A Christmas Carol Reading: Stave II continued...

Something I found myself asking while I read Stave II was as follows: Exactly where did Scrooge go wrong? Dickens takes us from Scrooge as a lonely boy, to Scrooge as a young man working for Mr. Fezziwig. In both these instances, there is no real foreshadowing of the bitter old man he is going to become. The first time that we see the beginnings of the "Scrooge" we all know and avoid is when we first meet Belle. There is a giant gap in between and there is no explanation for why Scrooge has become the way he has. The gap is as such: we have a memory of Scrooge and Dick singing Fezziwig's praises for his generosity at Christmastime and they are both (yes, Scrooge included) having a wonderful time at the Christmas party. No hateful Scrooge here. Then, the memory to follow suddenly presents us with a cold-hearted Scrooge rejecting the love of his former sweetheart, Belle, because he has become greedy and obsessed with his work. Very little transition.

Is this bad writing, or is Dicken's leaving out so much information in order to highlight that mysterious point in Scrooge's life? The Mona Lisa by Da Vinci is considered one of the greatest but also most mysterious works of art. It isn't just the famous smile that makes her so mysterious, there is also a gap between one side of the canvas to the other. To the right of her head there is a towering landcape, well above the viewer's "horizon" line, to the left of her head the landscape becomes flat plains, equal the viewer's horizon. It is behind her head, the one place we can't see, that the transition occurrs. Is there a waterfall? Are they merely cliffs? Is there a chasm in between? We cannot tell, and will never know exactly what Da Vinci saw behind the lady's cryptic face. That is part of the mystery, and we can be sure that it wasn't an accident. I think there is something similar going on in Stave II.

Dickens is a master. We could only hope to learn half of what he knew about the art of story-telling. I do not think it was an accident that he leaves no explanation or giant event that caused Scrooge's transformation.

I think Da Vinci hid the secret of the landscape because he wanted people to think...to imagine or create their own landscape based on the information he gave them, even if the conclusions where not what he himself had imagined. It was his own little literary twist in the painting, because what literature is, first and foremost, is an outlet for the imagination. There are no set interpretations for everything, and in many cases we must imagine or invent exanations for otherwise unexplained events.

In the case of Scrooge, I think the hidden transformation is the arrival of Marley. We do not hear of him at all during Stave II until we see Belle for the second time. This memory follows that of Belle leaving Scrooge. She is settled with children and a husband. Her husband comes in and tells her he's "seen an old friend" of hers, Scrooge, sitting alone at his books on Christmas Eve. He then says, "his partner lies upon the point of death." This is the first mention of Marley. I think the fact that he isn't mentioned up to this point makes his presence more apparent. Scrooge changes because of Marley. He becomes involved in the partnership and inevitably begins to become like Marley. A rotten apple makes the good apple rotten, not vice versa. Belle was the last thing trying to hold onto the young Scrooge before he became Marley completely. We remember in Stave I that Scrooge answer to both Scrooge and Marley. There is nothing but a corporeal difference between the two men. They are both rotten and apathetic to the world and its suffering. I think that transformation of Scrooge is finalized by the death of Marley. As Belle's husband says, on Christmas Eve Scrooge sits at his books, his partner on the verge of death. When Marley dies, we could conclude that Scrooge has finally, completely become Marley. Marley leaves the world, but his legacy continues.

Something I did notice was the so-called "twitch upon the thread"; that small something that reminds a person of what they should be, or of what is right. It is when Scrooge sees the memory of his little sister. She is full of life and joy for Christmas and has died, we do not know how, but only that she was always frail. She dies leaving behind one child, Scrooge's nephew. He feels a pang of guilt for turning away his nephew earlier. The nephew has the same enthusiasm and heart of gold that his mother had. When he sees his sister he remebers how he loved her and regrets that he hasn't loved his nephew in the same way.

I'm all talked out now but I think that's enough for Stave II. I'm going to move on to Stave III today and hopefully I'll have a post by tomorrow.