A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

It is one of Charles Dickens's most celebrated works and practically defined the modern image of Christmas in the Anglo-Saxon world. The novel is structured in five "staves" instead of chapters, a nod to its almost poetic nature. The central arc is the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge: from a cold, greedy, and isolated man into someone capable of loving, giving, and celebrating life in community. Beyond the Christmas tale, Dickens used the work to sharply criticize the social inequality of Victorian England, especially the cruel treatment of the poor and labor exploitation. Tiny Tim, in particular, symbolizes the most vulnerable children in the society of his time.