Dickens' A Christmas Carol was published in 1843. It was an instant hit.
It is a story of redemption. The theology is humanistic. It is self-salvation. But it makes sense only in the context of Christmas. Humanism was living off the cultural inheritance of Christianity.
The whole story rests on the power of the lure of profit, for both good and evil. It also rests on miracles.
On Christmas morning, after a night spent with three apparitions who had undermined his profit motive in business, Scrooge is listening happily to church bells. Then he sees a boy. He has an idea. He will send a turkey to the Cratchit household for their Christmas dinner. He yells to the boy. He asks him if he knows if that huge turkey is still for sale by the local butcher. This miraculously alert boy says that it is. Scrooge then tells the boy to bring the butcher to his houses. He promises to pay the boy if he brings the butcher to his house, and pay a lot more if he got back in five minutes. The boy runs off. Dickens put it more graphically. "The boy was off like a shot. He must have had a steady hand at a trigger who could have got a shot off half so fast."
This was Christmas morning. The butcher would have been at home. Where was that likely to be? Above his shop. So, the boy must have banged on the shop's door. The butcher would have been upset until he found that his most expensive prize turkey, which had not sold, and would probably have to be sold at a steep discount the next day, was somehow now in demand -- a Christmas miracle. He got dressed and went to Scrooge's home to conduct some business. He also took care of delivery . . . at a profit. Thus, the Cratchits got their unexpected turkey -- another Christmas miracle.
I saw this movie, seated almost alone in a Denver movie theater in December 1951. I loved it at age nine. I still do.
This high-definition video is wonderful to watch.
Now, once again, it is time to enjoy the transformation of a miser into a philanthropist.
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After you see it, it will be time for you to learn about the wonders of the free market, which in 1843 was beginning to transform the world for the better. Read about it here: https://www.garynorth.com/members/21713.cfm.
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