A Christmas Carol Stave 5 Revisited
in which Scrooge is "quite a baby"
Welcome to Reading Revisited, a place for friends to enjoy some good old-fashioned book chat while revisiting the truth, beauty, and goodness we’ve found in our favorite books.
Hello, Readers!
We have arrived at the end of A Christmas Carol! On the off chance you don’t have small children to remind you of the countdown several times a day, here’s your reminder that it is officially 2 weeks until Christmas! This fact both excites me and leads me to a bit of frantic to-do-listing, but spending this last few weeks with Dickens has reminded me to pause and enjoy the anticipation - I hope it has done the same for you!
I’ll just offer a few brief thoughts on these final pages we covered this week, and will then get into some discussion questions to help guide our discussions as we begin our book club meetings (reminder: if you’re not yet in an in-person Reading Revisited book club, contact us to see if there is one near you OR ask about joining our virtual zoom book club!). I’ll also share a few favorite A Christmas Carol links if you’d like to continue going deeper with this lovely story!
Here are some things I noticed in this section:
First, can you read this last stave without a smile on your face? Not only is the resolution to the story utterly satisfying, there are so many hilarious turns of phrase. Here are a few that I loved:
"His hands were busy with his garments all this time; turning them inside out, putting them on upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every kind of extravagance.” (p. 103)
“Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs.” (p. 104)
“It was a Turkey! He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird. He would have snapped ‘em short off in a minute, like sticks of sealing-wax.” (p. 105)
I loved the very physical nature of this chapter. Scrooge has committed to amend his life, and immediately upon being thrust back into the visible world, he clings to his physical surroundings and takes them as hallowed reminders of his ghostly conversion:
“They are not torn down,” cried Scrooge, folding one of his bed-curtains in his arms, “they are not torn down, rings and all. They are here: I am here.” (p. 103)
and later,
“There’s the saucepan that the gruel was in!…There’s the door, by which the Ghost of Jacob Marley entered! There’s the corner where the Ghost of Christmas Present, sat! There’s the window where I saw the wandering Spirits! It’s all right, it’s all true, it all happened.” (p. 104)
finally, when he sees the knocker:
“I shall love it, as long as I live!” (p. 106)
There are lots of moments in this chapter that hearken back to Stave 1:
The weather on Christmas morning is contrasted with the weather on Christmas Eve:
“No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious! (p. 105)
In stave 1, the narrator tells us:
“Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, “My dear Scrooge, how are you?” (p. 3)
and now we see:
“He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good-humored fellows said, “Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you!” (p. 107)
Finally, there are several redemptive moments in this section where Scrooge gets a “repeat” of the three interactions he has in Stave 1. First with the “portly gentleman”, second with his nephew Fred, and finally with Bob Cratchit.
The theme of childlikeness comes full circle in this chapter. Scrooge delights in his transformation:
“I don’t know what day of the month it is!…I don’t know how long I’ve been among the Spirits. I don’t know anything. I’m quite a baby. Never mind. I don’t care. I’d rather be a baby.” (p. 104)
He identifies himself as a baby, marking his transformation as a true conversion: he has been born again!
Since I wouldn’t dare try to say it better myself, I’ll end with the closing lines said of Scrooge:
“it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!” (p. 111)
Discussion Questions:
Share your history with this book/story (movie versions count!)
Share a favorite quote/passage
What secondary characters stand out to you the most?
Which of Scrooge’s ghostly encounters are most memorable/central to your reading?
Discuss the role of memory in the formation of character/virtue and how Dickens plays on this theme
Compare A Christmas Carol to any other Dickens works you may have read - what Dickensian characteristics can you see here?
Why do you think this story has endured and held such a lasting place in our culture throughout the past (nearly) 200 years?
Some fun resources to check out:
Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
The Man who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford
Charles Dickens by G.K. Chesterton
Thanks for reading along with us! We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
Until next time, keep revisiting the good books that enrich your life and nourish your soul.
In Case You Missed It:
Reading Revisited ep. 29: Bookish Bio of Colleen Adams (aka Jess’ mom!)
Leisure: Antitode to the Busy Murder of Christmas by
and
What We’re Reading Now:
December
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
January
Othello by William Shakespeare
February
Out of the Silent Planet AND Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
A Few Reminders:
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