As a writer and a teacher, and someone interested in history, it bothers me when the humanities are rejected as irrelevant. Recent criticism, according to one overview, says it is because they are “overly ideological, subjective or irrelevant to technological advancement.”
Among topics that are categorized under the irrelevant heading are literature, history, photography, film arts or, as one definition put it, fields that “… study the human condition from artistic, philosophical, and historical perspectives,…” that focus “… on critical thinking, expression and understanding diverse cultures.”
It is difficult to see why these characteristics are negatives, but at this time of year, a well-known work rises up to reject the negative assumptions, and show relevancy. You may know it: Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
Published on Dec. 19, 1843, by Dickens himself, and selling for an enormous price of 25 pounds in a time of depression and hardship, it sold 6,000 copies by Christmas Eve. Since then it has never been out of print, and it has been made into movies more than 100 times.
But why?
Perhaps it’s because historic fiction can often offer us a glance into the non-fiction of another time while showing the relevance to our own. So it is with “A Christmas Carol,” whose themes could be said to be universal.
The film version I grew up watching starred Alistair Sim as Scrooge. Made in 1951, it’s said by some to be the adaptation that is closest to Dickens’ original story and intent. And Dickens’ intent was clear. He was seeking to point up the problems that England was dealing with in his time and decided that helping people “see it” was better than trying to admonish them about it.
The story discusses the economic gulf between the rich and poor, homeless children, lack of affordable medical care and how the worker is taken advantage of.
It makes the point that each of us can become a help to those in need, and that help becomes a gift to the giver, as well.
The visiting ghosts teach Scrooge to recognize his own ignorance, and to visualize the evil that his ignorance did and can do; and that it is never too late to correct it.
But it is the symbolism of the chain that Jacob Marley’s ghost drags behind him has always seemed to me a vital symbol, both then and now.
When Scrooge asks Jacob Marley’s ghost about the chain, he says, “I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will ….”
And so do we all, Dickens was telling us. What we do matters. What actions we take have consequences, if not for us, for others.
The three ghosts that visit Scrooge, like history itself, teach him what was, what is and what might be, and he is given the chance to set things to rights, and build a better future. Hopefully, 2026 will help us to do the same in each of our lives.
Thank you to all who have read this column during the year. I hope it has been of some value to you, and I wish you Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Habari Gani and just plain Blessed Be. It is the time of year to love one another and lop some links off our respective chains.