Over the span of five posts, I have been looking at Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a wonderful story about the dramatic process to effect one man’s complete change of heart. Dickens arranged the novella into five chapters or staves, as he labeled them. “Stave” has its roots in the word “staff,” as in a musical staff, and his carefully chosen term reminds us that Dickens really did envision this work like a musical piece, a carol that could illuminate some of the meaning attached to the season of Christmas.  This last post finishes an examination of the beauty and the meaning attached to Dickens’ story.

This final stave bring Dickens’ carol to a sweet end. Scrooge awakens from his dream-like journey to discover that he has not missed Christmas after all. And just as in the first stave, the setting reflects Scrooge’s inner state. Christmas Eve was foggy and wretched. Christmas morning dawns “clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; golden sunlight; heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells.” The weather itself signals the start of Scrooge’s new life. 

We can see that this is real change–not mere change made out of fear or obligation. Change made for these reasons is never lasting, nor is it done with a cheerful spirit. Scrooge’s new approach to life is both permanent and joyful. 

Scrooge’s practices on Christmas Day are lived out “ever afterward,” and “it was always said of him, he knew how to keep Christmas well.” His enthusiasm for his new life is not short-lived or based on a whim. He had been deeply affected, too changed to go back to his old ways, and that first Christmas Day is the beginning of a new pattern that will last the rest of his life. 

He becomes a man for whom the joy of living, loving, giving, and laughing is more than enough. He laughs shortly after realizing that he hasn’t missed Christmas, and Dickens describes that first laugh as “the father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs.” No longer will Scrooge recite “Bah! Humbug!” to every well wisher. We are also told that he “became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew.” For this to be his legacy implies that a deep and abiding joy and contentment was sustaining him. 

Change made out of fear of punishment or damnation could not bring about this kind of beautiful redemption. Jacob Marley may have hoped to frighten Scrooge away from his projected path with his weighty chains and unearthly tales. However, Scrooge caught sight of the good that was possible while he was still on earth. His transformation reminds us that only when a heart is wooed by kindness, compassion, and the grace found in the best of humanity can that heart learn to sing a new song.