addition of a monologue by Scrooge in the scenes with his fiance made the relationship more important. It gives us a stronger since of regret, and a gradual change of heart. All of us have experienced lost love and his regret makes him more human and someone that we have more in co

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Approximate Word count = 1365
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)