A Christmas Carol

            harles Dickens' classic novel, A Christmas Carol, is the story of a bitter old man. The themes of the novel directly relate to various lessons Scrooge learns, such as money can't buy happiness.
             When the actual story of the novel begins, Scrooge has in fact reached his goals and become a wealthy businessman. He stepped on a lot of toes to get to where he was, but was still unkind to people despite the fact that he possessed the money that he thought would bring happiness.
             Scrooge's clerk at his firm was a happy, but poor, man named Cratchit. Though Cratchit always did his work, and never asked for much, Scrooge remained frugal with his money and never cut him a break. Cratchit had a whole family, one child who was extremely sick included, but Scrooge hated to even give him Christmas day off. Cratchit still took the time to wish Mr. Scrooge a merry Christmas, which led Scrooge to wonder how someone like Cratchit could be happy without having lots of money.
             Scrooge's old business partner had been Jacob Marley, but he had died seven years before the story of the novel begins. Scrooge had an elaborate dream involving Marley along with three other premonitions that began to change his views on life.
             The first of these ghosts, Christmas Past, brought Scrooge back to childhood and younger memories of Christmas. Scrooge didn't have many friends as a child, and as a result became the horrible cruel man that he was. His one true friend and companion was his loving sister Fan. However, she got married and died in childbirth at a young age. After this event, Scrooge was often unhappy and spent most of his time all alone, studying.
             Later in life, Scrooge held a job as an apprentice to a wealthy businessman, Fezziwig. Fezziwig was a kind-hearted soul who thoroughly enjoyed Christmas. He had large celebrations each years with elaborate feasts and decoration. All who attended these parties, even Fezziwig himself, the boss, had a wonderful time, except for Ebenezer, who sat at his desk working diligently all the while.