Stave Five of "A Christmas Carol"

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Galatea

Guest
#1
In the final stave, Ebeneezer Scrooge is redeemed. I don't think he becomes a different man, I think he becomes the man he always was- before the love of money had him in its grip.

This part stood out to me upon this rereading "Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him."

It made me think about how the world sometimes laughs at Christians, and that's okay!
 

88

Senior Member
Nov 14, 2016
3,517
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#2
He probably even gave away Jane Austen's ring as a present...
 
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Tinuviel

Guest
#3
This is one of the only times that I've ever laughed and cried at the same time in a book. It is a amazing example of eucatastrophe, I love this part of the book so much! Dickens has a very unique gift of being able to make you feel what the character is feeling.
 

88

Senior Member
Nov 14, 2016
3,517
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#4
I almost laughed and cried when you used the word eucatastrophe---just spelling makes me tear up...
 
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Tinuviel

Guest
#5
I almost laughed and cried when you used the word eucatastrophe---just spelling makes me tear up...
What? It is a lovely word :D
 
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Galatea

Guest
#6
This is one of the only times that I've ever laughed and cried at the same time in a book. It is a amazing example of eucatastrophe, I love this part of the book so much! Dickens has a very unique gift of being able to make you feel what the character is feeling.
I love this stave, too. Scrooge is just like someone who first gets saved. He is totally exuberant, he has a new lease on life and loves everyone. My favorite part is when he is walking in front of Fred's house several times, because he is afraid to go inside. :) He is not quite sure if Fred and Mrs. Fred will be happy to see him. I find that very touching. I like the inference that Mrs. Fred is pregnant- without Dickens actually coming out and saying it. There is something to Victorian subtlety.

Eucatastrophe is a great word. How funny that two letters can totally change the meaning of a word. :)
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,247
25,715
113
#7
I love this stave, too. Scrooge is just like someone who first gets saved. He is totally exuberant, he has a new lease on life and loves everyone. My favorite part is when he is walking in front of Fred's house several times, because he is afraid to go inside. :) He is not quite sure if Fred and Mrs. Fred will be happy to see him. I find that very touching. I like the inference that Mrs. Fred is pregnant- without Dickens actually coming out and saying it. There is something to Victorian subtlety.

Eucatastrophe is a great word. How funny that two letters can totally change the meaning of a word. :)
I had never heard that word before (that I recall) :eek:

It is interesting that you view Ebeneezer not to be a changed man so much as being restored to his former self, while I do not ever see him as being joyful, loving, forthcoming, forgiving, and all accepting etc etc that he becomes when magnanimity and good graces follow his epiphany... I do so love his demeanor then, especially as he asks forgiveness of Fred's wife. Fred himself was surprised to see his uncle but readily admitted and accepted him into their company, and Fred's wife was touched by the truth and sincerity of Scrooge's apology/explanation, and readily accepted it due to those qualities as well as for the simple fact that she knew how happy Fred was to have his uncle join them :) I have to fight back the tears just to think of it :D I love these evocative works of art in any form that can reach into the depths of my soul to draw these feelings from me :)
 
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Galatea

Guest
#8
I had never heard that word before (that I recall) :eek:

It is interesting that you view Ebeneezer not to be a changed man so much as being restored to his former self, while I do not ever see him as being joyful, loving, forthcoming, forgiving, and all accepting etc etc that he becomes when magnanimity and good graces follow his epiphany... I do so love his demeanor then, especially as he asks forgiveness of Fred's wife. Fred himself was surprised to see his uncle but readily admitted and accepted him into their company, and Fred's wife was touched by the truth and sincerity of Scrooge's apology/explanation, and readily accepted it due to those qualities as well as for the simple fact that she knew how happy Fred was to have his uncle join them :) I have to fight back the tears just to think of it :D I love these evocative works of art in any form that can reach into the depths of my soul to draw these feelings from me :)
Oh no, in the earlier staves, when he was a child- remember he was joyful at seeing his former friends and called out to them. He had a great friend in Dick Wilkins, and loved and was loved by Belle. The stave of Christmas Past showed that he was at one time a loving, joyful, forgiving man. The Fezziwigs' party, showed how happy he once was, and he must have forgiven his father for being cruel to him.

I love that part as well, he was quite gallant in asking Mrs. Fred to forgive him.
 

88

Senior Member
Nov 14, 2016
3,517
77
48
#9
It saved Scrooge...
 
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Tinuviel

Guest
#11
I had never heard that word before (that I recall) :eek:
eu·ca·tas·tro·phe
ˌyo͞okəˈtastrəfē/
noun rare

noun: eucatastrophe; plural noun: eucatastrophes

  • a sudden and favorable resolution of events in a story; a happy ending.
Origin: 20th century. Thought to have been created by English author J. R. R. Tolkien.


It hasn't been around that long :) (I probably wouldn't know it either, if I wasn't a huge Tolkien fanatic :eek:).