Most ghost story books have an element of mystery because it increases the suspense and gets the reader really involved in the story. Sometimes the ghosts don’t know that they are ghosts and there is usually an element of danger that a ghost is trying to warn someone about. ‘The signalman’ is set in an eerie, cold and almost deserted railway cutting where a weird man spends his days alone. The narrator is a disbeliever of ghosts and thinks the odd man is just lonely. Infact, the signalman seems to be a ghost, which is trying to warn him of some danger. The story isn’t scary but it is mysterious and the plot is full of suspense and foreshadowing.
‘A Christmas Carol’ is a different kind of ghost story. It’s not very scary or mysterious, it’s not about a murder or disappearance that needs to be solved, but it is about warning someone of their fate.
‘A Christmas carol’s’ opening is typical of a ghost story in that it immediately hints to the reader that Marley’s ghost is going to appear; it explains that Marley was defiantly dead but only at the start: “old Marley was as dead as a doornail” and “Marley was dead, to begin with. There Is no doubt about that” The opening drops the reader straight into the story and gets going very quickly, which is typical of a ghost story opening. However, it has humour in it, which is an aspect you do not expect to find in a ghost story. It says, “What there is particularly dead about a doornail.” and “I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade.” Other features of the opening that are typical of a ghost story is the character description and the fact that the opening doesn’t give away any of the story.
There are very good character descriptions that draw you into the story. Scrooge is described as a “Squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner” and as being “Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.” The story also describes him by saying “the cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and speak out shrewdly in his grating voice” This shows Scrooge to be a cold and unhappy person. He is also a bit of an outcast and disbeliever. Most particularly, he is portrayed as a creepy and unpleasant man, which is a typical ghost story character type. The description not only gives the reader a clear
image, of what Scrooge looks like, in their mind but also gives them a
clear idea of his personality.
There is a wide range of characters in the story which is quite a typical feature of a ghost story, but instead of there being one ghost, there are four, which is unusual for a ghost story. Each ghost has a different character. The first ghost to appear is that of Jacob Marley, a spectre of Scrooge’s former partner in buisness. The ghost of Marley is like what you would expect a ghost to be like “The spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook its chain with such dismal and appalling noise, that scrooge held on tight to his chair.” There are chains wrapped around Marley and on the chains there are heavy boxes and purses, this is because, when Marley was alive he to was a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner” like scrooge. Marley had come to warn Scrooge of the three spirits that were going to visit him.
The first of the spirits to come to Scrooge is the ghost of Christmas past, the spirit is “A child, yet not so like a child as like an old man viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child’s proportions.” In appearance it is very much something you would expect in a typical ghost story “Its hair was white with age yet the face had of a wrinkle on it” The ghost of Christmas past shows Scrooge Christmases that have gone by. Scrooge sees himself as a child when he is the only one not enjoying Christmas. The ghost shows Scrooge a scene of Christmas day that he spent with a woman he was engaged to. He threw away his relationship because he was obsessed with money and he’s “ not who he once was.” Scrooge doesn’t like the ghost of Christmas past because it reminds him of events that he had tried to erase from his memory.
The second spirit Scrooge encounters is not typical of a ghost story. The second spirit is the Ghost of Christmas Present. He is a jolly character with “it’s sparkling eye, it’s open hand, it’s cheery voice, and it’s unconstrained demeanour and will.” He tells the ghost that he can “conduct him where he will. For last night, he went forth on compulsion, and he learnt a lesson, which is working now. So if he has aught to teach him, let him profit by it.” The ghost of Christmas present takes Scrooge to see other people that are less fortunate than himself but still manage to be jolly and enjoy what they have at Christmas time. The spirit takes Scrooge to the house of Bob Cratchit, Scrooges clerk. Scrooge pays Bob a very low salary but the Cratchit family still manage to enjoy Christmas and make the most of what they do have even though they have a sick son, Tiny Tim, who will most likely die. Scrooge looks at the family, and becomes attached to
Tiny Tim, and the fact that he is so ill has a huge effect on Scrooge.
The Spirit also repeats Scrooges words to him that he said to some portly gentlemen collecting for the poor, Scrooge had said ‘if he is
going to die he’d better hurry up and do it and decrease the surplus
population.’ Scrooge feels extremely guilty at having his own words thrown back at him, and he realises he needs to be kinder and give Bob a rise in salary.
The last spirit to visit Scrooge is the Ghost of Christmas yet to come. This spirit is very different to the Ghost of Christmas present. It is much more frightening in manner and appearance and is the sort of ghost you might expect to find in a typical ghost story “The phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached” Scrooge, and “When it came near, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which the spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.” The appearance of the phantom is described as being “Shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible, save one outstretched hand.” This description portrays the ghost as being gloomy, mysterious and surrounded by darkness. In addition, the spirit will not talk. He just “points onwards with his hand”, all these things “fill Scrooge with a vague, uncertain horror, because behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed on him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black.” However, Scrooge is prepared to learn from the ghost of Christmas yet to come despite his fear. The spirit takes Scrooge into the heart of the city and points over to a small knot of businessmen.
“Scrooge advanced to listen to their talk” he heard them talking about someone who had recently died, but they showed no compassion. The men were talking about how glad they are that this person, whoever he was, has died. One man said it was “likely to be a very cheap funeral, for upon my life, I don’t know of anybody to go to it.” Scrooge new the men, and looked towards the spirit for an explanation but one was not given. The spirit moves on to another part of the city where again, the subject of the conversation is the death of the very same man and again the people are not sorry for his misfortune but glad that he is gone. Scrooge starts to get worried about all the things that he has heard as they could easily apply to him. Finally, Scrooge can’t bear it any more, and asks the spirit ‘who is the poor wretch of which the gentlemen talk about?’ but the spirit doesn’t provide an answer, instead he takes Scrooge to a churchyard. The spirit shows him a gravestone with his own name ‘Ebeneezer Scrooge’ written on it. After seeing this, Scrooge asks the spirit if what he has seen is the definite future, or if it might be changed. The spirit still gives no reply so Scrooge promises to ‘honour Christmas in all his heart, and try to
keep it all year round. He will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future, and the 3 spirits will strive within him, and he will not forget the lessons they teach.’
The settings in ‘A Christmas carol’ change a lot, which is an unusual feature of ghost stories. The settings change to match the transformation of Scrooge. At the start, the settings that appear when Scrooge is around are typically dark and dismal, to reflect his character. Scrooges house is described as “a gloomy suit of rooms” and “The fog and frost so hung about the black old gateway of the house.” The house is described in such a way to make it sound eerie to match scrooges present character. Scrooge is the only person to live in the house as the rest is rented out as offices. It is described as being out of place, it says it was “in a lowering pile of building up a yard’ where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and have forgotten the way out again.” and “it seemed as if the Genius of the weather sat in mournful meditation on the threshold.” This sort of description is something you would expect to find in a typical ghost story.
The atmosphere in the story changes a lot, very much like the settings. Again, it changes to reflect scrooges transformation. This is not a typical aspect of a ghost story; usually the atmosphere stays the same throughout, but in ‘A Christmas Carol’ the atmosphere is always changing. To being with Scrooge is portrayed as a sinister character who is unhappy so the atmosphere surrounding him reflects this. It is cold and eerie and the weather changes when he goes past and it gets darker and gloomier. “The fog pours in every chink and keyhole and it was so dense the houses opposite were mere phantoms.” However, the atmosphere tends to change when a more pleasant and happier character enters the story. When the second spirit, the ghost of Christmas present, enters the story the atmosphere changes to suit his personality. The ghost of Christmas present is “a gentleman of the free and easy sort” and he is a jolly character. So the atmosphere changes from being dark and eerie to being bright and jolly, “from every part of which bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney”
‘A Christmas Carol’ is a moral fable because it teaches a lesson. The lesson is, if you have a lot of something that you don’t need all of, then you should share what you have with others that need it more than you do. If you a choose to be selfish and not share what you have it will come back on you and even though you have it all you will still be miserable and not be accepted. Scrooge had a lot of money but he
would not share a penny with those who were less fortunate than him,
the three spirits open his eyes to what he is doing and he realises that he must share his fortune. He becomes a happy, jolly person who is liked by all! The story is an appropriate tale for Christmas because it shows that Christmas is a time for friends and family to come together and for people to be kind and generous to others. The moral of the story is also suitable for Christmas because it shows that the Christmas spirit should be kept up throughout the Whole year and not just for one day. The story tells us that we should be kind and generous to others all year round.
I think that ‘A Christmas Carol’ is an appropriate tale to tell at Christmas time but is the kind of story that can be read at any time of year. It gets an important message across to the reader that if kindness and generosity is shown to others it will be shown back in return. It also shows that people can change, but they may need to be shown why they need to change, as they can’t see it themselves. It shows that kindness does exist, and people should show it, not only at Christmas but all year round.
