What is it about Scrooge?

 Only the Nativity and Biblical adaptations have been made more than The Christmas Carol by Dickens.  Why is Scrooge the perennial Christmas figure other the Christ child at Christmas?  I have wondered about this as already I have the watched the Muppet version.  One recent year I listened to the book being read.  What is it about this story that holds our fascination year after year?

First of all, it is so well-written.  Dickens is just a great story teller as Twain was in his day.  A story isn't just told.  But that we are drawn into all the emotions of Christmas.  And it is a Christmas story, perhaps unlike any Christmas story that has been told except for the Biblical account.  Why does Scrooge become our favorite character at Christmas?

I pondered this the other day in preparation for this article.  Scrooge is the perfect example of redemption.  What is most frightening aspect of his life is his grave.  He is going to die.  But by keeping the story going year after year the symbolism Scrooge represents never dies.  Year after year Scrooge is always reborn never having died.  He's like Santa in that every Christmas Season Scrooge is reborn.  

His life is like Santa in that Scrooge never dies.  We just don't let him die, even though he faces his own mortality.  Scrooge reminds us of how we ourselves want to be remembered by the world.  Every Christmas the story is re-told without anything added or subtracted from the story.  Scrooge is redeemed every year.  He embodies the Spirit of giving.  A selfish miserly old man is transformed in one night.  And year after year the story is retold.  

We, at first, love to hate the old man.  But year after year we know the story by heart.  Everyone knows what happens to Scrooge.  But the story is so well-told that year after year Scrooge is as much a part of Christmas as Santa or the Christ child.  He's embedded in our memory as a perfect example of the meaning of Christmas.  It's the transformed old man we no longer hate, but we are given every reason why he is to be loved.  

I could go on and on about Scrooge and believe no one is beyond redemption; not even Scrooge himself.  If there is one person unworthy it has to be Scrooge.  We see a bitter money-driven old man who hates the world transformed in one night, but it takes being shown his grave and how he will forever be remembered.  And Dickens simply reminds us to not forget about Scrooge.  If he can be transformed anyone can.  And that is why we love Scrooge year after year.  

I'm smoking my Lee Van Cleef Meerschaum pipe this morning with some Tropical Export.  I too am doing my part to keep the redemption of Scrooge going after all these years.  Very simply put, Scrooge never dies.  He is reborn year after year; and every time the story is told.  Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave