The use of allegory in "A Christmas Carol".

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THE USE OF ALLEGORY IN CHARLES DICKENS’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL

INTRODUCTION

Most people in the world are already familiar with the story of A Christmas Carol. This book that published in 1843 is the first of five short Christmas books by Charles Dickens. He is an English novelist who is the greatest at his time, the Victorian period. Dickens's works mostly tell about social problems and injustice. He had experienced those things when he was forced to end school in early teens and work in a factory. A Christmas Carol has become a holiday classic and the character, Ebenezer Scrooge, has become a cultural icon. Since its publication, the story has been told many times and been adapted to the stage, radio, movies and television.

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This book tells about Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old skinflint. He hates everyone, especially children. But at Christmas three ghosts come to visit him, scare him into mending his ways, and he finds, as he celebrates with Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and their family, that geniality brings its own reward (Dickens, 1993).

The implicit lesson of this story is what makes this book interesting to discuss. In this book, Dickens chose very simple words to describe the implicit ideas. In the middle of this story, Dickens brings three character into Scrooge’s dream, The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of ...

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