Jul 04, 2003 07:48 PM
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(Updated Jul 04, 2003 07:48 PM)
I am simply shocked to find that no one has yet reviewed this book in Mouthshut. This is my most favorite book and I have read more than 100 times in the last 12 years. To me this is the best story of Charles Dickens. All the great qualities of Dickens- amazing story telling, use of words, skill of keeping the suspense among the readers, idealism- are present in this book. I am sure that most of the readers of Mouthshut have read this book or seen it in any television as drama or movie. Many movies have been made inspired by the book. It is equally popular among the children and the old people in the English Speaking world. The plot of the book is very simple- Scrooge, a miser man sees some nightmares and as a result he becomes a reformed man in the Christmas night.
In these three dreams Scrooge sees his past, present and future. He was once a nice boy and loved a nice girl. Gradually his only love and passion becomes money and a lot of money he got in life. However, he only got money and nothing else. People do not love or respect him but only tolerate him because he has a lot of money. In the story Scrooge is an old man and after the dreams he realizes that his youth has been simply wasted due to his excessive obsession of becoming rich. Like Scrooge many people think money is the only important thing in life. Dickens rejects the idea by stating that money may be the most important thing in life but we should never earn money with the goal to be very rich rather we should try to use the money in a way that will bring us happiness and peace.
Dickens also has tried to show that the only thing that can bring happiness is love. Scrooge left the girl he loved only for money but at old age he realized that loneliness was his only companion. In my society I often find that many parents (who are successful in the profession or business) feel proud to send their children to the west and their children never comes back to their native country. As a result many parents feel totally lonely especially after a partner dies this loneliness becomes like a mental disease. The message of the book is very clear- value your relationships first then everything else. I have seen many husbands wasting hours of time after watching cricket in TV or going to parties to please the boss. I often wonder that whether they could be more hope if they spend that amount of time with their wife.
If you have not read this book yet please don?t waste any time. If you have read it already please read it again and try to think how you can make the people around you more happy. I know you have to spend 8 hours after watching a cricket match so you don?t have much time. Don?t worry this book wont take more than 1 hour.
