Reading is the best and most peaceful of all hobbies you could have. Sit by the hearth in the evenings with snow falling outside and engross yourself in a world that's galaxies away from yours. Christmas Carnivals offers online information on Charles Dickens' Christmas Book.
Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) is one of the most prolific writers of English literature. His deep-rooted anxiety for contemporary British society is manifested in his works.The Christmas series featuring A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) and The Battle of Life (1846). The series is brought to a completion with The Haunted Man (1848). A striking feature common to all the works is that they were all written around December of the respective years, which is why they are categorized in the Christmas series.
Ebenezer Scrooge learns a lesson in Christmas to soar beyond his selfish interests and care for the child of his poor clerk, Bob Cratchit. Dickens' novels were, among other things, works of social commentary. He was a fierce critic of the poverty and social stratification of Victorian society. Throughout his works, Dickens retained empathy for the common man and a skepticism for the fine folk. Oliver Twist (1839) was responsible for the clearing of the actual London slum that was the basis of the story's Jacob's Island.
Dickens "humanized" low-caste women for the readers, women who were regarded as "unfortunates", out of the inherently immoral casualties of the Victorian class/economic system. In Dickens' Christmas series, social ills are overcome once the poor develop self-esteem, but the domino effect that Dickens laboriously develops is at times ludicrous. Browse
Christmas CarnivalsCharles Dickens' Christmas Book for more.
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